The woman introduced herself as Margaret, and her husband was Thomas. Margaret explained that several weeks earlier, they had been driving along a country road when they spotted a barefoot woman wandering dangerously close to passing traffic. They stopped immediately. The woman appeared frightened and confused, unable to remember her name or explain how she had gotten there. They called an ambulance, but when paramedics arrived, she clung to Margaret’s hand and panicked whenever she moved away. Margaret eventually accompanied her to the hospital because she couldn’t bear leaving her alone.

Afterward, Margaret and Thomas returned almost every day. My mother seemed calmer whenever she recognized their faces. Doctors suspected an injury or medical emergency had damaged her memory. Without identification, she had been registered as an unidentified patient. My missing-person report had been filed in another town, and somehow the two cases had never been connected. I finally understood why nobody had contacted me. But I still needed to know how my mother’s precious ring had ended up in Margaret’s possession.