“All I know is she and Cole got into a fight. She called me and asked if she could stay with me and I said yes. I waited up all night for her, but she never showed. I just figured they made up.” Johnathan shrugged as he shoved the stack of papers into an open briefcase beside him.
“If you’re lying to me, I will find out. You better believe that,” Emily said.
“I’m not lying about anything. I don’t know where she is.”
“Well, you better pray she’s all right. Because if something happened to her because of you, you’ll go missing next. I promise you that,” Emily growled as she spun around and stomped toward the exit door.
drowning
A week. An entire week had dragged by, and there was still not a single sighting of Blair. There had been search parties. There had been fliers stapled to every telephone pole in town. There had been a nightly reminder on the evening news.
But still.
Nothing.
Emily knew with every second that ticked by, the odds of finding her daughter alive and well grew smaller and smaller. There was no activity on her credit cards. There was no activity on her cellphone. It was as if she vanished, evaporated into thin air, leaving no heartstring of Emily’s uncut. Emily tried to be positive. She tried to push the darkest thoughts in her racing mind into the corner, but deep down, she knew…
That something was terribly, terribly wrong.
She felt everyone’s eyes on her when she went to the store or pumped her gas. She knew what they were thinking. How could she ever let her child disappear? How could she ever let this happen to her daughter? She had spent the entire weekend inside her house, the bottle in her hand, drowning every piece of regret and blame she felt. She was terrified to go outside. She knew that at any given second, she would break again, the tears running down her red cheeks in tiny rivers. Every time her phone rang was like a bomb sounding off in her hands, her heart racing with every answer, praying she wouldn’t hear the worst.
But no call ever came.
Emily’s boots shuffled up the slick, concrete steps of her ex-husband’s brick-front townhouse as she shoved her trembling hands into the pockets of her black peacoat. He promised her she would be found. Mitch promised her that he would do everything and anything to bring her back. It was time for him to keep that promise. Emily stepped on the small front porch of Mitch’s apartment and reached forward, pressing her finger against the glowing, oval doorbell. The chimes sounded off inside as Emily heard the soft footsteps inching toward the door. The door opened as Emily stared back at Callie Bradley, Mitch’s barely legal wife.
“Is he here?” Emily asked as Callie adjusted Lexi Bradley, their four-month-old baby, on her right hip.
“You couldn’t have called first?” Callie sighed as her eyebrows arched, the soft, cool breeze dancing through her long, platinum blonde hair.
“Is he here or not?” Emily snapped, her jaw tight as her fists clenched at her sides.
“He’s upstairs.” Callie sighed as she stepped back, clearing the doorway for Emily to enter. Emily stepped into the large foyer, rubbing her hands together as the heat inside warmed her rosy cheeks. Emily turned to her right, eying the spiral staircase in the corner of their industrial apartment. Emily hated this place. It was so cold with the white walls and modern décor. It didn’t feel like a home. It felt vacant and empty. Emily rushed up the staircase, stepping into a large office area. Emily stared forward to see Mitch sitting at his desk, his glasses barely hanging on the tip of his nose.
“Have you heard anything?” Emily asked, cutting the silence as Mitch turned in his black computer chair.
“No, have you?” Mitch asked, clearing his throat as he took his glasses off and dropped them on the paperwork scattered along the top of his L-shaped desk.
“I don’t even know what else to do, Mitch,” Emily said, pacing back and forth slowly. “I feel so helpless.”
“There is nothing else we can do, Emily. We’ve checked everywhere. We’ve called everyone,” Mitch said as he stood up, inching toward Emily.
“Then what are we supposed to do, huh?” Emily snapped, turning toward Mitch beside her. “Just sit around and wait? Just wait for them to find her body? Just sit around and twiddle our thumbs? We are her parents, Mitch. We can’t just give up.”
“Give up? Is that what you think I’m doing?” Mitch snarled, his eyes narrowing on Emily.
“You promised me you’d find her! You promised me she would be safe!”
“Oh, give me a God damn break, Emily! I’ve done every single thing I can think of! I got the news involved! I got the town together for the search! I’ve done it all while you sit on your fucking pedestal with a God damn liquor bottle in your hand!” Mitch yelled, the veins in his throat pulsating.
“God, here we go again with that!” Emily snarled, tossing her head back and staring up at the ceiling.
“Why are you here, huh? Are you here to bust my balls and tell me again what a terrible father I was? Are you here to just tear me down because you did a damn good job at that for the majority of our entire marriage!” Mitch screamed.
“No, Mitch! I am here because I’m tired of feeling like this! I feel so lost and so broken! I feel like everything is just crashing down and I can’t catch my breath. I’m drowning and as much as I hate to admit it, you’re the only one who understands, because she
