Where’s My Daughter?

Prologue

That night when I went to bed, my daughter was safe. By morning, she was gone.

When it happened, I was buried under cool Egyptian cotton, ocean waves whispering through the windows of our beachfront holiday home.

My husband burst through the bedroom door, his face drained of color. “It’s Sadie… she’s missing.”

It was as if I was falling from a great height. My stomach dropped as Gabriel continued. “No one can find her.” His eyes were full of terror. “There’s a search happening on the beach right now.”

I flung the covers aside and was on my feet before he finished speaking. My body moved before my mind caught up.

At the front door, I fumbled with my sandals, nearly falling. Then I ran outside into the star-studded night, still wearing the oversized T-shirt Sadie had given me last Christmas.

I ran toward flashlight beams and shouting voices farther down the beach.

My lungs burned with each ragged breath. I kicked off my sandals when they slowed me down, my bare feet plunging into cool sand that made every step harder.

I knew what everyone else feared. But as I searched and called Sadie’s name into the night, I was certain, deep in my heart, of one thing.

My little girl was somewhere out there. And I wouldn’t stop until I found her, brought her home.

Whatever it took.

I didn’t realize then that no matter how hard I searched for her in the darkness, how loud I shouted her name, I wouldn’t find my daughter out there on that beach.

Whatever happened to her began unfolding long before that night. And the truth was closer to home than I could ever have imagined.