Michael felt his knees weaken.

"Rachel... what happened?"

From the other side of the door came a long, exhausted breath.

"Evelyn... she made you believe I was gone."

Michael remembered the night police found Rachel's abandoned car near the river.

The muddy road.

The broken guardrail.

Her purse on the passenger seat.

And Evelyn, then a close family acquaintance, standing beside him at the hospital, insisting there was no hope.

But the search had never recovered Rachel's body.

Michael had believed Evelyn when she said Rachel must have been swept away.

Now his wife was speaking from behind a locked basement door.

Upstairs, Harper stood beside the police dispatcher who was still on Michael's phone through its speaker.

"Is Mommy coming?" she asked.

Michael climbed back up the steps and hugged her.

"She's here, baby. We're going to get her help."

Harper pointed toward the basement.

"Can I give her my butterfly?"

She held up a small yellow stuffed butterfly Rachel had given her before disappearing.

Michael kissed her forehead.

"We'll give it to her when she's safe."

Then blue and red lights flashed through the front windows.

The police had arrived.

Chapter cliffhanger: As officers entered the basement, Rachel cried out, "There's something you need to know about the accident!"