Chapter 2 - THE LAST PERSON WHO SAW HER
I did not sleep.
I sat beside May until dawn, wrapped in the faded blanket she used to knead with her paws. Every few minutes I caught myself listening for the tiny click of her claws on the floor.
At seven, I carried her downstairs.
My father, Daniel, froze halfway through pouring coffee.
"Oh, God. Emma."
He came around the counter, but I stepped back.
"I need to know what happened."
Vanessa appeared behind him. "We told you. Caleb found her."
"That is not what I asked."
Caleb sat at the kitchen table with his hood up. He had not looked at me once.
I placed May gently inside the small carrier we used for vet visits.
"Caleb."
His knee bounced under the table.
"Look at me."
He finally did.
"Were you with May yesterday?"
Vanessa cut in. "Emma, he's upset too."
"I asked him."
Caleb swallowed. "I saw her."
"Where?"
"Hallway. Around four."
"Did she go outside?"
"No."
His answer came too fast.
I pulled the blue paint splinter from a tissue in my pocket and set it on the table.
The color drained from his face.
"Funny," I said. "Because this was under her collar."
My father frowned. "What is that?"
"Paint from the shed."
Vanessa's expression barely changed. "There is blue paint all over the property."
"No, there isn't. Dad painted that door last month."
Caleb pushed back from the table so fast the chair legs scraped the floor.
"I have to go to school."
I blocked the doorway.
"What happened in the shed?"
He stared at me. For one second, I saw something in his face that did not look like guilt.
It looked like fear.
Then Vanessa's voice sharpened behind me.
"Move away from my son."
Caleb slipped past and hurried upstairs.
As he reached the landing, his phone fell from his hoodie pocket and hit the carpet.
The screen lit up.
There was a paused video on it.
May you like
The thumbnail showed the blue shed door.
And a woman's hand holding May's red collar.
