Page 259 of Commander’s Mate

Not like that.

“What if they buried us?” she asked.

No one answered.

“What if there are funerals?” Zoe continued. “Missing-person posters. News stories. What if my apartment is gone? What if they packed my stuff?”

“Zoe,” Nora said softly.

“I know it’s stupid.”

“It’s not.”

She looked at me.

“You were taking out the garbage.”

“Yes.”

Scarlet’s mouth twisted.

“Billy probably spent three days waiting at the door.”

The dog.

Her voice changed.

“I keep thinking that.”

Nora moved closer.

Scarlet did not stop her.

“I keep thinking maybe someone took him. A neighbor. Animal control. Maybe Jake’s sister.”

Jake.

The name entered the room quietly.

I had heard enough to know not to push.

Scarlet stared at the floor.

“I promised myself after he died that I was never doing this again.”

“This?” Zoe asked.

“Waiting for somebody in uniform to come home.”

Pyrr.

She did not say his name.

She did not need to.

Nora leaned against the table.

“Then don’t promise.”