Together With You by Victoria Bylin

calm her.”
    â€œWhere is she?”
    â€œI don’t know.” Cringing, Mrs. Howell pressed her hands to her cheeks, gasped for air, then turned to Carly with a bleak plea in her eyes. “I’ve never had this happen before. I lost her. I can’t believe it.”
    â€œWe’ll find her.” Carly laid her hand on Mrs. Howell’s sleeve and squeezed. She’d once stood in this woman’s shoes, though instead of facing a parent, she had been accountable to her boss. “ Youbecame too involved with her, Carly. You lost your professional distance, and Allison paid for it.” So had Carly, but she’d learned her lesson. Mustering a new calm, she focused on Dr. Tremaine. “Does Penny have a favorite hiding place?”
    He raked a hand through his hair. “Her closet. I’ve found her there before.”
    Mrs. Howell sniffed. “I looked there first. I looked everywhere, but it’s such a big house. It’s just so—”
    â€œHow long has she been missing?” he asked.
    The woman wrung her hands. “I-I don’t know. Kyle left for baseball practice around eleven. Eric left with Nathan after lunch. I tried to read Penny a story, but she wouldn’t hold still. She kept kicking the coffee table and wouldn’t stop even when I counted to three. I tried everything. I thought a nap would help.”
    A muscle twitched in Dr. Tremaine’s jaw. “When did you see Penny last?”
    â€œAn hour ago.”
    With his lips sealed, he inhaled rapidly through his nose. Carly braced for an explosion, but instead he spoke to Mrs. Howell with the cool detachment of a man in control. “What were you doing for an entire hour?”
    â€œI fell asleep,” she admitted. “It’s been such a difficult day, and I-I dozed off on the couch. When I went to get Penny out of her room, she was gone. I can’t believe this happened. I’ve never—”
    â€œWe’ll find her,” Carly said again, but her heart sank to her toes. She had spouted the same vain platitudes about Allison and never seen her again, didn’t know if the teenager was dead or alive.
    All business, Dr. Tremaine gave a curt nod. “I’ll check the house. Mrs. Howell, knock on the neighbors’ doors. Maybe someone has seen her.”
    â€œYes, sir.” She hurried back through the house, leaving Carly alone with Dr. Tremaine.
    â€œWhere should I start?” she asked.
    â€œCheck the outside, including the old garage over there.” He pointed at a low outbuilding behind a block wall. “It should be locked, but Kyle keeps his baseball stuff in there. He might have left it open.”
    They walked in opposite directions, Dr. Tremaine returning to the house and Carly pacing along the perimeter of the fence. The iron bars were four inches apart, like prison bars, and they didn’t bend even a little. Penny couldn’t possibly have slipped through them. Even so, Carly scoured the steep hill with her eyes. Seeing nothing, she turned at the corner of the fence and the block wall, saw an open gate, and spotted Miss Rabbit’s purple ballet outfit on the ground. Hot on Penny’s trail, Carly raced in that direction.

5
    R yan hurried up the stairs to the second floor, repeatedly calling Penny’s name in the most normal tone he could muster. “Where are you, sweetheart?”
    He listened for a giggle or even a sob, anything to indicate she was breathing and present. “Penny?”
    Still no answer.
    Methodical by nature, he started the search in her room by pulling open the closet doors. Toys and clothes lay on the floor in a jumble that was uniquely Penny, but there was no sign of her. Leaving the doors wide, he peered under the unmade bed, then turned to the window that looked into the thick canopy of an elm tree. He had picked this room for Penny so she could enjoy hearing the birds. Now he was worried that she’d