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“Did she tell you where she was headed?”

“No,” Sara says, shaking her head. “I’m sorry—she didn’t tell me a thing. And honestly… I don’t think she knew herself.”

Disappointment sours through me. Another dead end.

So close and yet so far away.

How much longer will I be chasing a ghost?

And then I remember something.

“She didn’t have a car, did she?”

Sara frowns and thinks about it. “No, she didn’t,” she remembers. “I guess she took the bus out of town.”

I nod. “Thank you,” I tell the girl as I move past her towards the exit.

“Wait!” Sara calls out after me.

I glance behind me.

“If you find her, tell her…” She swallows hard, straightens up tall as if to psyche herself up, and then finishes, “Tell her I think of her every day.”

I nod solemnly. “So do I.”

Then I head for the bus station.