Because Elena still had not appeared.

Julian had not appeared.

And my daughter had told me two things in that yard — Mommy tried to stop him, and don’t look at the water — and I stood on that bright suburban street with my child’s hand locked around my fingers and understood that I did not yet know the shape of what had happened here, only that it was large, and that my daughter had been alone in the middle of it.

Chapter 9 — Detective Vance

They took us to the hospital, and they secured the whole property behind us, and for a while it was just Maya and me in a bright room while a kind nurse ran fluids into my daughter’s arm and a social worker sat quietly in the corner being present without pressing.

Maya ate a little soup.