RYDER

We've searched everywhere and we didn't find Ray at all.

I'm still fucking shaking, even now. Aria's horror sank deep into my bones. I felt it, and it's the only reason why I launched the search to begin with. Even now, she's spooked, but I'm heading home now to tell her the result.

Hopefully, she'll feel a lot calmer.

I open the front door and find her and Anne seated closely together. Her eyes meet mine as I approach them, and I watch her shoulders sag.

"I'm sorry," she says in a ...