"My mama and me live on Birch Lane."
Cole nodded.
"Lily lives across the street."
"She's your friend?"
Harper nodded.
"The only one."
Cole kept his voice neutral.
"The only one?"
"At school."
Harper picked at a loose thread on her jacket.
"The other kids say I smell like the diner."
Cole looked at her.
"My mama works there. My jacket smells like french fries sometimes."
Cole swallowed.
"Lily doesn't care?"
"She sits with me."
Harper's voice became slightly stronger.
"She gives me half her cookies. Sometimes she gives me the cheese from her lunch because she doesn't like cheese."
Cole almost smiled.
"What happened Monday?"
Harper's fingers stopped moving.
Behind them, a vehicle door closed.
Harper immediately looked toward the sound.
Cole waited until her eyes returned.
"I was in my room."
"What were you doing?"
"Coloring."
"What could you see?"
"My window looks at Lily's house."
Cole nodded.
"And then?"
"A van came."
Welden became completely still.
"What color?"
"White."
"What kind?"
Harper frowned.
"I don't know."
"That's okay."
"It had two back doors."
"Anything else?"
"A dent."
Cole leaned slightly forward.
"Where?"
"Back."
Harper touched the right side of her own hip.
"Here."
Cole looked toward Welden.
She had already taken out a notebook.
"Two men got out," Harper continued.
Cole returned his attention to her.
"Did you know them?"
"No."
"What happened?"
"They talked to Lily."
"Could you hear?"
Harper shook her head.
"What did Lily do?"
"She went with them."
Cole felt a chill despite the heat.
"Did she look like she wanted to go?"
Harper shook her head.
"She looked scared."
"How could you tell?"
"Because she kept looking at her house."
Harper's voice softened.
"Like she wanted her daddy to come outside."
Welden's pen stopped.
Cole kept his expression steady.
"Then what?"
"They put her in the van."
"Did they hurt her?"
"I couldn't see."
"Okay."
Cole took a breath.
"You said you know where she is."
Harper nodded.
"I saw the van again."
"When?"
"Yesterday."
"Where?"
"Old Garrett farm."
Welden's head lifted.
Cole knew the property.
Almost everyone did.
It had belonged to Walter Garrett, who died six years earlier.
The farm had been mostly abandoned since.
"Where at the farm?"