January 22^nd, 2017. 7:12pm.

The car ride home had become therapeutic, in a way. It had taken Katy a year before she had gone back to work as an ER nurse, two years before she didn’t feel guilty every time before a shift. It was taking time away from looking for Tally, for digging into anything and everything that could be used to find her daughter. Yes, she may have spent her free time searching the internet for missing kids who were Tally’s age. But she wouldn’t expect anything different. There was always more she could do.

A glance at the dashboard of her car reminded her that her monthly meeting with Greg was soon. Tally’s case hadn’t been declared cold, but it might as well have been. Cases kept coming in, and a three-year-old unsolved case wasn’t as high of a priority. Even if it was a missing child. So many went missing every year, and Tally had become part of the statistic. But not to Katy.

Katy pulled into her driveway, seeing Lucia’s and Eleanor’s cars there. Both had keys to her home, and both took turns throwing dinner parties. While they used to alternate houses, now they were all at Katy’s, so she wasn’t lonely. It was thanks to Eleanor and Lucia that she had been able to get back on her feet, and keep her house and her job, even during the worst of it.

Eleanor had been her friend since middle school, and Lucia had completed the trio in high school. Even though, no matter how often they were there, Katy still felt lonely. And by lonely, she meant depressed. Therapy and intense work over the past couple years had done a lot, especially combined with Lucia and Eleanor’s friendship. Katy loved her friends, she really did. They were the best. They had been there while she stumbled, and when she managed to get on her own two feet. Or as much as she could, with her child missing.

“Hey.” Eleanor greeted her at the door, pulling her into a hug. Eleanor was her age, 27, tall and red-haired with freckles covering her face. She was dressed in a suit, like she had just come from her brand-spanking-new job at the public defender’s office. Forever too busy to have a boyfriend, Eleanor had settled in the middle of the city, close enough to her office that she could handle working 16 hours days when she needed to.

Lucia was standing further back, setting the table. “How’re you?” Lucia smiled. She was shorter, the shortest of the three, with pixie-cut black hair and brown eyes. She looked sweet, but she was whiplash smart, even if she didn’t know what she wanted to do with her life. She had spent most of her time drifting from job to job, but for the past few years she had worked as a vet assistant at a local clinic. Inheritance from her parents had allowed her to buy a cute little house on the outskirts of Gilbert, where she lived with her two cats.

“I’m okay,” Katy answered, pleased she didn’t have to think too hard about the answer. Okay wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad, either. She hugged Lucia, too, then headed towards the stairs. “I’ll be right back.” She wanted to change out of her scrubs before dinner.

She made it to the top of the stairs, then hesitated like she always did. Tally’s door was the first to the left. It stayed closed, locked like it always was. Only Katy and Greg had keys to the lock she had put on it. Greg in case he needed to enter for evidence purposes, and Katy so no one could contaminate Tally’s room, or disturb anything that may help with the investigation later.

It wasn’t necessary, and she knew it, but it made her feel better.

Turning to the right, Katy headed to her own room down the hall. It was the master bedroom, but it was decorated as sparsely as a guest room. Katy didn’t need a lot. Most of the extra money she had had went to Tally, and it wasn’t like Katy had anyone to share a bed with. Now her salary just built up in her savings account, Tally’s college fund. Being frugal and relying on minimal loans from friends had let her keep her house until she had gone back to work. Being an ER nurse kept her busy, and she was grateful for it.

She pulled off her scrubs and tossed them in the work-specific laundry hamper, then pulled on some regular clothes. Jeans and a t-shirt, perfect for around the house. Especially now that the media never dropped by. There was some interest, a re-run here and there, but nothing like the paparazzi that had gathered outside her house the first month.

Katy exhaled in a rush, and then dragged her mind away from thinking about the past.

Her cheeks colored. Tally wasn’t the past. She wasn’t dead. Guilt threatened to swamp her, but she held it back. It was hard to explain, exactly how disorienting the roller-coaster was when your child had been missing for three years. There was hope, and fear that a body would be found. Guilt for moving on with your life, for putting one foot in front of the other. The hole in your heart that was ever-gaping, ever-present, reminding you of what you were missing every time it beat.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, closing her eyes as she took deep breaths. She knew going out and searching the nearby area would do nothing; the area had been combed thousands of times. But she couldn’t stop her brain from blaming her, from thinking there was something she should be doing, something more.

If only she had tried harder.

If only she had been paying attention.

It was enough to drive someone to madness. And it had. Katy wasn’t going to therapy anymore, but weekly sessions for a year after Tally had disappeared had done a lot to save her sanity.

She headed out of her bedroom, pausing again at the top of the stairs. She could hear Eleanor and Lucia’s voices downstairs, the pleasant chatter of her friends. Katy was grateful for them. They had stood by her every step of the way, when she was pregnant with Tally in the first place and then when Tally had disappeared, and everything in between.

Taking the key off the chain around her neck, Katy opened Tally’s bedroom door, taking a step inside. She wasn’t going to touch anything, she just - she just needed to see her. Get as close to Tally as she could.

Tally’s bedroom was just like it had been before she disappeared. Decorated for a four-year-old, the bed had a pink Hello Kitty comforter, and the wall was plastered in pinks and purples. Typical girl, Katy knew, but she also knew about the stash of LEGOs underneath the bed (Tally’s favorite) and the construction trucks she kept in the living room. Tally liked a little bit of everything.

Or she had, anyway.

Katy’s gaze lingered on the posters on the wall, the stickers she and Tally had put up years ago. Was it right to take things down, put them away? Was it wrong?

Not that there really was a wrong or a right in her situation. There was just surviving.

Katy pressed her fingers to her lips and blew a kiss into Tally’s bedroom, then locked it behind her and headed down the stairs.

“Here.” Lucia pressed a glass of wine into her hand, something Katy took gratefully. It was red, her favorite. She didn’t drink often, but when her friends were there she let herself indulge.

“Thanks.” Katy smiled at her, sinking onto the couch. Her shift had drained her, even more than it usually did. Then again, even getting through the day took more energy than it had used to. Without Tally, time dragged and the world just continued to move forward at a glacial pace.

She checked her phone, just in case something had happened or Greg had contacted her. Like always, there was nothing. She knew she would hear from him if something happened. He wasn’t going to leave her in the dark. And her phone was kept on the loudest setting, just in case.

“Hey, girl.” Eleanor slid onto the couch next to her, wrapping an arm around Katy’s shoulders.

Katy leaned into her, closing her eyes. She let herself breathe for a few minutes, trying to relax and let some of the tension ease from her shoulders. It didn’t last long. She opened her eyes, alarmed. “I forgot to check the mail.”

Lucia popped up from where she had been sitting. “I’ll grab it.” She sat her wine glass on the table, then headed towards the front door.

“Thanks,” Katy called after her. Lucia picked up Katy’s keys on the way out, already flipping to the right key before she walked outside.

“How was work?” Eleanor took a sip of her beer, tucking her bare feet up underneath her.

“No kids,” Katy said, grateful. About six months after she had gone back to work as an ER nurse at her original hospital, she had ended up switching hospitals to an ER that had fewer pediatric patients. It was too hard seeing the kids come in, especially in the Emergency Room. Whether healthy or not, they all reminded her of Tally. “How about you?”

“Got assigned my first case today.” Eleanor’s eyes flashed with excitement. “It’s a burglary case.”

“How exciting,” Katy drawled with a smile.

“Not a homicide case yet, but I’ll get there.” Eleanor nodded firmly.

Katy had no doubt that she would.

“Here you go.” Lucia came back inside, closing and locking the door behind her. She tossed Katy’s keys onto the coffee table, then passed the small pile of mail over to her.

Katy took them gratefully, flipping through them out of habit. Bills, bills, junk mail, junk mail. But one envelope made her frown. It was plain, unmarked except for the stamp on the top right and her name and address.

“You okay?” Eleanor sounded worried, and Katy saw Lucia settle back down in her chair out of the corner of her eyes.

“Yeah.” Katy sat the rest of the mail down, holding onto the plain envelope. It was probably nothing. Probably randomly-disguised junk mail. The written script wasn’t familiar, and Katy couldn’t even think of the last time anyone had called her Katherine.

She slid a finger underneath the left side of the envelope flap and then slid it to the right, careful to not damage the envelope in the process. The paper felt thick, as if there was something inside it. Katy swallowed thickly, her heart racing in her chest and her hands trembling. She could feel Eleanor and Lucia watching her, on the edge of their seats. Eleanor kept an arm over her shoulder, as comforting as she could be.

There was a piece of folded paper, with something inside it. She could barely think, her mind going a million miles an hour as she slowly, carefully, opened it.

Then she dropped it, her eyes as wide as saucers.

“No.” The word was too soft and too loud at the same time.

She sat there, numb, ignoring Lucia and Eleanor’s words of concern as they reached for the photo she had dropped. Then Katy heard the same sharp inhalation she had made.

The photo was of a small girl child, probably seven years old, with brown hair and blue eyes. Her cheeks were thinner now as she was older, and her nose was still slightly hooked. Her gaze was distant, her face lost-looking, but Katy had no doubt.

It was Tally. And it was an older Tally, years older than she had been when she was taken from the park. Would she dare hope that it was a current photo, that Tally was still alive? Or was it from a year ago, and she was being taunted?

Why had someone sent the photo? Who had sent the photo? Was it the kidnapper, or was it someone else?

Katy didn’t realize she had dialed the phone until she heard Greg’s voice on the other end. Part of her was surprised he had answered; he had to be busy. Tally’s case was three years old, and surely he had others.

“Hello?” Greg repeated.

Katy gripped her cellphone tighter. “It’s Katy.”

“How are you doing?” Greg’s voice was warm.

“I got a photo. It’s Tally.” Katy stumbled over the words.

“I’ll be right there.” Greg’s line clicked off, and Katy sat her cell down, just staring at the photo.

The photo of her missing daughter, alive and well. Was she still alive? Or was this the final photo of her? Katy’s heart clenched at the thought.

The ding-dong of the doorbell drew her out of her reverie. She sat the photo on the coffee table, with only the faintest regret that her fingerprints were now on it. If the kidnapper was smart - and they seemed to be - there probably wouldn’t be any forensic evidence on it, anyway.

Katy had spent part of the past few years brushing up on forensic technology and forensic evidence. It was nothing like what she had seen on TV. She had also learned a lot more than anyone ever needed to know on what happened to kidnapped children. Sex trafficking, forced captivity – murder wasn’t always their agenda. But she couldn’t think about it too much or she wouldn’t be able to function. Not now, not with hope threatening to send her over the edge of a cliff.

She got up, beating Lucia to the door and opening it to see Greg standing there. He was tall, his homely face weathered, and bags under his eyes. How long had he been working? Katy didn’t know. But she knew he was dedicated, and he would keep going until they found out what had happened to Tally. Gratitude swelled inside of her; he’d obviously dropped what he was doing to come.

“Here.” Katy led him inside the house, sinking down into the couch in front of the photo.

Greg had his poker face on as he slid gloves on and then picked up the photo. Katy started slightly as a couple patrol officers came in, obviously there as backup. “Did you touch this?” Greg looked at Katy, his eyes kind.

She nodded. “I was the one who opened the envelope.”

“We have your fingerprints on file, so we should be able to exclude them.” He waited for one of the patrol officers to open an evidence bag, and then gently slid the photo, paper, and envelope in there.

“Who do you think sent it?” Katy asked, her voice barely a whisper.

There was a regret, a worry, in Greg’s eyes that Katy didn’t like. “It could be the kidnapper,” Greg said, “or it could be someone else.” His face was grim. “I’m going to have our forensics team check if this is a legitimate photo or if it’s been manipulated.”

“You think someone doctored a photo of Tally to make her look older?” Katy’s heart skipped a beat in fear. Was it a prank? Was Tally really dead?

“We can’t assume anything.” Greg looked away from her, and then looked back. “I’m going to call the FBI,” he said.

Katy looked at him intently. She had worked closely with the Child Abduction Rapid Deployment team, or CARD team, when Tally had gone missing. “The CARD team?”

Greg nodded. “They won’t send a team, but they have resources that we don’t,” he said. “If it’s anything like other cases, they’ll send a local CARD Agent in to advise and help smooth out the process.”

Katy looked back at the photo, at what it may represent.

“Katy.” Greg’s voice caught her off guard.

She looked at him, not entirely certain what she felt.

“We’ll find who did this.” His voice was powerful, confident. Katy nodded.

“We will.” There was no other option.