The first thing I saw was cardboard. Lots of it. Flattened boxes with our name and address still attached. At first, I thought Hannah had simply been helping with recycling. Then I recognized packages I had reported missing over the previous two months. Beneath them were opened envelopes, product boxes, and several shipping labels carefully peeled away. My stomach dropped. These weren’t things I had thrown out.
Then I noticed a small notebook wedged beneath one of the boxes. Inside were dates, delivery times, and notes about when my husband and I usually left for work. Hannah’s name wasn’t written anywhere, but several entries matched days she had been babysitting. I photographed everything before touching anything else, then called my husband and told him to come home immediately.
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