Chapter 6 Emma
SIX
Emma
The only thing more exhausting than chasing someone through a sticky-floored movie theater was collapsing on a public park bench afterward, surrounded by your best friends and the kind of silence that only comes after failure.
Me, Beth, Deva, and Carol sat on two battered benches near the duck pond like a flock of washed-up detectives. The sun was already half-drowned behind the trees, turning everything that spooky blue shade that made the playground look haunted and the grass fade to gray.
Nobody talked at first. We just listened to the evening sounds. The scratchy caw of a crow, the distant squawk of a kid refusing to go home, the occasional slap of water as a duck landed and realized the pond was already full of other ducks not looking to share.
It was Beth who finally broke the quiet.
“So, that was a whole lot of nothing, huh?” She sighed, the sound coming out tired from somewhere deep. She rested her chin in her hand. “I mean, at least we got popcorn, but that really wasn’t our main goal.”
Carol gestured at my fidgeting hands. “Emma, what do you think?”
I shrugged, shoulders nearly touching my ears.
All the adrenaline from chasing Zoe had morphed into this kind of sick, sticky exhaustion.
“I kept expecting… I don’t know. Maybe there’d be something in the soundtrack, some clue in the credits.
Hell, even a weird extra in the background.
But there was nothing. Not a single thing that would explain what would make Alice just disappear. ”
I looked at my shoes. Suddenly, I didn’t want to meet anyone’s gaze. I wanted to crawl under the bench and disappear.
Beth let out a low groan. “It was worth a shot. You never know. But it doesn’t look like there’s anything left to chase at the theater.” She scrubbed her hands over her face, leaving faint makeup smudges under her eyes. “What’s our next move?”
“There’s not a clear one,” Deva said softly. “At least, I think, we all expected to find something by now.”
The ache in my chest threatened to spill over.
I tightened my grip until my knuckles went white.
“I just—” My voice cracked, and the words got stuck in my throat.
It took everything not to lose it, right there in front of the ducks.
“I can’t stand seeing Henry like this.” I sucked in a breath.
“I have to help him. He’d do it for me.”
For a second, it was so quiet I could hear the hum of a streetlight warming up on the corner.
Deva shifted toward me, bracing her elbows on her knees.
She waited until I managed to look up, then asked the question that had been circling since we left the movie theater.
“Do you think something actually happened to Alice, or is it possible she just left? You know, like she needed space and skipped town.”
I forced myself to consider it, really, honestly.
“Alice is quiet. Introverted. If there’s anyone who might freak out from too much attention or pressure, it’s her.
So, yeah.” I sagged, the whole idea draining the last bit of energy from my bones.
“It’s possible. But every part of me says that’s not what happened.
She wouldn’t just leave Henry. Not without a word, not like this. ”
Carol went straight for the jugular. “Okay but hear me out. All those times at the movies, late shows, secret visitors in a hoodie. What if Alice was meeting up with a lover? What if she was cheating on Henry, and that’s who she was sneaking around with at midnight?”
It was like someone stuck a pin in me. I jerked upright, anger flaring before I could even think.
“No.” My answer came out fast and fierce, and I shook my head so hard my hair tangled against my cheek.
“Not happening. You don’t see them together the way I do.
Alice loves Henry. She adores him. It’s not an act. I’d bet my life on it.”
Beth reached over and squeezed my hand, her fingers dry and strong. “Then we trust you,” she said, her voice dead serious. “If your gut says something happened to Alice, we go with that. Forget the stranger-theory or the running-away stuff. You know her best.”
For a second, I wanted to fall apart and stay that way forever. But instead, I let Beth’s words anchor me, even as the worry twisted through my insides.
That’s when my phone started buzzing. The screen lit up Daniel’s name. I hit speaker and set the phone on my knee.
Daniel’s tone was steady, but I caught a current of tension underneath.
“Emma? Quick update. I got a call from a friend at the station. The department talked with Alice’s parents.
They said they didn’t see her leave last night or this morning.
But her car’s missing from their driveway.
There’s no indication she packed anything, either.
Her room’s untouched. Clothes, makeup, everything’s where it should be. ”
The group exchanged uneasy glances. None of us liked what that suggested.
“Nothing else out of the ordinary?” Beth leaned closer to the phone.
Daniel’s breath crackled through the line. “Not that I’ve found, but I’m not finished digging. I’ll check with the local gas stations for anyone who saw her car, and we’re pulling footage for the last forty-eight hours. If you hear anything, let me know. I’ll be in touch.”
I was suddenly too tired to move. “Thank you, Daniel. Seriously.”
He paused, maybe wanting to say more, but then the line clicked off.
I tried to process. Alice hadn’t packed. She didn’t say goodbye. The car was gone, but everything else was left behind.
Beth was the first to break the silence. “So, we retrace her steps. All of them. If something happened to her, she must’ve crossed paths with someone who knows more. If that doesn’t get us anywhere, we’ll start asking if anyone had beef with her.”
I couldn’t hide my disbelief. “Enemies? Alice doesn’t have enemies. She’s the most harmless person I know. She bakes cookies for her mailman.”
Beth’s eyes narrowed, the way they did when she was on a case. “Everyone has enemies if you look hard enough. Sometimes people just don’t show it. You can’t always tell who wants you gone.”
That chilled me more than the air. I stared at her, stunned.
Carol offered a small shrug. “She’s not wrong. We had a guy come into the shop once, all smiles, who turned out to have a list of people he wanted to hex for the tiniest slights. People hold grudges like souvenirs in this town.”
Deva nodded, her bracelets jangling a little as she reached for the stale bag of popcorn.
“We start with what we actually know. If the midnight person wasn’t a lover, maybe it was someone trying to scare her?
Or maybe Alice was protecting Henry from something.
She’s so soft-hearted, she’d walk straight into a hornet’s nest if it kept him safe. ”
I wanted to argue, but all the fight had gone out of me. “Can we just, I don’t know. Hit pause until tomorrow? I need real food. Maybe six hours of sleep. Then we meet up, somewhere with actual chairs and less bird poop, and hash this out?”
“Rest is definitely a good idea.” Carol gave a small smile.
“Yeah, let’s meet for breakfast at my restaurant,” Deva said. “I’m buying.”
We split off, each of us headed to our own corners of Mystic Hollow, hoping the ground would stop moving under our feet, if only for a little while.
Tomorrow, I’d put my armor back on and go after the truth. Tonight, I’d curl up on the sofa with a reheated burrito and let my brain go quiet. The world could wait until morning.