Chapter 4 - The Girl Who Disappeared Seventeen Months Ago
Avery Reed had vanished on a rainy Thursday in May.
According to Detective Grant, she'd worked as an accounts assistant for a small transportation company near the Providence waterfront.
She was twenty-five.
She loved running.
She called her mother every Sunday.
And she had recently told a friend that a man she was dating had introduced her to people who could help her find a better job.
Then she disappeared.
Her apartment remained untouched.
Her car was discovered near a commuter parking lot.
Her bank accounts showed no activity after the day she vanished.
The police initially considered a voluntary disappearance.
But Avery's mother refused to believe it.
"She left her dog," Laura Reed told investigators. "My daughter would never leave without finding someone to care for him."
The case had slowly become one of several possible disappearances under review by a multiagency investigative team.
Now Megan sat opposite Detective Grant, holding a photograph of a stranger who might have suffered the fate Rick had planned for her.
"What about the other women?" Megan asked.
Tessa folded her hands.
"Two additional disappearances have similarities. But I'm not going to give you details that could compromise those investigations."
"Do you think they're alive?"
"I don't know."
It was the only answer Megan could trust.
After completing the interview and arranging to submit the original document through Elena, Megan visited Harbor Bloom.
The broken glass had been cleared away.
A temporary plywood panel covered the front window.
Nina stood behind the register wearing an oversized sweater and looking furious.
When Megan entered, she dropped the scissors she was holding.
Then she crossed the shop and wrapped her arms around her.
Megan began crying immediately.
"I'm sorry about the window."
Nina pulled back.
"If you apologize for someone else's crime one more time, I'm putting you on permanent rose-thorn duty."
Megan laughed through her tears.
It was the first genuine laugh she'd managed in days.
The shop smelled of eucalyptus, damp leaves, and fresh lilies.
Everything was familiar.
Everything felt painfully fragile.
Nina made tea while Megan explained what had happened at the mansion.
Not all of it.
Only what she could bear to say.
Nina listened with widening eyes.
"Damian Caruso?"
Megan nodded.
"The Damian Caruso?"
"Apparently."
Nina leaned against the counter.
"Well, that's terrifying."
"You're telling me."
"Was he awful?"
Megan thought carefully.
"No."
Nina looked surprised.
"Not even a little?"
"He was honest about being dangerous."
"That's somehow worse."
"Maybe."
Megan stared through the boarded window.
"I don't know what to think about him."
"Then don't decide yet."
Nina reached across the counter.
"You spent four years being told what to think. Maybe you deserve time to form your own opinions."
Megan smiled faintly.
Then the bell above the door rang.
A delivery man entered carrying a narrow cardboard box.
"For Megan Walsh."
Nina immediately stepped forward.
"Who sent it?"
"No name. Paid in cash."
Megan's stomach tightened.
The package was small.
Too small for flowers.
Elena had instructed her to preserve anything suspicious without opening it unnecessarily.
Megan called her attorney.
Within an hour, a police officer arrived to collect the package and document its delivery.
They eventually opened it as evidence.
Inside lay a silver bracelet.
Megan recognized it immediately.
Rick had bought it for her on their second anniversary.
Three weeks before their separation, it had disappeared from her jewelry box.
A folded note accompanied it.
YOU CAN RUN FROM ME. YOU CAN'T RUN FROM WHAT YOU OWE.
Nina read the message over the officer's shoulder.
"That man is insane."
Megan couldn't speak.
She had believed leaving Rick would end the relationship.
Now he was using everything she'd once loved as a weapon.
Elena helped her request emergency protective measures.
She also arranged a temporary apartment through a confidential support program.
Megan accepted.
Not because she wanted to hide forever.
Because she needed a place where Rick couldn't find her while the investigation continued.
When she returned to Damian's estate that evening to collect her belongings, she found him standing in the courtyard beside a black sedan.
A cold wind swept across the gravel.
He looked at her face and understood that something had happened.
"Rick contacted you."
"Not directly."
"Is Nina safe?"
Megan nodded.
"For now."
Damian's jaw tightened.
"I can have someone watch the shop."
"No."
He stopped.
She straightened.
"I know you're trying to help. But I don't want men following Nina around without her permission."
A long silence followed.
Then Damian nodded.
"You're right."
The response surprised her.
"You aren't angry?"
"Should I be?"
"Rick always got angry when I said no."
Damian's expression softened.
"Then Rick misunderstood what the word means."
Megan looked away before he could see how deeply the remark affected her.
"I've arranged somewhere else to stay."
"Good."
"I'm not telling you where."
"Also good."
For the first time, she smiled directly at him.
A small smile.
But real.
Damian looked momentarily caught off guard.
Then Moren appeared at the entrance.
"Mr. Caruso, you have a visitor."
"Who?"
"Laura Reed."
The name made Megan freeze.
Damian's face hardened.
"Why is she here?"
Moren lowered her voice.
"She says she knows you have a woman staying in the house."
Megan felt a sudden chill.
Laura Reed was Avery's mother.
The woman who had spent seventeen months searching for her missing daughter.
Damian glanced at Megan.
"You don't have to meet her."
Megan thought about the photograph Detective Grant had shown her.
Avery's smile.
The bicycle.
The necklace.
And the terrible possibility that someone had once promised Avery the same safety Megan desperately needed.
"I want to."
Damian studied her.
"Are you certain?"
"No."
Megan drew a breath.
"But I still want to."
They entered the sitting room together.
A woman in her late fifties stood near the fireplace wearing a faded red coat.
Her hands were shaking.
When she saw Megan, she stopped moving.
For several seconds, she simply stared.
Then she began crying.
"Oh, sweetheart."
Megan froze.
Laura covered her mouth.
"You're wearing it."
Megan looked down at the blue scarf around her neck.
It was an ordinary scarf she had purchased at a thrift store six months earlier.
"What?"
Laura stepped closer.
"That scarf."
Megan touched the fabric.
"Why?"
Laura's voice broke.
"I made it for my daughter."
The room fell silent.
Megan stared at the scarf.
An image flashed through her mind.
Rick returning home one evening with a cardboard box of clothing.
He'd claimed it belonged to an old roommate who had moved overseas.
Megan had found the scarf inside and asked whether she could keep it.
Rick had laughed.
Take it. She won't be needing it.
Laura reached for the edge of the fabric.
Sewn into one corner were two small white initials.
A.R.
Megan felt her knees weaken.
Because suddenly she understood something horrifying.
May you like
Rick Delaney hadn't merely known about Avery Reed.
He had possessed her belongings after she disappeared.
Related Stories
