They left my eight-year-old daughter on the side of the highway. Two hours later, the world they’d spent decades constructing began to burn down around them. The storm clouds had already begun gathering when a truck driver spotted her— a tiny girl in a faded pink hoodie, sitting alone on the gravel shoulder of Route 16, arms wrapped tightly around a scuffed backpack, like it was the only thing keeping her from falling apart. Her name was Emily Hart. Eight years old. My daug …

Megan shook her head. Her parents lived in Ohio; friends had drifted after Daniel’s funeral. “We’ll be okay,” she said, voice steadier than she felt.

By dawn, the Harts’ front porch was crowded with what respectability hates most: official cars. A uniformed officer stood at the walkway, and two detectives stepped through the doorway past a framed photo of Robert shaking hands with a state senator and another of Linda holding a bake-sale ribbon. They found Robert in the kitchen, coffee untouched, jaw clenched as if he’d been chewing nails all night. Linda’s face looked raw; she had the smudged, fragile look of someone who hadn’t slept and couldn’t admit why.

Carla set a recorder on the table. “Mr. Hart. Mrs. Hart. We’re investigating an incident on Route 16. We’d like to ask you some questions.”

Robert’s first instinct was a familiar one: control the room. He’d used it to sell trucks and negotiate invoices for thirty years. “Of course,” he said. “We heard about that on the news. Terrible.”

“Where was Emily yesterday between five and eight p.m.?” Carla asked.

“With us,” Linda said too quickly. “At home. She—she was reading in the guest room.”

Carla opened a folder and slid a still image across the table: a low-res frame from the convenience store camera showing Emily’s pink hoodie blurred against the dusk and, behind her, the tail of a silver sedan turning into the lot. “Is this your car, Mr. Hart?”

Robert blinked. “A lot of cars look like that.”

“Yours has a dealership plate frame with ‘Hart Auto—We Make It Happen.’ You’ve got a small chip on the rear bumper, driver’s side. It’s visible here.” Carla tapped the printout. “I’m going to ask again. Where was Emily?”

Linda started to cry before Robert could manufacture another sentence. Sound poured out of her like a leak she’d been holding back with both hands. “We were going to come back,” she said, words tumbling. “It was supposed to be a wake-up call—Megan’s hours, the men she dates, the—” She clapped her palm over her mouth.

Robert shot her a look that was equal parts shock and fury. “Stop talking, Lin.”

Carla didn’t raise her voice. “Mrs. Hart, did you leave your granddaughter on Route 16?”

Linda pressed her eyes shut. “We thought someone would find her right away. It’s near the state patrol pull-off—there’s traffic—Robert said ten minutes, a lesson, and then we’d pick her up and she’d understand we—”

“Understood what?” Carla asked.

“That we can do better for her,” Linda whispered.

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