There was no house.
Number 18 was an empty lot.
A chain-link construction fence surrounded broken concrete and rubble.
One partial wall remained.
A strip of yellow floral wallpaper clung to it.
Pieces of lumber lay beneath blue tarps.
Grass had begun growing between chunks of foundation.
Tessa stopped.
The cat made a sound.
Quiet.
Low.
Different from every sound he had made that day.
His ears flattened.
He stared through the windshield.
Tessa felt a chill despite the warmth inside the car.
“This was your house.”
The cat pressed his nose against the glass.
She opened the passenger door.
For the first time all day, he jumped out voluntarily.
He walked directly toward the fence.
Tessa followed.
The cat stopped at one particular section.
Behind the chain link, a set of concrete steps led nowhere.
No porch.
No door.
Only steps.
The cat sat.
Tessa’s chest tightened.
“You remember.”
A man in the neighboring yard was coiling a garden hose.
He looked toward them.
Tessa approached.
“Excuse me.”
He nodded cautiously.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“What happened to number eighteen?”
The man looked at the empty lot.
“Storm damage.”
“When?”
“January.”
He turned off the hose.
“Tree came down during that big windstorm.”
“Crushed part of the roof.”
“City condemned it.”
“They tore what was left down around March.”
Tessa looked at the cat.
“Who lived there?”
“The Tillmans.”
“You know where they went?”
“Virginia, I think.”
The man looked at the taxi.
“Why?”
Tessa pointed.
“Was that their cat?”
The man stopped.
His eyes moved toward the black cat sitting beside the fence.
Recognition arrived immediately.
“Oh.”
Tessa knew before asking.
“What?”
The man put down the hose.
“Yeah.”
“They had a black cat.”
“What was his name?”
The man frowned.
“Something short.”
“Milo?”
“No.”
“Jack?”
He shook his head.
“Maybe Shadow.”
The cat did not react.
Tessa asked the question she dreaded.
“Did they take him?”
The man looked away.
“No.”
Tessa felt anger move through her.
“What happened?”
He rubbed one hand along his jaw.
“Everything happened fast.”
“That’s not what I asked.”
The man nodded.
Fair enough.
“The family stayed with relatives after the storm.”
“Came back a few weeks later to load their things.”
“I saw the cat outside.”
“The wife opened the door.”
“He walked out.”
“The family finished loading.”
“Then they left.”
Tessa stared.
“They just left him?”