Page 80 of Since She's Been Gone

But her testimony somehow felt different from the others, who spoke broadly about the opioid crisis and their grievances with TriCPharma as a company. Mom seemed intent on personally hanging the Cadells, calling them out repeatedly.

The only personal connection I know of that she had with the family was with her former patient, Margot Cadell. Maybe Margot told her things during treatment that Mom couldn’t disclose in the hearing due to patient confidentiality. And maybe those things were so egregious that it propelled her to testify, despite knowing the danger it posed to Dad and me.

“I put this together,” Dawn says, stepping out on the patio. She’s holding a plate of cheese and crackers.

“I don’t have much of an appetite now,” I say.

“I understand,” she says. “It must’ve been hard to watch the hearing since you mentioned you only recently learned about her history with addiction.”

I nod. “I’d never heard her speak about it before today.”

Dawn and I stand outside of her apartment building. She offered to call me a Lyft to take me to Union Station after I lied and told her my phone battery died. I’m not turning my phone back on until I get back to New York.

The guilt is hitting me hard now, how I’ve gone off the grid for hours. I can only imagine how worried Eddie and Paul are. And I have no idea how I’ll explain what I’ve put them through, especially when I’ve come up empty-handed. Nothing I heard in Mom’s testimony has brought me any closer to finding her if she’s alive, and I have no clue what to do now.

The Lyft car pulls up.

Dawn gently puts her hand on my shoulder. “I hope hearing her words helped you,” she says.

As difficult as today has been, at least the people I’ve met have been kind.

I thank her and say goodbye, then get in the car, startled when I realize someone is sitting next to me in the back seat. It’s …Paul?

“Didn’t mean to scare you,” he says as the Lyft driver pulls away.

“I’m so sorry for going off the grid. I knew you and Eddie wouldn’t have been okay with me catching a train to DC,” I say, then stop. Something isn’t adding up here. “Wait, how did you find me?” I ask, pulling out my cell phone that’s still turned off. “How are you in my Lyft?”

He takes the phone from me and points to the square tile on the back that he attached this morning. “The tracker works whether your phone is on or off,” he says as he removes it.

“I better call Eddie now,” I say. “He must be so worried. It’s been hours since we last spoke. Did you tell him where I was?”

“Not exactly,” he says.

“I need my phone to call him,” I say.

“That won’t be possible,” he says.

“Why not?” I ask, confused.

He doesn’t respond.

“What’s going on?” I ask, starting to worry now.

He still doesn’t answer.

I start panicking. Something must have happened. If he’s reluctant to tell me, it must be bad.

“Is Eddie hurt?” I ask. “Is Sarah?”

He won’t even look at me now.

“Tell me what’s going on, Paul!” I raise my voice.

He turns to me with an icy metallic stare. “Paul is in Durham, North Carolina, with his husband, Anthony, visiting his father, who’s recovering from heart surgery,” he says flatly.

“What?” I say, dumbfounded. No, Eddie said Paul texted him that his mom asked them to visit this weekend instead …

Oh my God.

Source: www.allfreenovel.com