Then the officer looked down the rain-soaked road leading toward the pharmacy.

Somewhere along that route, a mother had vanished while trying to buy medicine and groceries for her son. And Lena was determined to discover why.

PART 3: The Receipt That Never Reached Home

The ambulance doors closed with a hollow click. Lena stood beneath the porch eave until the red lights disappeared around the corner.

Only then did she turn toward the neighbors.

“Did anyone see Teresa leave four days ago?” she asked. The woman in the yellow coat, whose name was Darlene Pike, crossed her arms.

“I saw her carrying a canvas shopping bag.

Tuesday afternoon.

She looked worried.”

“Did you speak to her?”
“I waved. She didn’t wave back.”

That was not an answer, Lena thought. It was an interpretation.

A younger man named Owen Tate stepped forward. “I saw her blue car driving toward Mercer Street.

She had the window down.

The exhaust sounded terrible.”