When the door swept open, I flew up from the floor as the sheriff entered.
“Did you find her?”
I couldn’t keep the achy hope from my voice and didn’t even try to.
He shook his head. “I do have more questions though. Do you happen to know what this is?”
When he lifted a small but familiar notebook in his hand and waved it, I shot forward, my eyes opening wide.
“Oh my God, yes. That’s Mari’s poetry book. Where did you find it?”
I reached for it, but the sheriff pulled it back out of my clutches. When he tipped his head toward a chair, I slumped down, not wanting to delay anything else. Time was getting away from us. We needed to find her.
He seated himself across from me before answering, “It was lying on the dock, right where you told us you left her last night.”
“f**k,” I breathed,
