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22
Lenna
October
Present day
“Gone?”Lenna cries. “Gone where?” And then Jacob, perhaps sensing her stress, wakes up and starts crying, too.
Melissa turns to Teddy, giving him a brave, protective smile. “It’s okay. Your mommy’s probably just on a walk. Let’s go back to sleepies. I’ll stay with you.”
Teddy sniffs. He looks exhausted, and he accepts Melissa’s hug. “Good boy,” Melissa murmurs, guiding him back toward his bed. “That’s it…”
More doors open in the hall. Footsteps sound. A few of the older kids creep to Rhiannon’s doorway. “What’s going on?” one of them asks, shooting daggers at crying Jacob. “Did I hear a scream?”
“Teddy had a bad dream, and it woke up the baby,” Marjorie says quickly, walking toward them. “Go back to bed.”
Lenna turns to the others. Marjorie is rubbing her eyes. She looks annoyed that her sleep was interrupted. Lenna bobbles Jacob, shushing him. No one will get back to sleep at this rate.
“Marjorie,” Sarah says, “where could she be?”
Marjorie’s shoulders fall, and she lets out a long sigh. “Let’s check outside.”
She heads to the door. Lenna goes after her, and Sarah does, too. A few women follow. One of them is Gia. She glances over her shoulder, her gaze landing on Sarah and Lenna together.
“I see you two have met,” she says smoothly, almost like she’s holding in a snicker.
Lenna’s hands ball into fists. What doesthatmean?
They walk into the yard. The sky is inky, and something about the topography of the canyons makes Jacob’s screams echo hauntingly. Finally, Lenna reaches for the emergency bottle she’d prepared for the cab ride, tucked into her backpack. Screw Marjorie and her breast-is-best philosophy. She guides it into her baby’s mouth, and he’s instantly soothed.
After a cursory check around the yard, they determine Rhiannon isn’t nearby.
Marjorie stifles a yawn. “Has anyone tried calling her?”
Lenna isn’t sure whether she should volunteer what she knows.
Gia taps her phone. “Trying her now.” She waits a moment, then glances at the others. “Voice mail.”
“Was anyone else on the property today?” Lenna asks. “Like, beyond just us?”
Marjorie gives her a peculiar look. “No.”
“There’s no way someone can get in? Does anyone have access? The gate code?”
Something flickers across Marjorie’s face, but then disappears. “We all take night walks from time to time. I’m sure that’s all this is.”
“But…” Lenna bites down so hard on the inside of her cheek. She can feel Gia waiting. She doesn’t want to ask this with Gia here, but she has no choice. “Didn’t Rhiannon speak with you? About…me?”
Marjorie frowns. “What about you?”
The contents of Lenna’s stomach start to swirl. “I had planned to leave. Rhiannon was going to drive me to the turnoff. We planned to meet about a half hour ago.”
“Leaving so soon, Lenna?” Gia asks, head cocked.
Marjorie shakes her head. “She didn’t say a thing about this. Why do you need to go?”
Lenna’s heart pounds harder. “It’s my husband,” she says, thinking quickly. “I need to go back, talk with him. I know there’s a policy that we can’t have phone conversations with men while on the property.” Maybe if she mentions a rule shedoesfollow, it will earn her some brownie points. “Rhiannon was going to help me get to the road. So her vanishing right now…when she said she was going to drive me…it doesn’t make sense.”
