I stared at him. “What? No. That’s not possible! She never came home.”
“There was a tip,” he said. “An anonymous call. They said they were a neighbor and they saw her enter your house the night she vanished.”
“That’s not possible! She never came home.”
I felt like my insides were being squeezed.
“That… that can’t be true, Officer.”
Phil didn’t push. He just nodded.
“Sometimes tips get buried. Sometimes people are scared to tell the full truth.”
The officers stepped outside.
I heard shouting.
“That… that can’t be true.”
“You’re digging up things that don’t exist!” Felix yelled. “You’re harassing my wife!”
Then:
“You don’t have proof. That bracelet could’ve been anywhere. Pawn shops, online —”
Officer Mason interrupted, his voice clear enough to echo across the lawn.
“Sir, how did you know the bracelet was ever out of the house?”
“You’re harassing my wife!”
He let that hang there.
“As far as the case file goes, your daughter was wearing it when she disappeared. No one saw her again. Not officially. So how could you know the bracelet ended up in a pawn shop… unless you knew something we don’t?”
Silence.
Then I opened the door, stepping out into the sunlight, my robe fluttering in the breeze.
Felix turned toward me, his face drained. “Natalie, don’t —”
“… unless you knew something we don’t?”
“Don’t what?” I asked. “Don’t speak? Don’t question? Don’t find our daughter’s bracelet and bring it home?”
