Although the highway was deserted, Frank ran the lights on his patrol car as he sped toward the Yellow Rose Ranch. The entire forty minutes it took him to drive from town, he kept hoping against hope that by the time he arrived, Maggie would’ve been found. He wasn’t a superstitious man, nor did he believe in intuition, but his gut told him that wouldn’t be the case.

He was right.

No sooner had he pulled into the yard than the door opened and Grady hurried onto the porch. Caroline was with him, looking paler than he’d ever seen her. Grady’s eyes were dark with anxiety.

“Thank you for coming,” Caroline said, her voice determined. She was a strong woman and Frank deeply admired her grit.

Grady held the door open for him. “Savannah’s got coffee brewing,” he said, leading the way into the kitchen.

Frank looked around at the small group assembled there. Laredo had his arm around Savannah, who seemed on the verge of collapse. Her eyes were red and swollen, testifying to the tears she’d already shed.

“It’s my fault,” she said.

“No one’s laying blame,” Grady told her, his eyes softening. He brought the coffeepot over to the table where a number of mugs had been set, and he filled each one.

“But I was supposed to be watching her,” Savannah explained as Frank doctored his coffee with milk.

“It doesn’t matter who was watching her,” Caroline said, her voice shaking slightly. “What matters is that we don’t know where Maggie is now.”

“We’ll find her,” Wiley Rogers, the foreman, insisted. “Don’t you worry about that. Not a one of us will rest until Maggie’s found.”

Frank had heard words like that before, and he’d watched as families invested every penny of their life’s savings in the effort. He’d watched them invest the very heart and soul of their existence in tracing a missing child, sometimes to the point that the entire family was destroyed. He’d assumed when he moved to Promise fifteen years ago that he’d never have to deal with this sort of agony again, but he’d been wrong. It was staring him in the face this very minute.

“Savannah, since you were the last person to see Maggie, why don’t we start with you.” He withdrew a small notebook from his shirt pocket. “You were the last one to see her, right?”

Savannah nodded and Laredo moved closer to his wife’s side as if to protect her. Frank pitied her, understood the grief and guilt she must feel. He glanced away and surveyed everyone else in the room.

It was then that he noticed one family member was missing. “Where’s Richard?” he asked, interrupting Savannah.

“In town, I suspect,” Grady said.

“Driving what?”

“My pickup’s missing, so I guess he has that.”

Frank walked over to the telephone. “I want him here.”

“Of course,” Savannah said.

“You don’t think he’d take Maggie with him, do you?” Caroline asked, looking to Grady and Savannah for the answer. “I mean, we assumed he left earlier, before Maggie turned up missing, but…” She let the rest fade.

“It isn’t a good idea to assume anything.” Frank walked over to the wall phone and lifted the receiver. He barked out a few orders, then instructed his deputy to drive through town and find Richard Weston. If Richard wasn’t there, Al was to find out the last time anyone saw him and report back to Frank as soon as possible.

While he waited for Al to return the call, Frank finished the interview with Savannah and Laredo. An hour passed before the phone rang. Caroline leaped from her chair and her eyes grew wide and hopeful when Grady reached for the receiver. Without a word he handed the telephone to Frank.

Richard Weston was nowhere to be found. Neither was Grady’s truck. No one had seen him, not that day or the day before. Al reported that he wasn’t the only one looking for Richard, either, but Frank decided these people had enough trouble on their hands. He didn’t intend to add to it.

“You don’t honestly think Richard took the child, do you?” Savannah asked after he’d relayed the details of Al’s findings.

“At this point I won’t discount any coincidence. Maggie’s missing and so is Richard.”

“But I’m sure he left long before Maggie disappeared,” Savannah said.

“I’m not.” This came from Laredo. “I saw the truck. And I saw it while Maggie was in the house with you.”

* * *

UNABLE TO SLEEP, Caroline sat on the dark porch, her arms wrapped protectively around her middle. Frank had left several hours earlier. There was nothing more he could do; he’d already alerted law-enforcement officers across Texas and in the adjoining states to keep their eyes open for Maggie. Savannah had given the sheriff Maggie’s school photograph and he’d taken it into town with him. Soon Maggie’s likeness would be seen in every law office in the Southwest. The search was on for Richard, too, with an all-points bulletin issued for his arrest. Caroline knew that had something to do with information the sheriff had received, information about a crime Richard had committed back East. She didn’t know what it was, and right now she didn’t care. Finding Maggie was the only thing that mattered.

With nothing further to be done at the moment, everyone had turned in for the night. Frank had offered to follow her home, but Caroline refused to leave. If Maggie—she paused and rephrased the thought—when Maggie came back, Caroline wanted to be right here at the ranch waiting for her.

Although everyone had gone to bed, she knew no one would sleep well. She accepted one of Savannah’s nightgowns and made the pretense of going to bed, too, but the room felt suffocating. Within minutes she’d dressed again and made her way through the house and outside. She sat on the porch steps and stared into the bleak darkness.

It wasn’t long before Grady joined her. Wordlessly, with barely a sound, he sat down on the step next to her and clasped her hand. Her fingers tightened around his.

“I’m so afraid.” It was the first time she’d verbalized her fears.

“I am, too.”

She pressed her head against his shoulder and he placed his arm around her, drawing her close.

“Do you think she’s with Richard?” Caroline couldn’t shake the thought. They’d both disappeared around the same time, but that made no sense. Richard might be a lot of things, but a child-snatcher wasn’t one of them. Caroline could think of no plausible reason for him to take Maggie.

“I can’t imagine that even Richard would do anything like this,” Grady said, his voice little more than a whisper.

Caroline reminded herself that Frank believed there might be a connection between Maggie’s disappearance and Richard’s. She just couldn’t understand what it might be.

“You should try to sleep,” Grady urged.

“I can’t.” Every time she closed her eyes her imagination tormented her. She couldn’t bear the thought of her daughter hurt and crying out for her. But that was what filled her mind and heart and made sleep impossible.

“I can’t, either.”

“Oh, Grady,” she whispered, her voice breaking. “Where can she be?”

He waited a moment before he answered, and she knew he was experiencing the same frustration she was. “I wish I knew.”

As the night wore on, it became more and more difficult for Caroline to hope. When she couldn’t stand the silence any longer, she buried her face in her hands and cried, “I want my daughter!”

She tried to be strong, but she didn’t think she could hold back the tears. Hysteria was edging in on her. She could feel it pushing her closer to the brink.

All at once she was completely wrapped in Grady’s arms. She clung to him, shaking almost uncontrollably as she muffled her sobs against his chest. His hold on her was firm, solid, and she needed him as she’d rarely needed anyone in her life. She wept until there were no tears left.

“This might be the worst possible time to tell you this,” Grady whispered, his mouth close to her ear. “I love you, Caroline.”