His parents stared out from one old article, eyes hollowed by worry, the kind of grief that outlives seasons. A later piece mentioned a surviving sister, Evelyn, only a teenager at the time. Margaret scribbled notes in the margin of her notebook, suddenly aware she was trespassing into another family’s heartbreak.
Part of Margaret wanted to hand the whole bundle to the police and wash her hands of it. She had bills to pay and a life to hold together. Another part of her, the bigger part, couldn’t let go. How did a vanished man’s life end up trapped in her car?