Chapter 21

Ed turned to the man. He wasn’t sure of the details surrounding Joe’s estrangement from his family. Joe never talked about it. It couldn’t be a pleasant story, but Ed figured he should be polite. “You can help yourself to something to drink while we look for your daughter.” Ed led him to the kitchen and set a glass on the counter. “Get whatever you want from the fridge.”

He looked in the pantry, just to make sure Jenny hadn’t seen her father’s arrival and scrambled in there. How old was the girl, anyway? Joe was twenty-six and had left home when he was eighteen. He walked down the hall to look around their bedroom and to peek into the bathroom. Empty. Nobody in the living room, either.

Mr. Durham was drinking a glass of juice when he returned to the kitchen. Ed nodded to him. “I’m going to check the basement.”

She wasn’t down there either. When Ed climbed back upstairs, he found Joe with his father. “Not down there.”

Joe frowned. “She’s not upstairs, either.”