I returned home from deployment three weeks ahead of schedule to surprise my husband and our four-year-old daughter

September 30 — Financial consolidation.

October 7 — Obtain replacement identification documents.

October 12 — Complete authorization paperwork.

October 16 — Confirm overseas residence.

October 20 — Family departure.

November 10 — Hannah scheduled to return.

November 10.

That was the day Derek expected my deployment to end.

I lifted my eyes toward Detective Shaw.

“What happens on October twentieth?”

“We’re still determining that.”

I pointed toward the final entry.

“If they planned to leave on October twentieth, why does my return date appear separately?”

Detective Shaw turned the photograph over.

The back of the original page contained a handwritten message.

IF SHE RETURNS EARLY, USE ALTERNATE PLAN.

An address had been written beneath those words.

It did not belong to a residence.

It was not a hotel.

It was the address of a private storage facility in Norfolk.

A knot formed in my stomach.

“What alternate plan?”

“We obtained the facility’s contact information,” Shaw explained. “Investigators are working to identify what is stored there and whether a warrant is needed.”

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