“I need you to make me a promise,” Lakshmi says, as she clips in her seat belt. “Mr. Cigarette and Nikki were ... concerning. I’m worried about your safety as you take this forward. Promise me you’ll be careful.”
“I’ll be careful.”
“You have to tell someone where you are, okay? No looking for Jessica without telling me or your family how to find you.”
“I promise.”
“And we’re going to enable location sharing on our phones so I can always find you.”
“I already have that set up with my parents and Andrea, but, yes, we can do that, too.” Diana squeezes Lakshmi’s forearm. “I’m really grateful for your help.”
Lakshmi offers a small smile and restarts the car. As she drives them out of the neighborhood, toward Alcott, Diana keeps her eyes fixed on number twenty-five.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The next day finds Diana back at Sully’s for lunch. As she waits for her order, she checks out the announcements pinned to the bulletin board by the front door.
“Do you think they ever found this cat?” A woman to her left, wearing dark sunglasses and a wool coat, her head swaddled in a plaid scarf, points to a “Lost and Found” notice for a missing cat named Belle. “The date on this is a month ago. Maybe she came home?”
“Maybe,” Diana says.
“I always wanted a cat. Do you have one?”
“When I was little, my family had a cat named Pearl.” Diana smiles. “She liked to eat blueberries and sleep on my pillow.”
“And now?”
Diana turns to the woman. She looks familiar, but it’s hard to tell with the scarf and sunglasses obscuring her face and hair. It’s strange she’s so bundled up on this warm day. “No, my husband was allergic to cats.”
“Diana, your order’s up!” Stephanie calls from the counter.
“Excuse me,” the woman says. She slides past Diana on her way out the door, leaving behind the faint smell of cigarettes.
I must have met her at the library,Diana thinks, as she turns back to the “Lost and Found” notice. Printed in large text across the posting, above a photo of a black cat with elongated whiskers, is a plea:We must find her.
Just as I must find Jessica,Diana thinks.What if I can’t?
This question occupies her as she picks up her sandwich and her second large cappuccino of the day and walks down Main Street, past the post office, the florist, and Alcott Bank.What Are the Consequences If I Don’t Find Jessica?
She sips her drink, and the ideas come to her, one by one:
If I don’t find Jessica, this will be all I have: a story without an ending.
There will be gaps. Always.
I’d never know the full truth.
I’ll never understand why Tom left me that letter.
Her phone rings, and Diana stops in front of the library’s garden, where the tulip bed is already filled with green stems, a sure sign spring is on its way. She drops her sandwich into her tote and retrieves her phone from her jacket pocket.
Alcott Elementary School.“Dammit,” she says, answering the call with a frantic jab at the screen.
“Mrs. Morgan? Hi, it’s Rosemary Sekella.”
“Is Phoebe okay?” Diana doesn’t offer a greeting; calls from Phoebe’s teacher in the middle of the school day are never a good sign.
“Phoebe had a little scuffle on the playground during recess. She’s physically fine, but she’s been upset since and can’t settle. Are you available to pick her up?”
