Natalie had to step away when she read it.

The team would not yet say whose handwriting it was, although the slanted letters resembled the grocery list on Andrew’s kitchen table.

The culvert was too narrow for a full rescue crew and dangerously unstable after days of floodwater.

Engineers inspected it before anyone ventured farther.

They found marks suggesting someone had sheltered there briefly, but no person.

One end opened toward a wooded access road.

If Andrew had crawled through, he might have emerged in a place no one had thought to search.