Gone Before Dawn

Miriam’s brownstone was quiet except for the radiator knocking in the wall. Elena stood in the doorway with her coat still on, one hand at her throat, and looked down the hall to the room where Sofia had fallen asleep an hour ago.

The bed was empty.

Not just empty. The blanket was half on the floor. The rabbit Sofia slept with sat near the pillow, one ear bent flat.

Elena crossed the room in three steps. Her fingers went to the mattress, then to the closet door. Open. Empty hanger. Open dresser. Socks. A strip of pink paper from a candy wrapper.

Miriam came in behind her, already pale. “The front door was still locked.”

Elena didn’t answer. She bent and picked up the rabbit. The fur smelled like the wash soap Miriam used. No child smell. No wet hair. No warm skin. Her hand pressed hard to her chest.

“Call Damian,” she said.

Miriam was already reaching for the phone.

Downstairs, a door banged. Then another. Men’s voices, low and sharp. Elena moved to the window and pulled the curtain back. A black SUV idled at the curb, engine running, lights off.

A folded note sat on the nightstand.

Miriam saw it too late. Elena snatched it first and opened it with her thumb. Three words, written in red lipstick, slanted across the paper:

COME HOME ALONE.

The room seemed to tilt.

“No,” Miriam said, and took one step toward the hall.

Elena was already out the door. She hit the stair rail hard enough to sting her palm, then stopped at the landing.

Something pink hung from the newel post.

An earring. Tiny. Heart-shaped. Sofia’s.

Elena stared at it until her eyes burned. Below, the front door opened and a man shouted for everyone to stay inside.

Miriam caught up to her. “Elena—”

“They were here.” Elena’s voice came out flat. She bent and closed her fist around the earring. “Carmela was here.”

The phone in Miriam’s hand started to ring. On the screen, Damian’s name flashed once, then again.

Elena looked back at the dark hallway. At the open bedroom door. At the rabbit on the floor.

Then she took the phone.