“Leave those in the car for now, Clara,” Evan said, coming down the wooden steps onto the driveway.

“Did Caroline call the house phone?” I asked.

Evan stopped next to the driver’s door and held his phone out to me.

“Your mother sent a group text fifty minutes ago,” Evan said, his low voice strained.

“She sent it to eight people.”

I stepped closer to the car’s headlight to read the glowing screen.

The message ran three long paragraphs, sent to my aunts, three cousins, my uncle David, and Evan.

It claimed that Lucy was being put on strict food rationing at home, left alone for long stretches, and that family members shouldn’t let their children play with her.