When Darkness Ends (Moments in Boston #3) - Marni Mann Page 0,77
understand this.” My voice rose even though I was trying to stay calm. “How does someone just disappear?”
He sighed, sounding like this job exhausted him, the bags under his eyes confirming it. “Responsibility can make or break a person, and Pearl certainly had a lot on her plate. Maybe her plate was full, and she took matters into her own hands. Maybe someone was jealous of her success. Maybe I’ve missed the nail entirely. We’ll find out …” He breathed loudly again. “And oftentimes, we don’t.” He handed me his card. “Call me if you remember anything else.”
I glanced at the bottom, where Detective O’Connell’s name had been printed with the police station’s address and his direct line, before shoving the card in my pocket. When I looked up, he was walking out the door.
“Ashe …” Gran whispered.
She was squeezed into the corner of the couch, her body the size of a small pillow.
I could only imagine the thoughts running through her head right now.
Pearl was her life.
She counted on her granddaughter for everything, including paying for the home they shared.
“We’ll find her,” I said softly.
We both needed to hear those words for entirely different reasons, but love was what we had in common.
“He didn’t sound convinced.”
I took a few breaths, pushing the emotion away so Gran wouldn’t see it. I needed to be strong for her even if I wanted to fall the fuck apart. “He doesn’t know her like we do.”
I’d spent two full years of college with this girl; there wasn’t anything I didn’t know about her. She wouldn’t have gotten so overwhelmed with her future that she would just take off. She would have called; she would have left a different note.
She would have told us she needed a break.
I was certain.
But for some strange reason, something the detective had said was repeating in my head, and I couldn’t get it to stop.
“Responsibility can make or break a person, and Pearl certainly had a lot on her plate.”
That was something I’d always said about her.
But that still didn’t explain this.
Fifty-Five
Kerry
He’d forgiven me.
Just like the man on the other side of the wall had said.
I didn’t know how long it had taken. I’d lost track of periods and nail-biting.
I just knew that after loads of groveling and begging, he’d accepted my apology.
The light then turned back on.
Food was left for me on the stairs, paperbacks in my possession again.
His playdates resumed, like there had never been a pause at all.
When I sounded as though I enjoyed the playing, when I was wet instead of him having to use his spit, he would make my plates of food extra full.
I would gag in the bucket the moment he went up the stairs.
But his good side was the one I wanted to stay on.
The side that rewarded me.
The side that was hopefully making me something to eat right now as I heard him banging around on the floor above, the light in the ceiling shaking from his movements.
With Beverly in my arms, I crawled across the floor and huddled in the corner.
That was my favorite place down here.
Even though the walls were cold, I could widen my shoulders and feel the cement on both sides, like I was getting a hug.
The sounds above got louder.
I squeezed Beverly and waited, wondering if I was going to get a break from the hell today.
I worried that I wasn’t.
The footsteps got heavier.
Pounding.
It sounded like there was more than one person up there.
I held my breath.
I clutched Beverly as tightly as I could.
The noise roared.
Almost … like thunder.
And then there was silence.
I jumped as the latch clicked.
Followed by one, two, three locks.
I could feel my heart pounding all the way in the back of my mouth.
Is he alone?
Is someone else coming down?
Will he hurt me too?
But as he got farther down the stairs, I saw that it was just him, his black boots making all the noise.
He had the white dress in his hands with the wide straps.
“Get over here,” he said, standing in front of my cot.
He was winded, unable to catch his breath.
His gobbler jiggled.
He pushed his glasses even though they were already at the top of his nose. “Hurry, goddammit. I’m not in the mood to wait.”
I knew these moods.
I’d experienced them in the past.
They usually resulted in blood.
Fifty-Six
Before
Ashe
I’d asked the detective how a person just vanished, and he’d given me a response. But with each day that passed, Pearl still not found, I asked myself the question again.