Chapter Thirty-Two Edward
Edward was losing his mind, stuck without any way to reach Ren, impotently pacing a path in the Konings’ living room rug. The revelation that Ren had been kidnapped when she was three years old, and that Gloria wasn’t even her mother—had in fact been lying to Ren her entire life—ignited a bomb in his bloodstream. The moment it became clear that Steve and Gloria could be taking Ren anywhere right now, that they were unlikely to be easy to find again—might move to a new place, take on new names, forever remain off the grid—the situation turned urgent.
Chris had no idea who Gloria and Steve might be, Edward had never seen them, and they were unlikely to be traveling under those names, so unless they were walking through airports with Ren’s golden hair flowing down her back, finding them would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. Chris called his contact at the FBI, and Edward had recounted every detail he could remember about Ren’s descriptions of home: a couple hours outside of Moscow; a place called Corey Cove; the small town nearby with the Hill Valley Five and Dime; a big plot of land with a pond and the cabin with the rock chimney, a red barn, and picket fence.
Anxiety pulsed like a twin heartbeat—Go now. Go now. Go now—but unfortunately, they’d missed all of their fastest options; there were no flights to Idaho until morning. The contact assured them that agents in the vicinity would keep watch for someone matching Ren’s description until the bureau was able to get a full team in place. Edward had no idea what exactly that meant or when that might be. Would they be going, too? Whether or not that was the FBI or Chris’s plan, it was definitely his. Every second that passed was the second when Ren could vanish forever.
Becky put their daughter to bed and came down to kiss Chris good night. “Keep me updated,” she told him, and the reminder of Edward’s own plea to Ren earlier that day sent a spear of frustration straight through him. She didn’t leave anything on his phone—no text, nothing in his notes, nothing emailed. What on earth did Gloria say to make Ren walk away without even a glance backward?
Chris collapsed into the sofa, pressing the heels of his hands to his eyes. “I’m going crazy.”
“Me too.”
“I just wish I knew who these people were. Did they know us? Was it random? Why Grace? Who does that? Who takes a little girl watching fireworks with her father on the Fourth of July?”
“Monsters, that’s who.”
“Her mom and I had divorced,” Chris said. “Gracie’s mom, Aria…She—I mean, I’ll admit it, she was a bit of a mess. She drank too much. The woman was terrible with money. All that’s what ended us, and I’d filed for full custody, and it hadn’t been a battle. But then Aria came back into the picture. She’d show up at all hours, banging on the door, wanting to see Grace. A few times she was so drunk and disruptive, I even had to call the police. So, of course, when Gracie went missing around that same time, we spent two months just looking for Aria, thinking of course she’d taken her, thinking that was our path to Gracie. But then one night Aria just showed up on the porch, wanting to see our girl, and after some pretty intense interrogation by the cops and checking all of her alibis and locations, it was clear that she’d had nothing to do with it. She’d just gone on a bender. We’d lost so much time looking in the wrong place.”
“That’s just—” Edward didn’t have words for how awful it was. “What a shitty time to go off on a bender.”
Chris laughed darkly. “You’re telling me.” He leaned forward, propping his elbows on his thighs and staring bleakly at the floor. “I knew it would be hard, you know? Taking care of her all alone? But I was doing it. I wasn’t bad at it. I certainly didn’t lose my daughter,” he said, voice breaking, and Edward could see that for all the hope he felt, the prospect of finding her was unearthing the pain and guilt all over again. “But she was taken from right next to me, and do you know how hard it is to reckon with that? How easy it is to lay that blame at my own feet?”
“None of this is your doing.”
“I’d have given everything up for her. I had a plan in place for how I could manage as a single dad.” He sniffed, wiping his eyes. “Had neighbors who pitched in,” he said, “but I was managing. And when Gracie disappeared, everyone came together. Everyone put up posters and walked the streets and did everything they could. I felt—” Chris cut off, and then straightened. “Oh my God.”
Edward stopped pacing and turned to face him, skin prickling. “What?”
Chris walked to the window and looked out at the house across the street and a couple doors down. “I’ve spent twenty years thinking about this. I’ve spent twenty years considering every possible angle. I’ve thought about who knew us, who loved us, who showed up when Gracie disappeared. But I never thought about who didn’t.” He looked over his shoulder at Edward. “I think I just realized who took her.”