“How is Coco?” Alice asks gently.
“Oh, she’s fine.” My fingers curl around the balcony railing. “When we arrived, she went straight to Sadie’s flip-flops.”
Alice’s breath catches softly. “Oh. I’m sorry.”
“I know.” I purse my lips and take a long breath. “Well, I don’t want to keep you. I’m sure you’re busy, but I wanted to ask you something. I found an envelope without a name among the mail you brought in. Was it in the mailbox too, or did someone hand it to you? It wasn’t postmarked. I’m afraid to open it in case it’s for someone else in the building.”
I hear a faint rustle on her end, like fabric moving. “No, all the mail I brought in was from the mailbox. Just the usual things, mostly flyers.”
“Right.” I roll the pendant between my fingers. “That’s fine then.”
There’s another small pause. “Is everything okay?”
I look out at the ocean, at the place where the water meets the sky.
“Yes,” I lie. “Thank you again…for everything you did for us and for?—”
“You don’t have to thank me,” she says quickly, stopping me before I say Sadie’s name. “You’re my favorite family to work for, always will be.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” I say, knowing that when she joined us, we were a family of three. Now, only two of us are left.
We hang up, and I stay on the balcony a little longer, the phone still warm in my hand.
In the distance, I hear Scarlett’s faint laughter, probably because of something Coco did.
The world continues as if nothing has changed.
But the very ground I’m standing on has shifted. If Sadie is alive, someone has been lying to me. And they know where she is.
FOUR
A short while later, Gabriel enters the apartment.
His jet-black hair, the same as Sadie’s, is perfectly styled, not a strand out of place, thanks to his love for hair gel. As usual, his onyx eyes are slightly narrowed in that familiar way, like he’s studying something up close.
He’s wearing an expensive midnight-blue button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up, exposing his forearms, lightly dusted with dark hair, and the Rolex he never takes off, a gift from me two Christmases ago. He definitely looks like a man who belongs in a courtroom, commanding everyone’s attention.
But when he kisses my lips and folds me in a hug, I think I smell it, the faint scent of alcohol on his breath. I kiss him again to make sure, but no longer smell anything. He gave up drinking three months ago, but I continue being on high alert.
After Sadie disappeared, he found comfort at the bottom of a bottle far more often than in my arms. He even snuck off to bars at night.
“Where’s the photo?” he asks, dropping his black travel bag on the floor.
Scarlett appears in the doorway with Coco at her heels. “What photo?”
I close my eyes briefly, then excuse myself to retrieve it from inside my bedside drawer, leaving the note behind.
Back in the kitchen, I find Gabriel standing in front of the fridge, holding a bottle of wine. I had asked Alice not to buy any alcohol. Seeing that bottle makes my stomach twist. It’s only half full, which suggests it was from the last time we were here, before he had a problem with drinking.
I blow out a slow breath when he quietly pours the wine into the sink.
When he turns, I give him a small smile and place the photo on the counter.
The moment Scarlett sees it, she recoils, clutching her throat. “That can’t be…Sadie?”
“I don’t know, but it looks so much like her. I think?—”
“It’s fake.” Gabriel’s voice is firm and decisive, the kind he uses in court when he knows he’s right.
