Chapter 1 Part 1: Sara and Carlos

 You and your spouse have created an amazing life together.

You love your son, Carlos, to distraction. He is kind, sensitive, helpful, and generous of spirit. He loves music, animals, and basketball. He warms your heart and makes you smile. You suspect he is a genius.

He cannot stand when you leave, not because he needs you, but because he loves helping you. When your daughter, Sara, was born, your love for Carlos grew exponentially. He calls Sara "his baby." He worries when she cries. "My baby is sad," he says, with tears in his eyes. When pregnant with Sara, you and your spouse worried that you would not love her as much as you love Carlos.

But your heart has expanded exponentially to accommodate your love for Sara, and even though she is different from Carlos in just about every way, you love her just as much as you love Carlos.

Sara has a mischievous sense of humor and wreaks havoc everywhere she goes. She earned the nickname "Hurricane Sara" by the time she was two. She makes you laugh. You suspect she is a genius.

You and your spouse are kind, loving, and attentive parents who make a great effort to be actively involved in your children's lives. They are your primary focus. Your spouse, who works for a prominent marketing firm, tries not to work more than eight hours a day, though business sometimes requires an out-of-town trip.

You are fortunate enough to work from home. Because your children are your first priority, you sometimes have difficulty finding time to work, especially with the constant interruptions.

To ease your burden a little, you and your spouse look for someone to help with child care and household errands. Because the two of you are financially successful, you can afford to be picky.

Eventually, after searching for months and interviewing countless people with whom you would never leave your children, you find the perfect nanny and assistant. Though she is only twenty, Courtney is mature beyond her years and has the patience of a grandmother. You hire her to run errands and to care for Carlos and Sara when you need to meet with clients or are facing a looming deadline.

Courtney is wonderful. She plays games with your children, rarely loses her temper, and teaches Carlos and Sara to speak Spanish. Your children love her, and you trust her unconditionally. One morning, you have a three-hour meeting with a client at his office. Your spouse is in France on business. On your way out the door, you remind Courtney to call your cell phone if she needs you, which you always leave on vibrate in case anything comes up.

When you arrive at the client's office, you learn that your meeting has been postponed, though no one bothered to notify you. You are irritated, of course, but you decide to make the most of the time and grab a quick workout.

You park your car in the gym's vast parking lot and remember that cell phones are not allowed inside. From the parking lot, you try to call Courtney, but you receive a busy signal. You wait a couple of minutes and try calling again. The phone is still busy. This surprises you, and you make a mental note to have Courtney call the phone company to find out why the second line is not ringing.

You make a choice.

Courtney is responsible and can handle anything in the unlikely event that something unexpected happens while you spend an hour in the gym. You turn off your cell phone, stow it in your gym bag, and stash your bag in a locker. You tell yourself that after you warm up, you will sneak into the locker room and try to call Courtney again.

While jogging on the treadmill, you worry about the kids. You remind yourself to stop worrying. Courtney will be fine for a little while without you.

And then, the unexpected happens. An aneurysm in your brain that has lain dormant for years - unseen, hidden, waiting - explodes. Later, the doctors explain that the aneurysm had nothing to do with the fact that you were working out. It was just a time bomb in your brain that could not have been prevented, even with prior knowledge. It could have happened anywhere: at the grocery store, in line at the bank, at home with your kids.

But it happened while you were at the gym, with your gym membership, driver's license, and all other forms of identification in an anonymous locker, your cell phone turned off, and your car a needle in a haystack in the gym's parking lot.

The gym calls 911 immediately, but without any means of identifying you, no one knows to call Courtney. By the time the paramedics arrive, you are gone. You never have a chance to tell anyone about your kids, or Courtney, or that your spouse is on a business trip in a foreign country.

When you don't return home by 3:00 PM, Courtney calls your cell phone, but the call is sent straight to voice mail. The meeting must have been long, Courtney thinks. Still, she worries a little bit. It isn't like you to turn off your phone, and you always call when you are going to be late.

Things happen, Courtney thinks. I'm sure everything is fine. She tries to be positive.

Two hours later, she is panicked. She has been calling your mobile phone every fifteen minutes. She calls your client, only to discover that the meeting was canceled. She tries calling your spouse's cell phone, but the electronic voice says that the phone is "out of the service area."

Courtney starts calling your friends. None of them have seen or heard from you. Courtney calls the local hospitals, but since she is not a relative, no one will give her any information.

Courtney tries to stay calm around Sara and Carlos. She feeds your children, and though she rarely lets them watch TV, she sends them to your bedroom to watch cartoons before making a phone call. Does Courtney call the police, or does she call someone else?

Tune in again to find out what happens if Courtney calls the police...