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Once they were in the car, John started the engine and turned to Rachel. It was only a three-minute drive to John’s work at the real estate office, where she would drop him off and then head to the hospital where she worked as a nurse practitioner.
"What's wrong?" he asked.
"Nothing," Rachel lied, avoiding eye contact. Rachel was trying to hold back her tears. She couldn't believe that John was flirting with another woman right in front of her. She knew she had to confront him about it, but she didn't know how to start.
John sighed. "Look, I know we've been having some problems lately, but I promise you… nothing is going on between Emily and me."
Rachel scoffed. "Right, just like nothing was going on between you and your former assistant?"
"That was a long time ago, Rachel. I thought we had moved past that."
Rachel rolled her eyes. "How can I be sure you're telling the truth?"
John reached over and took her hand. "You just have to trust me. I love you, Rachel. You're the only one for me."
Rachel wanted to believe him; she really, really did.
Prologue
Kyla was sitting at the kitchen table, mindlessly scrolling through her phone, when suddenly her mother called. She sighed since she wasn't really in the mood to talk to her right now, but she also knew if she didn't pick up, her mother would be nervous and keep calling until she did pick up. Her mother was relentless when it came to those sorts of things. She knew her children's schedules and that Kyla wasn't working today. She exhaled, steadying herself, then picked it up. Barely had she said hi when she heard the sound of her mother's voice.
"Have you heard from your sister?"
Kyla shook her head. Now, it was her sister Rachel she was worried about. There was always something. "No, well… not since this morning. I sent her a funny picture around 8:15, and she sent something back, something silly really, but I haven't heard anything since then."
Kyla's mother sighed heavily. "That's what I was afraid of," she said. "I've called some of her friends and John, and none of them have heard from her either. I'm worried something might have happened."
Kyla chuckled. Her mother always overreacted to these sorts of things. If she didn't hear back from her daughters immediately, she always thought they were dead in a ditch somewhere. She didn't understand that they were busy people with busy lives and couldn't always answer anytime she needed them to.
"I'm sure she's fine,” she said. "She had to work today. She's probably just too busy to answer. You know how it is."
"I'm not sure," she said. "This feels different."
"You always say that," Kyla said.
"No, this time really is different," she said. "We were supposed to babysit tonight, and she hasn't even told us what time. When I text her, she doesn't answer. I even tried calling, but it went to voicemail. I also called the hospital, and she didn't come in for work today."
Kyla felt a chill run down her spine. Rachel always made it to work. She never stayed home or took a day off. She usually told them everything she was doing, but today, she hadn't said anything since that silly picture of the cat and the gorilla she had sent her this morning. Kyla tried to think positively, but the fear kept creeping in.
"Maybe she's just busy," she said again. "It doesn't have to be anything serious. Maybe her phone just died, and she couldn't find anywhere to charge it?"
Her mother exhaled. "Maybe," she said pensively. "But I'm not comfortable with this. At all. Why isn't she at work? She's always there."
"I’ll try and call around as well," Kyla said, mostly to comfort her mother. She still felt confident that there was a reasonable explanation for Rachel's silence. After all, it had only been a few hours that she hadn't been responding. She was entitled to some privacy if she needed it.
Kyla hung up, feeling helpless. She wished there was something she could do, but she knew there wasn't. All she could do was wait for Rachel to call and hope she was safe.
Kyla spent the next few hours anxiously waiting for that very call from her sister. She tried calling her a few times, but it went straight to voicemail each time. She checked all her social media accounts, but there was no activity on any of them. She even tried calling some of Rachel's friends, but none of them had heard from her either. The more time that passed, the more worried Kyla became.
As the sun began to set, Kyla's phone finally rang. She jumped to answer it, hoping it was Rachel. But it wasn't. It was a police officer. Kyla's heart raced as she listened to the officer on the other end of the line.
"We found your sister's car abandoned on the side of the road, the door left open, the car still running," the officer said. "We've been searching the area, but we haven't been able to locate her or anyone else who might have been operating the vehicle. We found her phone inside the car, and she has this number listed as her ICE (in case of emergency). We also found her wallet in the car with her driver's license. We’re worried about what could have happened here. Have you heard from her?"
"N-no. Not since this morning."
"That's odd,” he said. "Is she suffering from any sort of mental health problems? Could she have just walked off? Has this happened before?"
"N-no, no, mental health issues. She takes Prozac for depression, but that's not out of the…."
