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Instead, she’d sit in the comfortable car and call her mother.
Punching in her mom’s number, she shifted in the seat and kept her gaze locked on the door. An officer stood guard, adding to the little sense of security she had. She checked on Nora, sound asleep and oblivious to the danger around them.
The phone rang twice before her mom answered. “Hello? Marie, is that you?”
For the first time in as long as she could remember, relief flooded over her at the sound of her mother’s voice. “Yes, it’s me. Did you talk to the police again? Have you heard from Renee?”
“Still nothing, but I did speak to the officer at the station again. He asked me some more questions, and I gave him as many details as I could remember.” Her mom spoke quickly—too quickly.
Marie constricted her grip and prayed her mom’s fast-paced speech was due to nerves and not something she’d shot into her veins to take away her worry and fear. “Is he looking for her?”
“Yes. Thank the deputy you’re with for stepping in. Hopefully, now that they believe me, they’ll find her.”
“I hope so,” Marie said. She hadn’t told her mom about her suspicions about Bill. If she was right—which she knew she was—her mom couldn’t do anything to help. Being completely honest could possibly push her over the edge of her shaky sobriety…if she hadn’t already jumped over that cliff.
“What happens now? Are you coming home? Maybe you can help find your sister?”
Tension squeezed her chest. “Hopefully, l’ll be heading home soon.”
“Good,” Wanda said. “Then you and that grandbaby of mine can stay with me and things can go back to normal.”
Normal—was that even a possibility after what she’d been through? She’d return to her dead-end job and keep her mom clean while caring for Nora, but she wasn’t the same person she’d been when she’d left. She was stronger, wanted more from life.
She wanted Owen.
Her stomach muscles clenched. She had nothing to offer a man like him, not to mention nothing keeping her in Water’s Edge. Staying here wasn’t an option, unless she wanted to look like a clingy girl holding on to a dream that would never come true. Which as the last type of example she wanted to set for her daughter.
“I don’t understand why you aren’t already on your way home.” The hard edge of her mom’s voice caught her off guard.
Anger surged inside her. This entire situation was her mom’s fault. “You wouldn’t understand, would you? You’ve never managed to look past your own needs to see anything else clearly.” Hysteria made the pitch of her voice so high it would cause dogs to bark.
“What are you talking about?” Her mom’s confusion just pushed her further toward the breaking point.
She couldn’t hold back any longer. Her mother’s shaky sobriety be damned. “Everything is your fault. You’re the reason I’m in this mess to begin with. You’re the reason Renee is gone. If you could have just stayed clean and kept away from those stupid drugs, none of this would have happened. But you couldn’t do that, could you? You couldn’t put your family and your own well-being above the fix.”
“Marie, honey, you don’t understand. If you’d just let me explain.”
Marie shook her head, unwilling to listen to the same lame excuses she’d heard her entire life.
A flash of movement caught her attention, and she shifted her focus back to the house.
The door opened and an officer stepped outside. He hurried down the sidewalk and crossed the lawn, the man who’d stood guard outside the door jogging into step beside him, to the neighboring house hidden behind a row of trees.
She leaned toward the driver’s seat to gain a better view of the men but couldn’t see anything though the heavy rain and barrier of tall branches and leaves. “I don’t have time for this. I’ve got to go.” She disconnected the call and tossed the phone on the seat beside her.
Tap, tap, tap.
Marie whipped around and her heart caught in her throat.
Bill stood at the rear of the car with her sister at his side, a gun pressed against her head. An idling car sat on the street behind him.
Lifting a finger to his lips, he crouched low and pushed her sister in front of him.
She kept her gaze locked on his, panic stealing her thoughts.
Bill stopped beside the passenger side and tried to yank open the door. A crooked grin dominated his mouth and rain streaked down his face. He pressed the gun against Renee’s side. “Open it. Now.” He mouthed the words.
Marie swallowed hard and did what he said.
