Chapter 5: Things in Motion
I didn't answer her.
I walked to the living room, picked Lily up off the sofa, grabbed my car keys from the hook by the front door, and left.
Diane called after me from the porch.
I didn't turn around.
I strapped Lily into her car seat.
Her hand was still red where Diane's shoe had come down on it.
I held it gently for a moment before I buckled her in.
"Are we going somewhere nice?" Lily asked.
"Yes, baby.
Somewhere very nice."
I drove two blocks, pulled over, and sat with the engine running.
My hands would not stop shaking.
I called the non-emergency police line first.
Told them I needed to report a missing person.
They took Sarah's name, her description, the date I believed she had last been seen.
The officer on the line was patient and methodical.
He told me someone would follow up within the hour and asked if I had a safe location.
"I'm working on that," I said.
I called my friend Joel next.
We had known each other since college.
He had a spare room and a wife named Carol who had always liked Sarah.
He picked up on the second ring.
"Ryan?
I thought you were in Denver until Friday."
"I came home early." I watched Lily in the rearview mirror.
She was holding the stuffed rabbit, the one I had carried up from the basement.
"Joel, I need a place to stay tonight.
Me and Lily.
I'll explain everything when I get there."
A pause.
"Of course.
Come now."
I drove to Joel's.
Carol met us at the door and took one look at Lily's face and mine and didn't ask a single question.
She brought Lily inside, sat her at the kitchen table, and put a bowl of cereal in front of her like it was the most normal thing in the world.
Joel pulled me into the hallway.
"Tell me."
I told him everything.
The basement.
The lock.
The blanket on the floor.
Diane's envelope with the photographs.
Sarah's phone in the kitchen drawer.
The text from M.
Joel was quiet for a moment.
"What did the text say exactly?"
"'Is it done?
She needs to stop calling the number.'"
"Calling what number?"
"I don't know.
Diane grabbed the phone before I could read more."
Joel ran a hand over his face.
"Ryan.
That doesn't sound like a woman covering up an affair.
That sounds like something else."
"I know."
"Have you called Sarah's family?"
I hadn't.
I called Sarah's sister, Meg, immediately.
The phone rang once and Meg picked up like she'd been waiting.
"Ryan." Her voice was tight.
"Thank God.
I've been trying to reach you for ten days."
I went cold.
"What?"
"I called your cell.
I called the hotel in Denver.
I even called your office.
Someone kept telling me you were unavailable." She exhaled.
"Sarah called me two weeks ago.
She said something was wrong.
She said your mother had been acting strangely and she was worried.
And then she stopped answering her phone and I—" Meg's voice broke.
"I thought maybe I was overreacting.
I thought maybe they'd worked it out."
"Meg.
Did Sarah say anything specific?
Anything about a man named Marcus Hale?"
Silence.
"Where did you hear that name?" Meg said.
"Diane showed me photographs.
A private investigator's report.
She said Sarah left with him."
"Ryan." Meg's voice dropped.
"Marcus Hale is Sarah's cousin.
They grew up together.
He lives in Portland.
He's been married for twelve years."
The photographs.
The restaurant.
The car.
His hand on her arm.
Not a lover.
Family.
"Diane knew that," I said.
It wasn't a question.
"She had to," Meg said.
"Sarah introduced them at your wedding.
Diane was there."
I leaned against Joel's hallway wall and closed my eyes.
"Meg, I need you to think carefully.
Did Sarah say anything else in that last call?
Anything about where she was going or what she was planning to do?"
Meg was quiet for a moment.
"She said she had found something.
In the house.
She wouldn't tell me what it was.
She said she needed to make a copy before your mother realized she'd seen it."
"A copy of what?"
"I don't know.
She said she'd call me back that evening." A long pause.
"She never called back."
From the kitchen, I could hear Carol talking softly to Lily.
The sound of a spoon against a bowl.
"I'm going to find her," I said.
"Ryan." Meg hesitated.
"Be careful with your mother.
Sarah was scared of her.
She didn't say it directly, but I could hear it."
I hung up.
Joel was watching me from the doorway.
"Marcus Hale is Sarah's cousin," I said.
Joel nodded slowly.
"So the whole envelope was a setup."
"Yes." I looked at my phone.
"And Sarah found something in the house before she disappeared.
Something she wanted to copy."
May you like
Joel straightened.
"Then it's still there."
