When she came outside, she found Emmy and David talking animatedly while Gary waited by his vehicle.
Gary asked whether everything was all right.
Clara said it was, then mentioned the email from Laya Dalton.
David immediately encouraged her to go.
It would be good for her, he said.
Clara hesitated, thinking it all felt rushed and admitting she had hoped to spend the day helping Emmy settle in.
Emmy assured her that she was no longer 5 years old and could manage herself for a few hours.
After a moment, Clara nodded and typed a reply accepting the invitation.
At that point David turned to Gary and asked whether he might be allowed to see the Kesler farm before they left.
He wanted to understand where his daughter had grown up.
Gary frowned and said the property was still protected as part of an ongoing investigation.
David persisted, saying he did not need to go inside and only wanted to see the place from the outside.
After considering it, Gary agreed to a brief visit.
The farm was about 20 minutes away, he said, and David could look for no more than 15 minutes, without entering any of the buildings.
David readily accepted those terms.
Clara and Emmy rode in Clara’s car while David joined Gary in the police vehicle.
As they left the apartment complex, Clara felt newly unsettled by the shifting plans.
She asked Emmy whether she was comfortable with the visit to the farm.
Emmy nodded slowly and said that it was probably fair.
David had only just arrived that morning and had not been following the case as closely as Clara had.
Clara squeezed her hand, trying to suppress her own unease.
The gravel crackled under the tires as they arrived at the Kesler farm.
In the morning light the property looked different from the way it had 1 week earlier, when Clara first came there in search of her daughter.
It was less imposing now, yet somehow more sinister because she finally understood what had happened there.
After parking, Gary reminded them all not to touch anything, since the property remained an active crime scene.
Emmy stared at the farmhouse and quietly said that she thought she would stay in the car.
She was not ready to go back there yet.
Clara immediately placed a hand on her shoulder and said she would stay with her.
Gary, sympathetic, agreed, and he and David walked off toward the buildings.
After a few minutes standing in the sun and breathing the warm air scented with pine and soil, Emmy said that perhaps 1 day, once she had had time to process everything, she might want to find John and Miriam and ask them some questions.
Clara asked what kind of questions.
Emmy brushed a strand of hair from her face and said she still did not understand why.
If they had wanted a child so badly, why had they kept her so isolated? Why had they made her cover her birthmark with makeup whenever they went out? She traced the mark unconsciously and said she knew that part of it had been to avoid discovery, but that was not the whole answer.
Clara asked what troubled her most.
Emmy’s frustration sharpened as she said that traffickers must have had many children available to them, so why had the Keslers chosen a child with such a distinctive mark if they were only going to hide it? Clara nodded and admitted it was a good question, one she wanted answered as well.
Emmy said she had asked the police, but John and Miriam had offered only a vague explanation: that they had been drawn to her at first sight.
That no longer made any sense.
Clara replied thoughtfully that sometimes love came with control, and that people sometimes tried to protect what they treasured in ways that were harmful.
Emmy conceded the point, though without much conviction.
Their conversation ended when they noticed Gary standing alone near the farmhouse, answering a phone call.
David was nowhere in sight.
Suddenly uneasy, Clara said she would take 1 last look around and asked whether Emmy would be all right by herself for a few minutes.
Emmy said she would.
Clara crossed the property, passing Gary, who acknowledged her distractedly while still on the phone.
As she approached the farmhouse, she saw David emerging from the front door, exactly where the detective had expressly forbidden anyone to enter.
Her suspicion flared.
She quickened her pace and demanded to know what he was doing, reminding him that Gary had said no one was to go inside.
David looked startled, then quickly recovered his composure.
He said he had only taken a quick peek, that she knew how curious he had always been.
Clara studied him and said that yes, she did know him: stubborn, and always willing to make use of an opportunity.
David smiled, though the expression did not reach his eyes, and said he had only wanted to see the kind of home in which his daughter had been raised.
Was that really so wrong? Before Clara could continue, Gary appeared behind them and said firmly that it was time to leave and that they should not be standing so close to the police line.
Yet as Clara walked back to the cars, unease clung to her.
David, she felt certain, was hiding something.
The 2-hour drive back to Asheville carried them from farmland through rolling mountains and finally into the charming streets of the city Clara called home.
By the time they neared town, the sun stood high overhead.
Clara’s phone rang.
It was David, calling from the vehicle ahead.
He told her he had a surprise for Emmy.
He owned an apartment in Asheville, fully furnished, where she could stay as long as she liked, needing only a few basic necessities.
Clara repeated the offer to Emmy, telling her the choice was hers.
She could stay there or live with Clara.
Emmy seemed taken aback, then said thoughtfully that she would love to stay with Clara, but that she had also been thinking about what Bran had said the previous night.
Perhaps she should try living on her own.
She had spent her entire life under the authority of adults and felt she needed to begin building an identity of her own.
Clara nodded, understanding even though a part of her had hoped Emmy would choose otherwise, and told David that Emmy would like to see the apartment.
When they arrived, they found Gary already inspecting the premises.
The apartment was in a modern building with strong security, something that reassured Clara given that parts of the trafficking organization remained at large.
Gary approved of the place, noting both the building’s security and the neighborhood, but soon had to leave for another matter.
Once he departed, the 3 of them settled into the living room.
Clara took in the quality of the furnishings and the clear view of downtown Asheville, then remarked that she had never known David owned an apartment there.
David shrugged and said he had bought it years earlier after the divorce as an investment and rented it to various tenants.
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