“Did Frank ever answer the custody petition?”

“He vanished from Oak Creek forty-eight hours after the deputy served him the papers,” Claire said.

A sharp double toot of a car horn came from the street outside.

Claire went to the front window and pulled back the lace curtain.

A white county sheriff’s cruiser sat at the curb, its blue roof lights flashing across the bare branches of the oak trees.

Gene was already striding up Claire’s front lawn, jabbing a thick index finger at the porch steps while Deputy Sheriff Cole followed behind him with a black clipboard.