“Just trust me.”
“You sure you ladies want to get out here?” Lou asked, biting into another one of the apples from the orchard. He leaned against the window with one elbow. “Place looks like the start of a horror flick if you ask me. Since we go way back, I won’t charge extra for a round trip if you wanna rethink.”
“We’re sure, and thank you for your time, sir.” Honey gave one last look to the cab driver, struck by how different this all felt from the day he’d first brought her rattling down the dirt road to the Hale orchard. Back then she’d been clutching her bag like a shield, unsure what she was getting into. Now she was stepping out on purpose, choosing the strangeness instead of flinching from it.
Lou tipped his chin, flashing a grin. “Suit yourself, sweetheart. Don’t say I didn’t warn ya.”
She gave him an extra tip, and as soon as they got out, she felt it. The air buzzed strangely here, like static just before a storm. The concrete shimmered faintly, as if heat rose off asphalt, though it was nowhere near warm enough for that.
They walked up to the door and rang the buzzer. After a long pause, the intercom crackled. A tired voice answered, “Can I help you?”
“We’re looking for someone who might be staying here,” Ruby said.
There was a pause, then: “This is a secure facility. We don’t give out resident information.”
“I understand,” Honey said quickly. “We’re not here to cause trouble. We don’t want to disrupt anything. But…if she’s here, she’s missing a family who still loves her. Her daughters need her.”
“Her sisters need her more,” the voice hissed.
The intercom clicked off, and something in Honey snapped.
“Dammit,” Ruby said.
Honey stepped forward and slammed her fist against the door. “No!” she shouted, voice ringing out down the empty block. “You tell her—Leticia Westbrook—you tell her Brooke still checks the mailbox like she might get a letter. That Emma has a boy she likes and needs her mother to help her with her hair. That Melly has a box of photos waiting for her mom to see!”
Ruby stood beside her. “Okay, damn,” she whispered. “Go, Honey.”
Honey banged on the door again. “She has a family! Responsibilities! She doesn’t get to run away and pretend her children don’t exist! They deserve better than that!”
Honey’s chest heaved, and she pounded again on the door with her fist until her hand ached. “And you remind her she left her power, but more importantly, she left her kids!”
She dropped her aching hand and stood there while her chest heaved. This couldn’t be happening. They couldn’t come all this way just to be shut out.
Just when she was looking up and considering if shecould figure a way to reach the second-floor window, a soft buzz came.
“Oh, shit,” Ruby said.
The door creaked open, and a tall woman stepped into view. She was draped in layers of black and deep forest green. Her lipstick was the color of dried blood, and her voice was cold and bone-tired. “You’ve got five minutes. If she doesn’t want to see you, you’ll have to leave.”
They stepped inside, and the room was like being back in another time. Stone walls with floating lights that blinked like fireflies overhead. The air smelled damp with something like burning wood and oranges.
“Wait here,” the woman said, and then disappeared behind a large wooden door.
Honey and Ruby barely had time to exchange a glance before another figure appeared.
She looked nothing like the photo Melly slept beside. This woman was…still. Her hair fell down her back in a sleek braid. Her face was more angular now, beautiful and cold.
But, as Honey stared at her, she could pick out the pieces of the girls. Melly’s nose. The shape of Emma’s chin. Brooke’s hair.
“You must think I’m an awful person,” Leticia said.
“I do.”
“Honey…” Ruby warned.
But Leticia didn’t flinch.
Honey stepped forward. “You left three daughters. You walked away from your family.”
