Free Finding Hannah by John R. Kess

upper middle of the map, “is where we’re going next.”
    “Can I help look?” Amy asked.
    I looked at Molly.
    “Amy,” Molly said, “Dylan and I need you to stay here in case Hannah comes back. Someone has to be here if she does.”
    Amy looked disappointed, but she seemed to understand.
    “Do you want to take Molly upstairs and introduce her to Mom and Dad?” I asked.
    “Sure.” Amy jumped down from the bed and grabbed Molly’s hand. “Come on.”
    I followed them up the stairs.
    “Mom, come and meet Molly,” Amy said.
    Molly greeted my parents, and after a few minutes I could tell they liked her, which was good because I wanted to get going soon. Then Mom asked about Molly’s parents.
    “It’s just my mom and me,” Molly said, “and she loves Dylan. She was really supportive of me when I helped with the search teams over the past three weeks. When she heard Dylan and I were going to keep searching, she told me to go and do it. She’s really great.”
    “Molly never missed a day of searching,” I said, smiling at Mom.
    Mom asked for her phone number and Molly wrote it down.
    “Tell you what,” Dad said, “it’s starting to get dark. I have the day off tomorrow. If you and Molly stay here tonight, I’ll take you anywhere you want to go in the morning.”
    Molly and I looked at each other. Even though we’d both just slept, I was still tired and I guessed Molly was too. Plus the idea of saving ourselves the four-hour walk to get to the search area sounded great. We both nodded in agreement.
    Amy was extremely excited to hear that Molly was going to be sleeping on the spare bed in her room. Amy asked Molly to read her a bedtime story. I sat outside in the hallway listening as Molly happily read to her. When she finished, Molly pulled up Amy’s covers and tucked her in. “Good night, Amy. It was so nice to meet you.”
    “Good night. See you in the morning.”
    Molly pulled Amy’s door shut behind us. I could hear the nine o’clock news from the basement TV. I looked across the hall at Hannah’s door. I’d only seen it a few times in the last month. Ever since she’d been taken it had always been shut.
    “Is that …?” Molly whispered, pointing at Hannah’s door.
    I nodded and realized the last time I’d seen Hannah’s room was the night she’d been taken.
    I motioned for Molly to follow me, carefully opened Hannah’s door, and flipped on the light. Heavy clear plastic covered the furniture in her room. Her bed was made and it too was covered. Hannah’s laptop sat under the plastic covering her white desk. Even her lamp was covered. About fifty or so pictures of friends and cut-outs from magazines hung over the far wall next to a large mirror above her dresser. Two signs hanging above the mirror said “Instant Swimmer, just add Aqua” and “Dancing Queen.”
    I stared at her desk chair and pictured the last time I’d seen Hannah sitting there doing homework.
    “Are you okay?” Molly whispered.
    “Yeah.” I walked over to the wall and spotted a picture of Hannah and Amy smiling at the camera, both with green cream smeared on their faces. I scanned the pictures and saw one, which was several years old, of a smiling Hannah with her arm around me. I pulled it off the board and stared at it.
    “Hannah never let me in her room,” I said, still looking at the picture. “I can’t remember the last time I stood here.”
    A wave of grief washed over me as I thought about how I’d slept through Hannah’s kidnapping. My hand was shaking as I handed the picture to Molly.
    She looked at it and gave it back. “I’m sure Hannah would want you to keep it.”
    I put the picture in my pocket and stared at Hannah’s desk, remembering the time Hannah had helped me with my algebra homework at the kitchen table a few weeks before school ended.
    Molly’s hand found my shoulder. “You’re going to find her. I just know it.”

Chapter 6
    The next morning Dad took Molly and me to a