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“Don’t give them the satisfaction,” Cody urged, tugging her along.
Sometime after nightfall, Jimmy, a friend of Cody’s, arrived with a trunkful of fireworks. Jimmy suggested they head out to the beach and set off fireworks. Rina could do nothing but run after him, screaming at the top of her lungs.
Rina, Cody, Jimmy, and a few others giggled on the dark beach and set up the first firework. Jimmy explained his cousin had purchased them illegally in Utah and driven them across the border. This made the entire operation feel even more exciting. More alive.
As the first fireworks tore through the night sky, hissing and popping into neon colors, Rina leaned her head against Cody’s chest and tried to imagine that wherever she was, Penny could see the fireworks, too. Maybe she would understand the fireworks were a signal from her sister, who still loved her. “I’m going to find you, Penny,” Rina breathed to the black sky. “Mark my words.”
Just then, sirens joined the sound of fireworks. Cop cars pulled up across the beach. The teenagers scattered, drunkenly running through the night, their feet ripping through the sand. But Rina and Cody were too intoxicated to make it far. Three cops cornered them, their hands waving. They shone flashlights in their faces.
Through the chaos, Rina started laughing. She couldn’t help it. When compared to the loneliness she felt at home and the ache in her heart, this all felt tremendously funny. She burrowed her face in Cody’s chest, trying to stop, but she couldn’t. Too drunk to care, Cody laughed, too. They looked like fools.
“Wait a minute,” one of the cops said. “Is that you, Rina?”
Rina quieted at the sound of her name. She turned on her heel and blinked through the night at one of the cops who’d been charged to search for her sister. He’d interviewed her numerous times, hunting through her words for some comprehension. But she hadn’t known anything.
“Do you need a ride home?” the officer asked.
It was suddenly clear that she wouldn’t get in trouble. That this officer would help her.
It was all because he felt bad for her. More than that, he and everyone else in Santa Monica knew that Rina’s parents had all but abandoned her since Penny’s disappearance. Everyone pitied her.
“You should arrest me,” Rina said. “I broke the law.”
But the cop wasn’t having it. Even more pity filled his eyes. Everyone on the beach understood the truth—Rina wanted to be arrested if only to get her parents’ attention. To remind them she was still there. That she still needed them.
* * *
Rina walked along the beach where she’d once set off fireworks with Cody and Jimmy. She could still feel the fireworks ringing in her ears and the euphoria as she’d rushed head-long across the sand, away from the cops. She’d felt like Thelma or Louise, wild and free.
Rina went home to shower and returned to the hospital for a meeting with her mother’s doctor. The physician was a forty-something man with a California tan and teeth a little too bright for the orange tint of his face. An online search had told Rina that Dr. Bartlett was one of the best in the hospital. A more furtive search via Rina’s friend in the private detective world hadn’t found anything amiss on Dr. Bartlett’s file, so she had to trust him.
Dr. Bartlett showed Rina the x-rays they’d taken, along with photographs of her significant bruises.
“Despite all this, we think she’ll make a full recovery by spring,” he went on. “She’s healing up quickly. She might need some light physical therapy, but nothing major.”
Rina felt a swell of relief. “My father won’t tell me how the accident happened? When I first got out here, I assumed it was automobile-related, but…”
The doctor shook his head. “Your father is telling us she fell on the boardwalk. But her bruises and breaks suggest something much more drastic. That’s part of the reason I wanted to meet with you today.” He paused and wet his lips. “Does your father have a history of violence?”
Rina’s heart pounded. “No. I mean, not that I’ve ever seen. They’ve been together since they were teenagers. To be honest with you, they’ve always liked each other much more than they like me.”
Dr. Bartlett gave no indication he’d heard her joke. “As you’ve probably noticed, your mother has suffered a form of traumatic amnesia. This can happen after a fall of this magnitude.”
“Right.” Rina thought again of her mother’s cruelty. To Rina, that had always been bubbling at the surface, ready to attack.
“We hope her memory will return to her soon,” Dr. Bartlett continued. “Maybe then, she’ll be able to explain what happened to her. In the event that your father did have something to do with it, we will be obligated to contact the authorities.”
“I just can’t imagine that,” Rina said. “And trust me. I’m not the biggest fan of my father.”
Dr. Bartlett raised his shoulders. “You’d be surprised what we see here at the hospital. There is no telling what people are capable of.”
ChapterSeven
With Abby back home, Claire struggled to let her out of her sight. When she sequestered herself in her bedroom, presumably to do homework, attend an online class, or chat with friends, Claire paced downstairs, scrubbed the kitchen counters, or pretended to read quietly, constantly listening for the sound of Abby on the staircase. When she heard it, she popped up and hurried to invite Abby for a snack or an hour of television. Anything to keep her close. Her biggest fear was that Abby would somehow go down the staircase, slip out the front door, and disappear to wherever it was Gail hid.
The day after Abby’s return, Russel had a business meeting in the city. Claire helped him pack, hanging his suits in a carrier and bustling around the bedroom to line the suitcase with clean socks.
“I’m sure they’d understand if you told them you couldn’t make it,” Claire said, pausing over the suitcase and wringing her hands. “Your daughter is missing for crying out loud.”
