The roads blur together as my mind races through every horrible possibility of what might have happened to Evelyn.

The Police station comes into view, its brick facade and American flag looking almost offensively normal compared to the chaos in my head. I spot them immediately, Lilly and Rose standing by the entrance, twin silhouettes with that unmistakable auburn hair catching the morning light.

I barely remember parking or turning off the engine. My legs feel disconnected from my body as I walk toward them, the weight of Evelyn's absence pressing down on my shoulders like concrete.

Lilly sees me first. Her face softens as she reads mine, arms opening without a word. I practically collapse into her embrace, burying my face in her shoulder.

"You're really worried, aren't you?" she murmurs against my hair, her hand making gentle circles on my back.

I pull back just enough to meet her eyes. "Yeah," I admit, my voice cracking. "She's like family after all."

Rose sighs beside us, her hand finding mine and squeezing gently. "Don't worry, we'll help you figure this out."

The question bubbles up before I can stop it, the same one I asked on the phone. I need to hear it again, face to face, where I can read their expressions.

"One more time," I say, looking between them. "It really wasn't you two, right?"

Their faces remain perfectly steady, not a flicker of guilt or deception that I can detect. Rose's eyebrows pull together in something like hurt, while Lilly's gaze stays clear and unwavering.

"No," they answer in unison.

"We told you we wouldn't hurt her."

Lilly adds, "We told you we wouldn’t, Seth," her voice soft but firm.

I search their faces one last time before nodding. "Alright, I'm sorry I asked. I trust you."

The words feel true as they leave my mouth. Despite everything, Rose's violence with Allie, their possessiveness, the phone bugging, I do trust them. Maybe I'm an idiot, but I believe them.

‘They haven’t lied to me.’

Rose loops her arm through mine, tugging me toward the station entrance. "Come on. Let's find out what happened to your nanny."

The fluorescent lights inside hit my eyes like needles. A heavyset officer looks up from the front desk as we approach, her expression professionally neutral.

"Can I help you?" she asks, eyes moving between the three of us.

"I need to report a missing person," I say, my voice steadier than I expected. "My family's nanny didn't show up this morning, and she's never missed a day without calling first."

The officer's expression shifts from neutral to attentive. She pulls out a notepad and pen. "When was the last time you saw her?"

"Yesterday evening," I explain, feeling Lilly's reassuring hand on my lower back. "She helped with dinner and cleanup, then went home around 8:30. But this morning she didn't come to take care of my little brother, which she always does. I checked her house, her car's there, but she's not. Her bed hasn't been slept in."

The officer nods, scribbling notes. "That does sound concerning. What's her name and age?"

"Evelyn Summers. She's twenty-four."

"Any history of mental health issues? Drug use? Problems at home?"

I shake my head firmly. "No, nothing like that. Evelyn's completely reliable. She's been with our family since I was a kid."

The officer's eyes soften slightly. "I understand your concern. This definitely warrants immediate attention." She pulls out a form and slides it across the desk. "Fill this out with all her details, physical description, what she was wearing when you last saw her, any medical conditions, places she might go, people she might contact."

Rose leans over my shoulder as I start writing. "Do you have a recent photo?" she asks softly.

I nod, pulling out my phone to find a picture from Chris's birthday last year. Evelyn stands beside me in the photo, her blonde ponytail neat as always, green eyes bright as she smiles at the camera. It feels surreal looking at her face now, not knowing where she is.

"Officer," Lilly speaks up, her voice carrying that natural authority that makes people listen, "what happens next? How soon will you start looking for her?"

"We'll enter her information into our database immediately," the officer explains, glancing between us. "I'll have a patrol check her usual routes and places she frequents.”

The officer looks at me with that practiced stare cops develop, like she's trying to read something written on the inside of my skull. "Does Ms. Summers have any enemies that you're aware of? Anyone who might want to harm her?"

My mind immediately flashes to the twins standing beside me. Their warnings about Evelyn, their obvious jealousy, Rose's violence with Allie. But I just cleared them. I asked them directly, and they denied it. Besides, they're my responsibility now. I can't let them get in trouble over what is just a misunderstanding.

"No," I lie, the word tasting bitter on my tongue. "Zero enemies that I'm aware of. Everyone loves Evelyn."

Lilly shifts beside me, her posture straightening slightly. "Officer, I don't want to alarm anyone, but there have been quite a few disappearances lately, haven't there?" Her voice carries that perfect note of concerned citizen.

The officer's eyebrows rise slightly. "What do you mean?"

"Well," Rose chimes in, leaning forward with animated concern, "I saw it on the news. Those two seniors from Salem High last year, a girl and a boy. And that podcaster with the weird name..."

"Anita Scoops," Lilly supplies smoothly. "And I just heard a junior from UMass Boston went missing recently. Val Morrison, I believe?"

Rose nods eagerly. "Yeah, we just saw her mentioned on the news last night."

My heart rate kicks up several notches as I process what they're saying. Multiple disappearances? A pattern? The panic must show on my face because the officer's expression immediately shifts to something more reassuring.

"Do you think there's someone kidnapping these people?" I ask, my voice higher than I intended.

The officer shakes her head firmly. "No, not at all. I wouldn't worry about that." She waves her hand dismissively. "Most of those cases are just women getting drunk and wandering off, or deciding to take off for a few days without telling anyone. They usually turn up."

The casual way she brushes off these disappearances makes my skin crawl. I glance at Lilly, whose face remains perfectly composed.

"But what about Evelyn?" I press, not satisfied with the officer's explanation. "She doesn't drink. She wouldn't just wander off."

The officer's face softens, her professional demeanor cracking slightly. "I didn't mean anything by that," she says, holding up her hands. "We take all disappearances very seriously, alright? Every case gets our full attention."

"Okay," I mumble, not entirely convinced but too exhausted to argue.

I focus on the form in front of me, carefully filling in every detail I can remember about Evelyn. Height, weight, eye color, distinguishing marks. The last clothes I saw her wearing. Her mother's contact information. With each box I complete, the reality of her disappearance becomes more concrete, more terrifying.

When I finally hand over the completed form, the officer gives me a reassuring nod. "We'll be in touch as soon as we have any information. Try not to worry too much."

‘Easy for her to say.’

The morning sun feels too bright as we step outside the station, the normalcy of the day at odds with the knot of anxiety in my stomach. I stand on the sidewalk, suddenly unsure what to do with myself.

"What are you going to do now?" Lilly asks, her hand finding the small of my back.

I shrug, feeling oddly hollow. "I guess go home and then pick up Chris when his school gets out."

"We'll go to your house," Lilly says decisively, already steering me toward the parking lot.

"You don't have to skip all your classes for me today," I protest weakly, though the thought of being alone makes my chest tighten.

Lilly's lips curve into a gentle smile. "There's no point going back now, right? And we were gonna sleep over for the weekend anyway."

I nod, happy with their decision. "Alright."

A/N: For readers new to my work with this story, theres is no Checkov’s gun here. There is no secret serial killer. These are just people that went missing in other stories around the same time and same area.