Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 75015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75015 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 375(@200wpm)___ 300(@250wpm)___ 250(@300wpm)
“No, I get it.” Zoey lowered her gaze to Eve’s purse again. With shaking hands, she grabbed it by the strap and placed it on her lap to dig through it. When she pulled out the charred necklace, her eyes filled with tears. “But if it is one of her disappearing acts, she wouldn’t have done this.” Zoey placed the necklace on the table. It offered a gentle clatter.
“That’s the one your grandmama gave her?” Daddy asked, leaning forward and studying it.
“Yes. She would never try and burn it. She never took it off.”
“Yeah, I remember,” Daddy murmured.
“I’m with Zoey on this one, Diana,” I said. “Even though we know how Eve is, this feels different. Not answering her phone is one thing, but booking a trip to Thailand and not having her passport? Her favorite necklace in a fireplace? Her car in a random sheriff’s garage? No, this isn’t like her at all.”
“No, it’s not,” Zoey insisted, her eyes welling with tears. She started breathing heavily but I slid my chair closer to hers and began rubbing her back to calm her down. She did . . . only a little.
“But the good thing is I spoke to a good deputy there,” I said, looking into Zoey’s eyes. “Her name is Kennedy. I think we can trust her to look into this. She said she would speak to a friend of hers who knows their district attorney. Hopefully that will help figure this out.”
Zoey’s glossy eyes swam with a pinch of relief.
“Now district attorneys are getting involved?” Diana’s eyes expanded as she dropped her arms. “How crooked is this sheriff?”
“Very,” I answered. “I don’t trust him. He seems more like someone who hurts more than he protects.”
“Well, it’s a good thing you have the good cop helping you.” Daddy wiped his mouth with a napkin.
“I probably shouldn’t have left,” I said.
“You absolutely should have left,” Diana countered with furrowed brows. “We can’t have two people we know in trouble. You were smart for coming back.”
“Hopefully this is all just one big misunderstanding,” Daddy offered. “Hopefully Eve is fine but really needed time to herself and decided to leave everything behind. Maybe she knew you all would see that trip she booked to Thailand and take the bait. I never said it, but I worry about her mentally. Eve isn’t well. We all know this.”
That was true. Eve had a lot of mental issues—things that I told her she needed to seriously look into. She’d always shrug off the way she acted, saying things like This is just who I am, or Gotta love me or leave me, right?
But being as attention-seeking as she was, wasn’t normal. Coming to my house crying because she felt lost and heartsick for no apparent reason, wasn’t normal. Waking up in the middle of the night because of night terrors about being abused wasn’t normal. Sleeping with your best friend’s husband wasn’t normal.
Eve needed help, whether she wanted to admit it or not. It wouldn’t have surprised me if perhaps she did suddenly just snap and said fuck it all. But if she did, that made this situation even more dangerous. A woman going through a mental crisis wasn’t safe. And if that were the case, we needed to find her as soon as possible.
Of course, I didn’t voice this to my family. Zoey would’ve freaked out. Diana and Daddy would’ve told me to let it go. As badly as I wanted to drop it, I couldn’t. “I think I’m going to head back home,” I said after we ate some of Diana’s apple pie. “I haven’t been sleeping well and I miss my bed.”
“I can imagine you haven’t.” Daddy stood when I did. After delivering hugs to Diana and Zoey, Daddy walked me to my car. “Rosette,” my father said when I was seated in the driver’s seat. The door was still open, and he was clinging to it, looking right at me.
“Yeah, Daddy?”
“I know how your mind works better than anyone else.” He looked me deep in the eyes with his warm brown gaze. “Promise me that whatever you decide to do, you’ll be careful.” His features were hard, unwavering.
My throat thickened as I nodded. “I’ll be careful. I promise.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
I needed to keep myself busy while in my apartment. Daddy was right. I had ideas churning in my brain, but I wanted to leave Eve’s disappearance to the professionals. Kennedy was looking into it and there was only so much I could do as an average citizen.
I sat at the dining table and opened my laptop. As soon as the home screen lit up, I returned to my document on Robert Cowan and proceeded to work on the article. I had one more day, and Herbert was going to grill me if I didn’t get it in. He hated missing deadlines.