After the call she had pressed her mother, wanting to know what Brenda and Jack weren’t telling her. When her mother hadn’t answered, Macy had argued, because that’s what she’d done since the moment she could talk. Those days she had picked fights whenever she could. She hadn’t known why she was always mad and in moments of clarity had wondered why she couldn’t just shake it and be happy.

She’d always known her mother wasn’t her birth mother. Most of the time it hadn’t bothered her, but lately it had been driving her nuts. She didn’t look like the stocky, olive-skinned parents who she knew loved her. She had felt like an outsider.

One afternoon when she’d questioned if her mother was real, Brenda had looked her squarely in her eyes. “I’m as real as it gets,” her mother had said.

“You didn’t give birth to me. What was my real mother’s name? I want to see her!”

Her mother had been quiet for a moment and then, shaking her head, had said, “She’s dead, kid. Buried in the cold ground when you were a baby. All you got is me.”

The news had hit Macy like a slap to the face. She had stumbled back and run, her mother’s apology chasing after her.

Later there’d been tears and an oath from her mother that she didn’t really know what had happened to her birth mother. There’d also been hugs and a truce that had lasted until her mother’s death.

The stones. The graves. And a young girl logically unconnected to the girls missing for decades who was still missing and ready to have her baby.

Faith had found the stones. The graves. JJ. She was getting closer. She was walking Macy’s own path.

Words of caution rumbled just out of her reach. She had a warning for Faith. He was still out there. And she knew his face.

Hayden pulled up in front of the hospital, turned in his seat, and faced Faith. Sunlight caught her hair and highlighted her expressive eyes and the full lips he wanted to kiss. “Let me know if you need anything today.”

She smiled and laid her hand on his arm. “Thank you.”

There were so many things he wanted to say to her, but the words stuck in his throat. “I’ve asked Detective Lana Franklin to pull old missing persons cases that fit around the year 1987. I also want a list of pregnant girls that might have gone missing. There might be some answers there.”

Her brow furrowed. “I hope so.”

Unable to resist, he leaned over and kissed her. “We’ll figure this out.”

She squeezed his hand and kissed him back. “Thank you.”

When she got out of the car, he waited and watched her vanish into the hospital before driving to the middle-class neighborhood in northern Travis County that was home to Paige Sheldon’s mother and stepfather. The front lawn was neatly cut, the bushes trimmed, and the house freshly painted. There were two cars in the driveway, both American-made late models.

Now that they had evidence that Paige might be alive, he wanted to talk to her parents and find out more about the girl.

He rang the bell and heard a dog barking and then the beat of steady footsteps. The door opened to a midsize man with gray hair and brown eyes ringed with dark circles. He wore a collared long-sleeve shirt that he’d rolled up to his elbows, and his tie hung loose. He had the look of a man who’d had a long day.

Up came the identification badge. “I’m Ranger Mitchell Hayden with the Texas Rangers. I’m looking for the parents of Paige Sheldon.”

The man’s face grew grim. “Texas Rangers. Do you have news about Paige?” A small cairn terrier stood obediently beside the man’s leg, sizing him up.

“And you are?”

“Fred Owen. Paige’s stepfather.”

“May I come inside?”

“Sure. Of course.” He stepped aside. “What do you know about Paige?”

“Fred, who is it?” A woman wearing jeans and a sweatshirt stained with blue paint rounded the corner. “What’s going on?”

“Texas Rangers, here about Paige.” The man hugged his wife close. “This is my wife, Vivian. Please tell us what you know, Ranger Hayden.”

Inside, Hayden was greeted with the scents of pine cleaner and baking bread. “You a cook, Mrs. Owen?”

“Never much to speak of, but since Paige vanished, I’m cooking her favorites all the time just in case this is the day she comes home.” Vivian scooped up the small dog and then clasped her husband’s hand, her knuckles turning white with tension.

“Smells nice,” he said.

“Just say what you have to say, Ranger Hayden,” Vivian said. “We’ve been expecting a visit like this for months, and now that you’re here, I just want you to spit it out.”

“We have evidence suggesting that Paige has been held captive since she vanished.”

Vivian’s eyes filled with tears, and she nestled close to her husband, who wrapped his arm around her. “How do you know?”

“We believe we found the location where Paige was being kept. But when we searched it, Paige wasn’t there.” He refrained from telling them about the manacle and the blood.

“Why wasn’t Paige there?” Vivian asked.

“For whatever reason, her captor moved her. By what we found, it was fairly recently.”

“What about the baby?” Vivian asked.

“There was no sign that she’s given birth,” Hayden said.

“Where was she held?” Fred asked.

“A remote location in the Hill Country. For now I can’t say exactly where.”

“How did you even know to look in this place?” Fred countered.

“Your daughter’s name came up in another case. Another law enforcement officer was interested in her case.”

“What does he say about all this?” Vivian demanded.

“The officer, a female, passed away before we could ask her.” He hated lying to them about Macy Crow, but until he knew who was behind all this, he would stick to the story.

Vivian drew in a sharp breath, and tears spilled down her cheeks. “What kind of case was she working on?”

“I can’t say.” He chose his words carefully.

Vivian looked up at Fred, shaking her head as more tears fell. “Paige and I had a terrible fight. I was so disappointed when I found out she was pregnant. I yelled and said awful things. She finally lost her temper and left. What I wouldn’t give to take back those words.”

Fred patted his wife’s shoulder. “Paige wasn’t easy on you either. She wasn’t perfect.”

Vivian’s eyes filled with tears and frustration. “But she’s just a kid, and we can’t find her, Fred.”

“I know. The Rangers are getting closer.” He hugged his wife tight as she struggled with the news.

“How long was she gone before you started looking for her?” Hayden asked.

“Two days,” Fred said. “We thought she was at her friend Brittany’s house.”

“Why did you think that?” Hayden asked.

“First I called her cell and she didn’t pick up. She also has the Find My Friends app, and I could see that she was at Brittany’s,” Fred said.

“That made sense because that’s where she always goes,” Vivian said. “Always.”

“What’s Brittany’s last name?” Hayden asked.

“Russo. Brittany Russo.”

Hayden scribbled down the girl’s contact information. “Okay.”

“We’ve told all this to the Austin police. Brittany told the police Paige never contacted her,” Vivian said.

“What happened after you called Brittany?” Hayden asked.

“Brittany said she wasn’t there, so I drove over, thinking she was lying,” Vivian said. “I called the phone and heard it ringing in the bushes. That’s when I really panicked.”

“I started calling all her friends,” Fred said. “No one had seen her, so I contacted the police.”

“She’s a teenager,” Vivian said. “She lived on that phone. She would never have tossed it away like that.”

“Paige can be headstrong, but it’s not like her to ditch her phone and completely ignore her mother,” Fred said.

“What about boyfriends, new friends?” Hayden asked.

“She broke up with her boyfriend last year, before she got pregnant. She said all along the baby wasn’t his, but she never would tell us who the father was. Anyway, we went to see Derek, her ex-boyfriend, and he swore he’d not seen her in months.”

“What’s Derek’s last name?” Hayden asked.

“Smith,” Fred said.

“Did you check her social media accounts?” Hayden asked.

“We did,” Vivian said. “It took me a whole day of trying to figure out her password, but I did. Buddy two thousand. Our dog and the year she was born.”

“What did you find?” Hayden asked.

“Nothing out of the ordinary. The account is still open, and I check it several times a day, thinking she might post something there.” She rattled off the username, which Hayden wrote down. “The account hasn’t been active since the day before she vanished.”

“What about before?”

“It all seemed normal. She wasn’t out partying with friends because she was pregnant, and I think that was frustrating for her. You know how girls like to dress up and pose for the camera.”

“What about friends other than Brittany?” Hayden asked.

“There’s Su Morgan. The two of them liked to go out a lot.” Vivian provided Su’s contact information. “I’ve talked to her every day for the last three months, and she’s heard nothing from Paige.”

“And she never told Brittany or Su the name of the baby’s father?”

“They swear she didn’t,” Vivian said.

“How far along would Paige be now?” Hayden asked.

“Thirty-nine weeks. The baby is due any day.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I have dreamed of the worst possible scenarios, but I never thought in my heart that she might be dead. She’s my baby, and I would know if she was gone.” She closed her eyes and then shoved out a breath. “The last few nights I’ve worried about her giving birth alone. I had to have a C-section when she was born, and if we’d not been in a hospital, one or both of us would have died.”