I searched every face.
Tessa wasn’t there.
I checked another room.
Then another.
Nothing.
A woman carrying a clipboard noticed me wandering through the hallway and approached.
“Can I help you?”
“I’m looking for my daughter. Tessa Warren. She’s in the advanced teen class.”
Her expression changed.
“I’m Ms. Hart. I teach that class.”
“Oh, good. Is Tessa somewhere else today?”
The woman looked at me for several seconds.
Then she stepped closer and lowered her voice.
“Your daughter hasn’t told you anything, has she?”
My stomach tightened.
“Told me what?”
She opened the office beside us and gestured for me to come inside.
“Tessa hasn’t attended class in almost two weeks.”
For a second, I thought I had misunderstood her.
“That’s impossible. She comes here every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.”
