“I don’t know.” He sounded irritated, and I wanted to shake him. “She was gone when Charlotte and I came down from the attic.”
“Her car is here.”
“So she walked somewhere. Violet, focus.”
There was no focus. There was nothing in my head except the moment twenty years ago when I first realized that though we were all looking for Ben, he hadn’t made a sound. No giggles, no clumsy shuffles in his hiding place. Just nothing. Nothing at all.
“Where’s Dodie?” I nearly shouted.
In the kitchen, the phone rang. The sound was shrill in the silenthouse. Vail rose and walked to the kitchen, where I heard him pick up the phone. “Hello?”
Lisette,I thought. My panic spiraled. No one else had the phone number. It had to be—
“Hold on,” Vail said, and then he shouted, “Violet, it’s for you.”
I was already on my feet, half running to the kitchen. I snatched the receiver from his hand. “Hello?”
“Where is she?” Clay’s voice was an angry shout on the other end of the line.
“Clay?”
“Where is she?” he shouted again. “Where’s Lisette? What did you do to her?”
“What do you mean, where is she?” I shouted back at him. “She isn’t here. She’s staying with you.”
“She said she was going to her friend’s for a sleepover last night.” Clay was furious. He rarely got truly angry, and the rage in his voice made my panic spin harder. “She didn’t come home this morning, and when I called, there was no sleepover. She left last night.”
Oh, God. I looked out the kitchen window, where the sky had darkened and rain had started coming down. “Where the hell did she go?” I shouted at Clay. “You’re supposed to look after her! You’re supposed to keep track!”
“This is your fault!” he roared back. “What did you tell her, Violet? Some load of bullshit about ghosts? Did you tell her to come to you? What did you promise her? You said something to her, I know it. It’s just like you. You fed her a bunch of your crazy lies, and she believed you, and now she’s gone.”
“I didn’t tell her anything.” My panic had blurred into rage. It was just like Clay to blame me for his own mistakes. It must be so convenient, having a crazy ex-wife with a fucked-up life. He used me as a human garbage can so that he’d never have to be responsible ever again. “I didn’t promise her anything. She’s your responsibility, Clay.You wanted custody, didn’t you? You’re supposed to beso goodat this. So where is our daughter?”
It was petty, childish. It was beneath both of us. Lisette was gone, and we were sniping our old hurts at each other, our fruitless accusations from years ago. We were selfish and stupid, and I couldn’t help it, and neither could he.
“You’re a bitch,” Clay shouted over the phone. “You’re just trying to undermine me with her every chance you get. Well, it won’t work, Violet. You’re nuts, and Lisette knows it. You may have gotten her to buy your lies this time, but you’ll let her down. You always do.”
“Violet,” Vail said behind my shoulder, but I ignored him.
“Where could she have gone?” I asked Clay. “Who saw her last? She can’t drive yet. Does she have any money?” Had she hitchhiked? I thought I might throw up with fear.
“The money is gone from my wallet,” Clay replied. “I had less than a hundred bucks in there. I can’t believe she would do this. She didn’t say anything. What the hell did you say to her?”
“Violet,” Vail said again. He reached a hand out, but I swatted it away.
“We have to call the police,” I said to Clay. “There’s no other option.”
“It’s been less than twenty-four hours,” Clay shot back. “They won’t do anything.”
“Still, we have to call them,” I argued. “We have to talk to someone, make them see—”
Vail’s big hand yanked the receiver from me, while his other hand pushed my shoulder. “Clay,” he said into the phone, “she’s here. I just paid her cab driver.”
Clay yelled, and Vail kept talking—She’ll be fine, I don’t know, she just got here, we’ll take care of it.I barely heard. I ran to the front door, which Vail had swung open while I was on the phone. I got there in time to see a taxi’s taillights driving away.
My daughter stood in the doorway, a backpack in her hands. Her hair was in a messy ponytail and her face was pale.
“Mom?” she said, her voice shaking.
