I looked toward the window.
Nora was still working.
She suddenly turned toward the entrance.
For one terrible second, I thought she had seen me.
I lowered my head.
When I looked again, she was talking to another employee.
“Does she know her real name is in the missing-person database?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“Does she want to come home?”
Elaine was silent.
That silence answered me.
“She doesn’t.”
“Not yet.”
The words hurt differently.
Not yet.
That meant there was still a chance.
We spent the next hour listening.
Elaine told us Nora had slowly rebuilt her life.
She had a small apartment.
A steady job.
Friends who knew her as Nora.
She had even started taking evening classes.
“She built a life without us,” I whispered.
“She built a life after losing almost everything,” Elaine corrected gently.
I didn’t argue.
Because I knew she was right.
Then Michael asked the question I had been afraid to ask.
“Where is Caleb?”
Elaine shook her head.
“We don’t know.”
“His last name?”
She gave it to us.
Caleb Mercer.
Michael immediately searched his phone.
Nothing obvious.
No current address.
No active social media.
No easy answer.
Then Elaine said something that made my stomach tighten.
