A grumpy lump bundled under the bedspread that she'd somehow missed before.

I was in the bathroom, Mom. I went downstairs for some water.

I was lying right here all the time.

Of course, when she looks, nothing has changed.

The closed curtains glow like a blank television screen.

Downstairs, she stops in the doorway of the kitchen, a hand on each side of the frame.

Her silence says everything.

"I'll check outside," she says at last.

"Maybe for some reason-" She keeps her gaze trained on the floor as she heads for the front door, as if Lydia's footprints might be crushed into the hall runner.

Nath says to Hannah, "She was in her room last?night. I heard her radio playing. At eleven thirty." He stops, remembering that he had not said goodnight.