Long Gone

her?”

He nodded. “Said something about you being almost like a second daughter. Why didn’t you tell her, Sophie?”

“Because when Becca comes home, I don’t want her to be in trouble, either with Joann or around here.”

“I notice you say when Becca comes home.”

“It’s just a feeling I have.”

“Which is?”

“I don’t know whether to be scared for Becca or pissed off at her. One minute my mind is racing through all the horrible things that might have happened to her, and the next, I remember how adamant she was about walking home that night. I remember how secretive she’d been with me lately. At first I assumed it was because she knew I thought Dan Hunter was a total tool, but then even after they broke up and everything went down with Ashleigh and her friends, she still had all these mystery plans. She’d get all evasive about it. Said she liked having something that was ‘just hers.’ That’s what she called it. I guess that need for her to have something special is what led her to send that stupid picture to Dan. So, yeah, I’ve kind of wondered if her insistence on walking home that night might have been for a reason. Not to mention, no one’s saying a bad word about her at Linwood now. Sort of an added bonus.”

“Would she really put you through this? And her mother?”

“I don’t know. I really hope not, but then that would mean something bad has happened. And so, yeah, I convince myself there’s a side of Becca that might crave this kind of attention. I feel awful saying that about my best friend. Please tell me you won’t stop looking for her. You told me not to hold back, so please don’t punish Becca and Joann for it. Even if this is Becca acting out, she needs to be found. For her own good.”

He nodded. “I already promised her mother.”

Sophie was spinning her padlock closed when he turned back for a final question.

“You said Becca sent that picture to Dan? He didn’t take it with his phone?”

“No. Becca took it with her phone and sent it to him.”

“Her mom told me Becca doesn’t have a cell phone.”

“Sure she does. She got it a couple of months ago. I’ve called her, like, a thousand times, but it goes straight to voice mail. You mean Joann didn’t know?”

Chapter Twenty-Two

A lice was in her bed, thinking about friendship.

People go through life accumulating and occasionally discarding relationships, casually using the word friend to describe the human beings who flutter in and out of their daily worlds. But not everyone who can be counted on as good company at a new restaurant or an afternoon matinee or even a late- night visit to the emergency room can truly be called a friend. Only a true friend would have done for Alice what Lily Harper and Jeff Wilkerson had done for her today.

From the second they had heard about Drew, they had dropped everything. Lily, who had the Gorilla watching her every move at the office. Jeff, who was struggling to keep his practice afloat since he’d left that miserable firm only to learn that the economy had tanked months before the public realized. Despite their own responsibilities, the two of them had been there the instant she’d needed them and had not once taken a break, not for a phone call or an e-mail or even to rest. They had taken care of her the way only true friends could.

She had finally left Jeff’s apartment when she found herself nodding off on the couch. She had been tempted to accept his invitation to stay overnight, but had foreseen what would have developed. The shoulder rubs. The smell of his broken-in robe as she’d stepped inside it from the steaming shower. His gestures had been in friendship, but she knew herself well enough to interpret her own responses to them. Whatever journey their relationship was on, today was not the time for a major shift in direction. When Alice insisted on going back to her own place, Lily had proven her dedication once again by insisting she sleep on the sofa.

The ting-ting of the doorbell halted her thoughts. She was about to call out to Lily when she heard the release of the safety chain, followed by friendly murmurs. She assumed her self-appointed bodyguard had ordered a late dinner until she heard the voices getting louder.

“She’s had a bad fucking day, made all the worse by the fact that her own brother wasn’t there when she needed him. She must have called you fifteen times.”

And here Alice had thought she’d been discreet, feeling guilty about sneaking off for phone calls while Lily and Jeff had placed their own lives on hold for her.

“All I can say is you haven’t changed a bit. Take that however you’d like.” Her brother’s voice was simultaneously cutting and dismissive.

Alice stepped from bed and cracked open the door. “I’m still up, Lily. It’s okay. Sorry if he woke you.”

“No, I was up.” No complaints. No passive aggression. Just Lily, trying to stick up for her.

Ben didn’t bother moving the clothes from the only chair in the bedroom before plopping down. “Jesus Christ, that girl is and always has been such a royal cunt. There’s a screw loose with that chick.”

“Unh-unh. Not here, Ben. Not today.”

“Sorry, I just can’t believe you guys are friends. Irony of ironies, you know? She was the biggest sycophant in high school. She thought she was hot shit in podunk Mount Kisco. Treated me and my friends like scum until she realized who we were, then couldn’t get enough of us. You would have fucking hated her.”

Alice now wished that she and Lily had never figured out the few degrees of separation in their past lives. After her mother died, Lily had been raised by her father in Mount Kisco, just south of Bedford, where Alice’s family had a home. Alice and Ben had gone to school in the city, but had friends who were from local families. As best as Lily and Alice had been able to reconstruct, Lily was a year behind Ben. They were never close friends, but ran in the same weekend circles. She’d even been to their house for a couple of his parties, but had never met his little sister.

“You know what’s funny, Ben? It’s funny that you didn’t mention all that months ago when you found out we were friends. Maybe you suddenly remembered just now when she totally called you out?”

The words were harsh, but were delivered teasingly. Alice couldn’t help it. Ben could frustrate her, anger her, even break her, and somehow she always had a little smile for him, even when she was doing her best to bust on him.

“Whatever, fine. I was out of line.”

“Seriously? The c-word? Under my roof? About my friend?”

“I said I was sorry.”

“So you got my messages.” She crawled into the bed and bunched a pillow on her lap.

“Yeah. I’m sorry. I should have called you about the arrest. It never dawned on me it would make the news.”

“And you got the other messages? About the gallery?”

“Yeah. How’s that going? I’m really sorry I missed the opening.”

She shook her head. He had listened to the first message, maybe even the second, when she’d been calling about his arrest. But he’d obviously deleted the rest of them. Ben, I’ve got a man’s blood on my hands. Where are you? Beep. Jesus, Ben, you can’t even call me back when there’s been a murder at my job? Beep. I’m sorry Ben, but I could really use some family right now. And you know with Mom and Dad… Beep.

“So was it true? Were you arrested?”

“You called like it was some big Medellin Cartel bust or something. There was a complaint about the sidewalk noise outside of Little Branch. Some douchebag I didn’t even know mouthed off to one of the cops, so we all got frisked. I had some dope in my pocket. It’s no big deal. The lawyer says I’ll pay a fine and that’ll be that.”

“I thought your program required you to be completely clean. In the past, you’ve said the pot makes you more likely to slip into other drugs.”

“Can you give me a break? Please? I’ve been clean five years, and the Humphrey family still sees me as the junkie loser son. It was just a little pot. I promise.”