PART 1 — THE MAN WAITING AT O’HARE

The first thing that felt wrong was that Lily was sleeping against a man I barely knew.

Her cheek rested on Noah’s shoulder, and one small hand held the collar of his jacket.

He was looking down at his phone, his thumb moving across the screen.

Outside the airplane window, the ground crew was guiding us toward the gate at O’Hare.

I reached for Lily without thinking.

Noah looked up and shifted his arm so I could take her.

“She’s been asleep for twenty minutes,” he said.

“I didn’t want to wake her.”

“Thank you.”

He nodded, but his attention had already returned to his phone.

Something about his face had changed.

His mouth was set.

His thumb had stopped moving.

“What is it?”

He turned the phone toward me.

The message was short enough to read twice.

Airport security has been asked to locate you.

I looked from the screen to him.