Chapter 1 - THE STAR SHE DROPPED BY THE ROAD.
Ethan knelt outside the bakery and held Alice’s missing-person flyer between trembling hands.
“Please look closely. You may be the only person who saw her.”
Lucy studied the photograph, then pointed toward the road.
“She was beside a dark car. A man was with her, and she looked scared.”
“Which way did they go?”
“Toward the old bridge.”
Ethan asked if she was certain.
Lucy’s eyes filled.
“Yes. She saw me and pressed her hand against the window.”
Before Ethan could stand, Lucy opened her teal backpack and removed a small paper bag from the bakery. Inside was a silver bracelet charm shaped like a star.
“She dropped this when the car turned,” Lucy said.
Ethan recognized it immediately. He had given Alice the bracelet after her mother died.
On the back of the charm, someone had scratched three letters:
WMC.
May you like
Lucy whispered, “The man saw me pick it up.”
Then a dark sedan rolled slowly past the bakery for the second time.
