Page 76 of No More Words

She still asked him to draw what happened so she’d have a clearer picture. Josh took her to the studio and showed her one of the panels, five rectangles stacked like books. A series of illustrations depicting a lone woman on a barren highway except for one oncoming car. In one rectangle the car clips the woman. In the last rectangle, Josh drew the car’s taillights. The woman, though, is gone.

“Is this your mom?” she asked, horrified. He nodded. “Was she hit by a car?” She could be seriously injured.

“Don’t know.”

“Did you see her get hit?”

He shook his head and touched his ear. “Heard,” he said after a brief struggle to get out the word.

“You heard it happen?”

He nodded.

“Josh, my god.” She grabbed his arm. “Where did she go?”

His lower lip quivered. “Gone.”

“Did the driver take her away?” An even more horrifying thought than Lily being hit.

“Don’t know.”

“Did you look for her?”

He nodded. “Gone.”

“Josh.” Her features softened, and she touched his shoulder, her heart breaking for him. That’s what he meant the day he arrived. He didn’t know where she went, or if she was alive. She was just gone when he went back to the scene. Where’d he been? What had he been doing? That wasn’t clear in his drawings. But it was apparent someone was after them. They were being followed.

Lily could have been abducted, or the driver could have taken her to the hospital. Dazed, Lily could have returned to her car and driven away without Josh. Any number of scenarios could have occurred.

She took a deep breath. Okay, they’d figure this out. She leveled with him. “We’re going to find her.”

Which is why they’re driving to Oceanside. Puzzles aren’t easy to solve, even harder when the pieces are missing. But Olivia doesn’t believe like Josh does that Lily wouldn’t have returned home after she and Josh separated, assuming she was physically capable of getting back. But someone, a neighbor perhaps, is bound to have seen Lily before they left. Someone has to know where they were going. If they can get into the house, there might be clues. And the more information she can bring back to the police, the more details she can add to Lily’s missing persons report. They’ll find Lily that much sooner.

“I want to talk to her neighbors,” she says to Lucas. “Josh might be able to get us into the house.” There isn’t a house key in his backpack, not that she saw the other night. She goes into her closet and gets down her overnight bag. “Have you heard from Dad at all?” she asks, intent on finding out when exactly he’ll be home today. She hasn’t replied to his voice mail, and thankfully he hasn’t yet called back. “Lucas? Did you hear me?” she asks when he doesn’t respond.

“Yeah, no.” He roughly clears his throat.

She stops midstride across her room, bag in hand. “Are you okay? You sound a little strange.”

“Fine,” he says tightly. “What do you want?”

She’d left him a message last night detailing her suspicions about their dad, all while trying not to have an emotional breakdown. She doesn’t know what he wants with Lily, but suspects he found her. Dwight could be the shadow man in Josh’s drawings. He might have accidentally or intentionally pushed Josh and hit Lily. He might be the one who followed them out of town. He could be the reason Josh is here and Lily missing.

“Am I being crazy?” she asks.

“About Dad? No.”

Olivia drops her bag at her feet and jams her hand into her armpit. She bites her lower lip hard, holding back the scream building in her lungs. She isn’t crazy. Lucas sees it, too.

She sinks onto the tufted bench at the end of the bed. “Did you talk to Mom? What did she tell you?” Her questions are barely above a whisper.

“Not much more than what you’ve told me.” He pops his lips.

The skin on the back of her neck tightens. He’s lying. “Lucas ...”

“Not now, Liv. If you don’t need anything, I’ve gotta go.”

“Wait! Text when Dad gets into town.” She doesn’t want Dwight surprising her with an unannounced visit.

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