She made a hissing sound. “Whatever.”

“Don’t worry about it.”

“Don’t worry about it?” she said, whipping her head in my direction. “Don’t worry about it? Seriously? He won’t let us talk to the one person who we know can communicate with our daughter.”

“We don’t need him to communicate with her,” I said, pulling away from the curb.

Thompkins stood there and watched us go. He was still in my rearview mirror as I turned the corner and headed out of the neighborhood.

“What do you mean we don’t need him?” Lauren asked.

“We don’t need him.”

“What are you talking about, Joe?” Her voice was impatient.

“Morgan’s going to call us,” I said.

“She’s what?”

“She’s going to call us,” I repeated. “She was in the window while you were baring your teeth at her father. She’s going to call us in half an hour.”

THIRTEEN

We were headed west on I-70, just up into the foothills, outside of a city called Genessee. Lauren was getting impatient.

She checked her phone. “It’s been thirty minutes.”

“She’ll call.”

“Maybe her father took her phone away.”

“She said she’d call,” I repeated.

Lauren was doubtful. “Maybe you misunderstood.”

I hadn’t misunderstood. She’d held the phone up in the window. Pointed at it, then at me. Then held up three fingers and a fist. Then disappeared.

I hadn’t misunderstood.

“She’ll call,” I said.

She made a dismissive sound and shifted in the seat.

“What did you talk about with her after I left?” I asked.

Lauren shrugged. “Nothing special. She told me a little about her time with Elizabeth in Minnesota. But she was guarded. She didn’t give up too much.”

“Anything else about L.A.?”

“Just that Elizabeth is supposed to call her at some point when she gets there,” she said. “To let her know she’s okay.”

“Did you get the phone number? Of the cell she has?”

Lauren nodded. “Yeah, but Morgan was adamant that Elizabeth wouldn’t answer. She didn’t discourage me from calling but she was certain that Elizabeth would only answer if the number was Morgan’s.”

The highway twisted as we climbed higher, jagged rock formations jutting out over the highway before giving way to narrow valleys of massive pine trees.

“You should call the rental company,” I said. “Let them know we’re keeping the car for longer and that it will be dropped elsewhere.”

“I’m not getting on this phone until that kid calls us,” Lauren said.

“You don’t have call waiting on your cell?”

“I don’t want to miss the call,” she said. “It can wait.” She gestured at the windshield. “Not like we aren’t going to be driving for the next two days since we can’t even look at an airport.”

“You could’ve flown,” I said. “I’m the one that can’t.”

She rolled her eyes and leaned against the door. “Right. Sure. Just let you drive all the way to California by yourself.”

“I’ve driven further.”

“Oh, yes,” she snapped. “All of your mysterious travels. I’m sure you’ve like driven across the Sahara or something, right? To save some kid in peril? Or was it in Siberia?”

I didn’t say anything, just focused on the road.

After ten minutes, Lauren said, “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. Long day.”

She reached out, touching her hand to my forearm. “You didn’t deserve that. I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine.”

“I just want to find her, Joe,” she said. “I just want to hug her and say hi and tell her I missed her.” Her voice caught and I knew she was fighting back tears.

“Me, too.”

“I feel like I’m riding your coattails,” she said.

“What does that mean?”

She stretched her legs out in front of her. “All this time, you’ve been chasing. Devoted your life to finding her. I grieved, then basically gave up.” She paused. “Maybe not gave up, but I let it go. I didn’t chase. You did. In some ways, I feel like I don’t deserve to be here with you.”

“Stop.” She was being ridiculous. “You’re her mother.”

“But I gave up,” she said. “I let her go. Let you go. You were the one who pursued, the one who actually thought we’d get to this moment.” She shook her head. “I didn’t. I just didn’t.”

I wasn’t sure what she wanted me to say. We’d long ago come to terms that we’d needed to handle Elizabeth’s disappearance in different ways. It had broken our marriage, but we had made peace with the idea that we needed to deal with it differently. But I didn’t begrudge Lauren that at all. And I certainly didn’t begrudge the fact that she was with me. I was glad. I’d been alone for a long time.

I needed her.

Before I could say anything, Lauren’s phone chimed and she answered it before the chime finished playing. “Morgan. I’m putting you on speaker.” She touched the screen and then held it between us. “Can you hear me?”

“Yeah, I can hear you,” Morgan said. “I don’t have much time, though.”

“Why not?” Lauren asked.

“My dad’s in the shower,” she said. “He won’t be long and he hasn’t let me out of his sight. I’m sorry about how he acted earlier. He’s just like that.”

I didn’t care what her father was like. “Have you heard from Elizabeth?”

“No,” she said. “That’s why I’m late calling. I was hoping I’d hear from her. But she hasn’t called. I’ve tried her a couple of times, but she hasn’t answered.”

I shifted lanes to let a fast-moving semi-truck pass.

“She should’ve been down awhile ago if the flight left at one thirty,” she said, concerned. “I made her promise to call me. She always keeps her promises.”

Lauren glanced at me, her eyebrows furrowed with worry.

“Okay,” I said. “We’re in the car and we’ll be driving for awhile.”

“Why aren’t you flying to California?”

“Long story,” I said. “But we’re going to be driving. Lauren said she gave you both of our numbers. You have them both, yes?”

“Uh huh.”

“Call us as soon as you hear from her,” I said. “If we need to call you, Lauren will text you first. If you can’t call back right away, that’s okay. But let us know. Text her back.”

“Alright. My dad goes to bed early so nighttime won’t be a problem.”

“And we don’t want to get you in trouble, Morgan,” I said. “We really don’t. But we appreciate your help.”

The line buzzed for a moment.

“She’d do the same for me,” Morgan finally said. “She’s always been a good friend to me. She’d help me if I needed help.” She paused. “Is she gonna be okay?”

“She’ll be okay,” I said. She had to be. We were so close. “Just call us when you hear from her.”

She said goodbye and hung up.

We drove for a few minutes, the snow packs growing heavier on the mountainsides as we entered ski country. The sun had shifted low in the western sky, its intensity muted by a thin blanket of clouds.

“What happens if she doesn’t call Morgan?” Lauren asked.

I didn’t answer because I wasn’t sure.

FOURTEEN

We were in Utah and my eyes were getting heavy. The taillights of the cars in front of us glowed a blurry red.

“Lauren,” I said. “Hey.”

She started in the passenger seat and jerked herself up. “What?”

“I gotta pull over and rest for a bit,” I said. “It’s after midnight and I’m tired.”

“I can drive,” she said, trying to straighten herself in her seat.

“You’ve been out cold for an hour,” I said. “We’re both wiped. I’m gonna find a motel. We both need to rest.”

She started to protest but I stopped her. “Just for a little bit. Then we’ll jump back in the car.”

She didn’t argue, just nodded, yawning. “Phone didn’t ring?” she asked, grabbing it from the middle console.

I shook my head. “I texted Morgan half an hour ago. She still hadn’t heard anything.”

My gut tightened even as I said the words. I could come up with several plausible excuses as to why she hadn’t called—lost her phone, delayed flight, just forgot—but none of them felt right. Judging by Lauren’s silence, I wasn’t alone in my thinking that something was wrong.