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The automatic lights over the fence snap off, bathing them in shadows. Lenna glances over her shoulder.Whereis Rhiannon?
“I can’t believe it,” Sarah repeats. “Iknowyou.”
Lenna places her hand protectively around Jacob’s body. “Don’t hurt us.” Tears dot her eyes, blurring her vision. She could try to run for it, but she wouldn’t get far with the baby weighing her down.
“What are you doing here? How did youfindme? What are you going to do?”
A line of spiny plants grows along the fence line; Lenna canfeel a few of the needles stabbing her bare legs. She doesn’t understand the question.
“I’m trying to leave.” Lenna is hyperventilating, barely able to get the words out. “I had no idea you were here—I never would have come. Just let me leave, okay? For my son’s sake. I talked to Rhiannon—”
Sarah stiffens. “What did you tell Rhiannon?”
“Just that I want to go home. I came here by accident, I swear. Rhiannon’s on her way down.” She’s shaking so badly. “I’m sorry. I should have…I never meant to…i-it was such a mess. I didn’tmeanfor it to happen. And the way it impactedyou…just don’t hurt me, okay? Don’t hurtus.”Rhiannon,she mentally screams.
Sarah lowers the knife an inch. Her eyes dart. “You really expect me to believe that you had no idea I was here?”
Lenna blinks. “Why would I have come if I knew you were here? And you go by Sarah. Not Sadie. I had no idea. And like I said, I would havenevercome if I knew you were here. It’s why I…disappeared, pretty much.”
“No,Idisappeared.”
They stare at each other.
Lenna feels confused, too. Then, something catches in her mind.What are you going to do?Sarah had said. Like she’safraidof Lenna.
There’s a prickly sensation in her brain. She’s felt this same kind of uneasiness before—the only other time Sarah sought her out, that time at Lenna’s apartment. Why had Sarah done that?
She asks now. Sarah looks at Lenna as though it’s beside the point—and then as though it is a stupid question. “Because I wanted to talk to you.”
“But why come all the way over to my apartment? You could have just called me. It would have been much easier.”
“Because…” But then Sarah puts her hands on her hips and glares.
“Did you know I didn’t have a phone at the moment?” Lenna asks, her heart pounding. “Did you know it had gone missing?”
Sarah squints at her like she’s trying to figure her out. “I mean, yeah,” she finally says. “Obviously.”
The knife stays raised in her hand, immobile. But Lenna’s mind is exploding. That morning, Gillian said Sarah had already left for work, but had she? It wasn’t like she’d checked for herself.
“You were there,” Lenna whispers. “On…on the trail? When I confronted her?”
Sarah raises her chin. Her lips are mashed together, trembling.
Lenna’s heart races for a new reason. “You were. You saw us, didn’t you? You saw…everything.”
18
Sarah
July
Two years before
A half hour after Gillian returned home and had her colossal fit, she knocked on Sadie’s bedroom door, apologetic to the point of tears. “You’re totally going through this awful thing and I’ve been a total shit.” She clasped her hands. “Sometimes I don’t know how to handle someone else’s big feelings. But I care. I really do. Do you want to talk about it?”
No,Sadie thought. In fact, she’d been sitting on her bed, trying to figure out how she could tactfully kick Gillian out. One idea was to put the house up for sale and move out of LA altogether.
“It’s okay. I’m feeling better,” she lied.
