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“I didn’t think she was going to be here,” I told him, trying unsuccessfully to wriggle myself from his grip. “I just want to see if I can get some proof that something happened to her.”
“You’re not gonna find anything,” Joaquin said with a condescending laugh.
“Can you please take your hand off of me?” I asked, a hot rage simmering just under my skin.
“Hey, friend! I think she said get your hand off of her,” Aaron yelled, starting up the walk.
Instantly, Joaquin raised his palms in surrender. “Sorry, man. Didn’t realize you were her bodyguard.”
The moment I was free, I shoved inside, tore up the stairs to the second floor, and threw open the door to Olive’s room.
It was empty. The bed was made, all the corners neatly tucked and the pillows perfectly arranged. The furniture had been dusted and it gleamed in the sunlight pouring through the freshly wiped windows. There were no papers on the desk, no clothes on the chair. Even the fresh-cut flowers were gone. It was as if Olive had never been here.
I stepped tentatively into the room. The windows were closed and locked, and the air was still and stifling. I stared at the spot where her guitar had stood, as if I could will it to reappear. Slowly, I walked around the bed to the desk. I ran my fingers over the surface, pausing where the letter to her mother had been. The silence was so complete my ragged breath sounded like a freight train. Had she come back to pack up and then left? Why hadn’t she come to see me? Why hadn’t she said good-bye?
A squeak sounded nearby, and I whirled around. The door to the closet was slightly ajar and I could have sworn I saw a shadow slip deeper inside, out of sight. I froze in place.
“Hello? Is someone in there?” I said, my voice cracking with fear.
Nothing. Fingers trembling, I reached for the brass knob.
Another creak. I looked up and saw Mrs. Chen pause just outside the door. I let out a sigh of relief. It was only the landlady. Clearly, my mind was messing with me.
“Hi, Mrs. Chen,” I said. “Do you know if—”
She was so stooped the hem of her faded flowered housecoat grazed the planks of the floor, but the moment I spoke, she started moving again, faster than I would have thought possible.
“Mrs. Chen?” I said.
She ignored me, darting up the stairs to the third floor.
“Wait! Mrs. Chen!” I said, going after her. “Where’s all of Olive’s stuff?” Mrs. Chen stopped at a door and fumbled with her huge set of keys, her fingers trembling.
“She sent for it,” she said.
“She did?” I said, half-relieved, half-baffled. “When? Where did she have it sent?”
“I don’t know.” She shoved a key into the doorknob in front of her. “You need to go.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” I said as she opened the door and moved inside. I could see a sparsely decorated living room behind her and stacks of magazines piled up under a window, everything from Popular Mechanics to InStyle to Cottage Home. “Did you pack it up?” I asked. “Did someone come for it, or did you have to send it out?”
“It’s not my business and you’re trespassing,” Mrs. Chen said, already closing the door on me. “Now go!”
“No, wait! Mrs. Chen! I just want to know where she is. I want to know if she’s okay,” I said.
The door stopped closing with inches to spare. Mrs. Chen peeked out, her eyes watery behind her thick glasses. “She’s fine, miss,” she whispered, glancing toward the stairs. A chill went through me. Why was she whispering? And what did she mean by fine? Then she reached out one craggy hand and clasped it around my wrist. Her skin was surprisingly warm, and I felt a pleasant, almost comforting flutter inside my chest. “She’s…better
off where she is. Now go.”
And then she closed the door.
As I staggered down the steps toward Aaron, everything tilted. I grabbed for the banister and paused, bringing my hand to my forehead, trying to breathe.
“She’s still not there?” Aaron asked me.
I shook my head, not trusting my voice or what I might blurt out, and started slowly past him. Joaquin was gone, thank goodness. I wasn’t sure I could deal with him right now.
Why would she just send for her stuff? Why wouldn’t she come by and explain?
