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I keep searching. Going through her e-mail, I find her credit cards and bank statements. You don’t run a billion-dollar software company and not know how to get past basic cyber security and firewalls.
“Ha!” I exclaim triumphantly. “Five days ago, Rachel booked a stay through Airbnb at a beach house in Charleston, South Carolina. She loves the water. The tranquility eases her mind, helps her think things through.” I hop out of my chair. “Let’s go.”
“I’m right behind you.”
We make the three-hour drive to Charleston in two and a half. As angry as I am at Dr. Bradly, I call her on the way and let her know we have a lead on Rachel’s whereabouts. She and Richard are blazing a path down the highway to get to her just in case the water is drawing Rachel to end things on her own terms.
I disagree with Dr. Bradly’s assessment. Rachel is far stronger than she gives her credit for. But it doesn’t mean I haven’t pushed her to the brink of doing something foolish. I pray she doesn’t turn her anger inward. Come on, baby, get good and angry atme. Make me pay for what I did to you. Make me suffer every bleeding day for the rest of my life. Just please be all right.
We pull into the driveway of a little blue beach house set high on stilts to avoid ocean surge during storms. I immediately spot her cherry red BMW coupe in the parking space under the house.
“At least we know we have the right place,” Parker says as the car rolls to a stop.
We unclick our seat belts and hop out of the car. Parker hesitates.
“Uh, are you cool with me coming with you?”
I consider it a moment. “Yeah, I may need you to keep her from killing me for showing up like this.” I look up just in time to see a curtain twitch in a front window. My heart soars.
Rachel.
Likely pissed as hell, but unharmed. I’m so relieved but so terrified to face her. Not only was I unforgivably cruel, but I was also a colossal fool for ever believing she’d written that letter in the first place.
Parker claps a hand on my back. “We didn’t drive all this way for nothing. This is your chance to explain and to let her know how you really feel.”
I take a deep breath and head up the stairs to her front door. Once I reach the top, I lift my undamaged hand to knock, but the door opens before I can make contact with it.
And there she is. Her hair’s down and disheveled, her eyes are puffy, and her nose is red and chafed. She tugs her beach robe closer around her, covering the green and white bathing suit beneath it.
“What’re you doing here?” Her voice is calm, and unaffected. Though her eyes are fixed on me, they’re completely emotionless. Numb.
“Uh,” I start and then clear my throat. “There’s been… I was wrong…eh.” I’m so unnerved by her stony indifference that I can barely form a coherent thought.
Parker steps up behind me and becomes my voice. “Ten years ago, your mom found out that you two were trying to get married, so she took the real letter that you wrote to Rhence. Then somehow, Rhence received a horrible letter from you claiming you want to break up with him because he’s a no good trailer-trash loser and you could do way better. That’s why he left all those years ago. He thought you dumped him.”
She remains silent, eyes unwavering on mine.
“It’s true,” I finally say. “I never received this one.” I hold up the letter Dr. Bradly showed me earlier. “Instead, I received this one.” I pull out my phone to show her the picture I’ve kept of that letter to always remind myself about my mission. “Here, please read it. This is the last word I heard from you before I vanished.”
Reluctantly, she takes the phone and looks at the screen. As she reads the letter, her brow furrows deeper and deeper, and she shakes her head repeatedly. Finally, she looks up at me and holds the phone back out to me.
“How could you think for one bleeding second that hateful garbage came from me? All this proves to me is that you never really knew me at all.” Her voice is still deceptively calm. “So, that’s why you broke my heart all those years ago and then pulled that shit on me in Paris?”
I swallow in a dry throat and nod.
She nods back numbly. “Well, I finally have my closure. Rhence Dalton,you are dead to me.” Without another word, she steps back inside the house and shuts the door in our faces. Not slams, just calmly shuts the door as if I’m not worthy of her expending any degree of exertion on me.
Parker and I exchange glances.
“That…was not what I expected,” he finally says as we stand there waiting, for what, I have no idea. “At least you know she’s all right. Give her time to process it all. Let her have her space.”
Tires crunch on the gravel behind us, and I turn around to see the Bradly’s’ Lexus coming down the driveway. Now I’m curious. Is the cold shoulder only for me? Is Dr. Bradly going to get the same treatment for the pivotal part she played in this tragedy?
“Is she here? Is she all right?” Dr. Bradly says as she flies up the stairs with incredible speed for her age.
“She’s fine,” I say. “Well, ‘fine’ probably isn’t the right word, but she appears physically unharmed.”
Helen placed a hand to her heart. “Oh, thank you, Lord. Thank you, thank you.”
