Chapter 5: The Call Three Weeks Ago
The folding chair scraped against the floor as I stood up.
"Three weeks ago," I repeated.
"Three weeks before our wedding."
"Yes."
"And you said nothing."
"I didn't know what it meant yet.
I didn't want to—"
"What did she say?"
Graham pressed his hands together in his lap.
"Her name is Carol.
Sandra's sister.
She said she'd found something in their mother's house while clearing it out after the funeral.
Letters.
From Sandra."
I waited.
"Sandra had been writing to their mother.
Not sending them — just writing them and keeping them.
Carol found a bundle of them in a shoebox.
The last one was dated about eight months after Sandra disappeared."
"So she was alive."
"She was alive eight months after she left.
Yes."
"What did the letters say?"
He looked up at me.
"Carol only read me part of one.
She said she needed to speak to me in person before she said more.
She's coming next week." He paused.
"She was going to come next week.
After the wedding."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because I didn't know what she was going to say.
Because I didn't want our wedding overshadowed by something that might turn out to be nothing.
Because—" He stopped.
"Because you were afraid," I said.
"Yes."
I walked to the small window at the far end of the room.
Outside, the evening had settled in.
The parking lot was lit by a single orange lamp.
Someone's car had its hazard lights blinking slowly, rhythmically, like a slow pulse.
"Does Millie know about Carol's call?"
"No.
Absolutely not."
"Does Diane?"
A pause.
"I mentioned it to her.
Briefly."
I turned around.
"That's why she wasn't surprised tonight.
When I asked if she knew.
She wasn't surprised."
"She didn't know the details—"
"She knew enough to not be surprised, Graham." I crossed my arms.
"Who else knew things they weren't surprised by tonight?"
"No one.
I swear."
I looked at him for a long moment.
The man I had married six hours ago.
The man whose daughter had walked beside me in white and flowers and a secret she'd been carrying like a small, heavy stone.
"I want to be there," I said finally.
"When Carol comes.
Whatever she has to say, I want to hear it."
Graham nodded.
"Okay."
"And Graham." I picked up one of the wedding programs from the table.
Looked at our names.
Set it back down.
"If there is one more thing — one more thing you haven't told me — I need you to tell me now.
Not next week.
Not after Carol leaves.
Now."
He opened his mouth.
Then his phone buzzed in his jacket pocket.
He glanced at the screen and went very still.
"Who is it?" I asked.
May you like
He turned the phone so I could see the name on the screen.
It said: Carol.
