foot five inches tall and weighs around 120 pounds, according to police reports. She was last seen wearing a canary-yellow sweater, black trousers, and pink Converse sneakers. She had a black holdall with a minimal amount of clothing, despite the proposed length of her stay.
This was different to previous communications, but one thing was clear: another message had been left for me. But who had placed it in my room? And when? I checked the date, counting on my fingers. Kelly had left home ten months before Leo was born. He would have been conceived around October. Were Sheridan and Daniel the secret couple she had spoken about? I imagined Kelly living in a trailer park full to the brim with siblings. No room, but plenty of time to daydream. A life different from mine in so many ways, yet the same. Was she driven to desperate measures, too? In the photo she was a pretty girl with long blonde hair. The same shade as Leo’s. The same blue eyes. I had gazed into Daniel’s long enough to see a likeness there, too.
But if Kelly had agreed to meet them, she could not have been pregnant at that point. Had she acted as a surrogate? Did Sheridan promise to train her in return for hiring out her womb? I played the scenario out in my mind. Kelly with Daniel in this room . . . maybe even in this bed. Sheridan had taken a risk, if this was the case. Kelly had met the couple in a chat room, not a private site. She had not been bound by a confidentiality agreement before she left. Had Sheridan learned from her mistakes this time around? Where was Kelly now? I folded back the paper, then noticed another clipping that must have been tucked into the first. This clip was smaller, and I opened it tentatively, filled with a rising sense of dread. The headlines were enough to make my world come to a standstill.
FOUR-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF CAROLINA WAITRESS DISAPPEARANCE
The mother of a Carolina waitress who went missing four years ago has pleaded with the public to end her suffering and help reveal if her daughter is dead or alive. Kelly Blunt, then aged twenty-one, gave up her job and traveled to New York to pursue her dream of becoming an actress. She told family and friends she planned to stay with a couple that she met through a chat room online. She has not been seen since. Numerous friends, family, and work colleagues have been interviewed regarding her disappearance, but no further ground has been made. ‘It’s like she disappeared into thin air,’ her mother said. ‘I need to bring my baby home.’
Carolina State police investigators are appealing to the public for help. ‘Someone knows where Kelly is. We ask that they come forward, using our anonymous helpline if necessary.’
I read the rest of the story. Kelly had never been found.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
ROZ
I raced around grabbing my clothes, barely able to believe that my request had been granted. Not only had Daniel agreed to my visit to a church, but we were also bypassing Sheridan’s schedule and going today. This could be my last opportunity to get a message to the outside world. A thousand thoughts ran through my mind. Why was I panicking? I had planned for this.
I shoved my foot through the thick woollen tights that Sheridan insisted I wear. I had told Daniel that I would hardly interrupt someone mid-prayer, but that was exactly what I was going to do. I would scream the church down if I had to. I was not leaving until I got help. I could imagine the church filled with people, a hundred pairs of eyes on me. Would they think I was a crazy woman? What if George dragged me out? I slipped my grey smock dress over my head. Now I had grown, it fitted quite nicely over my bump. I thought of the homeless people I had encountered in New York. Of how people stepped over them as they lay on the pavement, ignoring their pleas for help. Would they ignore me, too? I needed a back-up, just in case my plan didn’t work. I checked my watch, my stomach doing somersaults. I had five minutes.
Pulling open my dresser drawer, I rooted through my art supplies. Ripping off a sheet of sketch paper, I gripped the pencil, writing as quickly as I could.