He came around the desk and crouched in front of Jane.Taking her hands in his, he squeezed them reassuringly.Her skin felt icy to the touch.“This isn’t helping Billie.Please, Jane.You must get a grip on yourself.Where would Billie go?”
“I don’t know.”Her hazel eyes, wide and unfocused, swept the room frantically, as if her child might be concealed in some corner.A shiver racked her body.“She’s never done this before.”
“She probably wants time to think.Where does she go when that happens?”
Jane jerked her hands free and tried to stand up.“Get out of my way.We need to call the police.”
“Not yet.”A memory walked along the edge of his consciousness.It stayed tantalizingly out of reach, but there was something familiar.A sense of having been through this before.Dani haddisappeared after his parents’ funeral.He’d searched for hours until—
“Did you try the old tree house?”he asked.
“What?”Jane stared at him.“Is it still there?”
“Pieces.I think Billie mentioned something about it the day you arrived.You’d told her stories.Maybe she’s there.”
Hope brightened her pale face.“You think so?”
“There’s one way to find out.Come on.”
He grabbed her hand and led her out of the study.Charlene followed on their heels.Most of the two-acre backyard had been landscaped, but a patch of woods still existed in the southwest corner.Adam went first along the overgrown trail.Billie had spent part of her days exploring his yard; it wasn’t unreasonable to assume she’d found the tree house.
He kept repeating the thought over and over as if thinking it enough would make it true.The real truth was that he was as anxious as Jane.But after years of dealing with crises at home and at the bank, he was better at hiding his feelings.Be all right, Billie, he repeated like a prayer.
As they neared the tree house, he motioned for them to move more quietly.He wanted to get close enough to see her before she spotted them.He didn’t want to give her the chance to run.Jane held on to his hand as if it were her lifeline.He returned her pressure and glanced over his shoulder to give her a reassuring smile.
They rounded a curve in the path.The old cottonwood stood like a battle-scarred warrior among the newer saplings and willows.A ladder hugged the trunk of the eighty-foot tree.Stout branches fanned out.The thickest, about fifteen feet off the ground, supported the remains of a tree house.
At first he didn’t see anything.Then the sun caught a flash of red among the leaves.He closed his eyes and pictured her at breakfast that morning.Red T-shirt, denim shorts.
“She’s there.”
Jane sagged against him.
“Do you want to go talk to her?”he asked.
“We should go together.”Jane glanced back at Charlene, as if to confirm her opinion.
“I agree.I’ll wait here.”
Adam stepped along the path.When they were almost at the tall tree, he stepped on a fallen branch.It snapped.Billie stuck her head over the side of the tree house.
She wasn’t crying, but she didn’t smile at them, either.“I’m in trouble, huh?”
“You bet,” he said, finally realizing the extent of his worry as relief flooded his body.“You’re not allowed to go off without telling someone.”
She frowned.“How’d you know that?”
“It makes sense.”
She nodded and looked past him to her mother.“Am I going to get a whippin’?”
Jane tried to laugh.It came out sounding a little shaky.“I’ve never hit you.”
“I was just checking.”Billie adjusted her baseball cap.“You probably want me to come down.”
Adam released Jane’s hand.“I’ll come up.”
“Be careful,” Jane said, touching his arm.
