AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Rebecca saw no reason to tell these ghosts from her past about Fred. Instead, she laughed and congratulated them, then slowly shifted to the topic at-hand.
“We came to visit Mom, but she never came home last night. We’re worried.”
Franklin and Conner exchanged glances. “Are you suggesting she’s a missing person?” Conner asked.
Rebecca stuttered with disbelief. “I don’t know. Her neighbor saw her yesterday, but—”
As Rebecca stuttered, Franklin’s and Conner’s expressions grew harder, less welcoming.
“When was the last time you saw your mother, Rebecca?” Conner inquired.
“Oh. Gosh. It’s been longer than I’d like to admit.” Rebecca swallowed.
“Esme Gardner is an esteemed member of this community. As guardians of that community, we must respect her privacy,” Franklin continued.
“And I imagine she wouldn’t be too keen on her ex-husband and her estranged daughter meddling in her business,” Conner finished.
Rebecca’s mouth was very dry. “I just can’t imagine where she would have gone. Her phone keeps going to voicemail.”
Conner waved his hands. “We at the Nantucket Police Force know better than to get involved with Sutton family drama.”
Franklin chortled. “You know it.”
Conner turned on his heel and headed for the door. Franklin followed him, his keys jangling from his belt.
“What if she doesn’t come back tonight?” Rebecca demanded. “Or tomorrow?”
Franklin turned back to lock eyes with her. “Listen, Rebecca. Everyone on this island knows all about the Suttons. Everyone knows that Esme has lived a much better and happier life without you. If you don’t hear from Esme right now, I have to assume that’s by choice. Esme doesn’t want to be found.”
Rebecca’s voice cracked. “But we’re worried about her!”
Franklin and Conner exchanged glances. “Nothing bad ever happens in Nantucket, Rebecca. You know that.”
“But we’ll reach out to her ourselves,” Conner affirmed. “If we find it necessary.”
Stunned, Rebecca made her way to the front door and watched as they ambled to their cop car. They seemed self-satisfied, as though they’d stood up for a member of their community in a way that upheld their state and their constitution. Rebecca bit her lip and felt another wave of worry fall over her. Nobody, it seemed, could help her find Esme.
Behind her, Victor put on his shoes. “I’m going for a walk,” he announced. “I have to get out of this godforsaken house.”
Rebecca stepped back and watched him. He raked his fingers through his gray hair as he walked out the front door, his face stoic. For a moment, as he grew smaller on the walkway and disappeared down the sidewalk, Rebecca was grateful he was gone. He was the source of her family’s poison. As their father, wasn’t he supposed to be the one who put them back together again? But in a moment, as the immense house and its cataclysmic memories shrouded her, she shivered with loneliness. At the piano bench, she studied the beautiful photograph of her mother and Larry, her mother’s eyes alight with promise for a day she could never get back.
Where on earth was she? And why was it suddenly so necessary that Rebecca find her and repair the damage they’d wrought?
Chapter Nine
Five years ago, in a moment of weakness, Rebecca had added her two little sisters as friends on Facebook. Both Bethany and Valerie had agreed to Rebecca’s friend requests, but neither had written a thing. Such was the way of the Sutton family.
At the time, Lily had been sixteen and a terror. She’d gotten into two car accidents in the span of two months and was obsessed with the fact that nobody understood her. Rebecca even caught her smoking pot. “It reminds me of being a teenager,” Rebecca had sighed to Fred. “Gosh, my sisters and I used to get in so much trouble.”
Rebecca, Bethany, and Valerie Sutton were Nantucket’s Sutton sisters. At one time, they were well-known in every establishment around the island, which allowed them free ice cream cones, funny banter with shop clerks, french fries served on the house, and free rides home from friends of their father and mother. They were tanned and beautiful, each with singular talents and very long, wavy brunette hair. Although they each had unique facial features, they could have been nothing but sisters. They came as a unit. To everyone, it seemed they would take on the world.
Of the three, Bethany was probably the most academic and responsible. At summer beach parties, it had always been Bethany who reeled Rebecca in, demanding they head home before Esme came to check on them. Fittingly, Bethany had gone to medical school and become a surgeon in Savannah, Georgia. She’d married a surgeon and had three genius children.
Now, Rebecca pulled up Bethany’s Facebook. A profile picture displayed a beautiful and wholesome-looking woman next to a similarly handsome and wholesome-looking man. They spent their days saving people’s lives on the operating table. Would Bethany even find space in her heart to care about what was happening on Nantucket? Had she fully turned her back on the Suttons?
Bethany’s profile listed her phone number. Rebecca typed it with shaking fingers and listened as it rang and rang across the East Coast. When Bethany didn’t answer, Rebecca collapsed on the living room couch and reassessed. Why would Bethany answer a phone call from a number she didn’t recognize?
REBECCA: Hi, Bethany. It’s your sister Rebecca. Could you give me a call?
