“How did you know where the hospital was?”
Lucy pointed toward Angela.
“The blue H signs.”
Thomas understood.
Highway hospital signs.
She had followed them.
A six-year-old who couldn’t provide her full address had navigated toward medical help using road signs.
“How far is your house?”
Lucy shrugged.
“Really far.”
Thomas stood.
“We need to move.”
Lucy rode with an officer while several patrol vehicles and an ambulance began searching west of town.
She recognized the grocery store.
Then a church.
Then a gravel road.
“Here.”
They turned.
Miles passed.
Fields replaced houses.
Eventually, Lucy pointed.
“Mr. Harris’s barn!”
The red barn stood beside an intersection.
“Which way?”
She pointed left.
The road narrowed.
Then became gravel.
Finally, Lucy shouted.
“There!”
A weathered farmhouse appeared behind a line of cottonwood trees.
The front door was partially open.
Thomas told Lucy to remain inside the patrol vehicle.
She immediately protested.
