Ellie Mack looks back on the picture-perfect months before her disappearance, remembering her handsome boyfriend, Theo Goodman, and how lucky she felt to be his girlfriend. She realizes she should have seen the warning signs of what was to come, the little “knots in the yarn” (2) that led to tragedy.

Laurel Mack cleans her daughter Hanna’s flat as she does every week, but she sees no signs that her daughter slept there or even come home the previous night. Hanna has never been the social type, nor has she ever had a boyfriend, so her absence causes Laurel alarm. Paranoid about her daughter’s safety because of the disappearance of her younger daughter, Ellie, 10 years before, she quickly calls Hanna at work and breathes a sigh of relief when Hanna answers. 

Laurel thinks back to the day 10 years ago when Ellie disappeared. Laurel has always been a pessimist, even when all three of her children were alive and well. When Ellie left for the library and never came back, Laurel’s cynicism snowballed. Paul, her husband, was sick with a cold when Ellie disappeared, and she had hated him for it.