Page 120 of Torin

The smell of coffee and bacon greets me as soon as I push open the front door.

Alexandria looks up from the stove. “There you are. Everything okay?”

“Yeah. It was quiet.”

“Thank God.” She turns back to the bacon. “Gunnar and Orson?”

“Still out there. I’m taking over from Gunnar after I’ve eaten and slept for a couple of hours.”

“Coffee?”

“Please.”

She pours me a mug, and I take a long drink.

“Where’s Hannah?”

Alexandria glances towards the hallway. “Still asleep, I think.”

“I’ll get her.”

Her bedroom door is closed. I knock gently.

“Hannah? Breakfast’s ready.”

There’s no answer.

I knock again, louder this time. When I still don’t hear anything, I open the door.

The room is empty.

The bed is made and the clothes she was wearing yesterday are folded neatly on the bed.

I look at the chair beside the window. Her backpack was there yesterday, but it’s gone now. Guess she moved it.

Back in the hallway, the bathroom door is open and she’s not there.

She’s not out on the porch either.

By the time I get back to the kitchen, unease is prickling in my gut.

“Alexandria.”

She turns, drying her hands on a tea towel.

“I can’t find Hannah.”

Her expression changes. She follows me to the bedroom and takes in the made bed, the open closet, the missing backpack. She strides to the closet and opens the door. It’s empty.

“She’s gone.”

The words feel wrong in my mouth.

I go back into the hallway, trying to think. She wouldn’t just leave. Not after last night. Not without saying anything.

My gaze catches on the closed door of my bedroom. A flicker of hope stirs. Maybe she went in there to wait for me, and she’s fast asleep on my bed. I yank open the door.

The room is empty.