Chapter Sixty-One
Talia catches up with Ben, Caleb, and Kelly as they finish packing everything into the car.
“What’s going on with Camille?” Ben asks.
She hesitates. “Oh, you know . . . she and T. J. are splitting up, and she wanted to talk about it.”
Now isn’t the time to tell him about Hayley and the DNA testing. She’s still trying to process the information herself, wondering what in the world possessed her daughter to do such a thing.
Her mother’s husband, Oliver, was a lovely man who died back in 2016. Hayley called him Grandpa, and Talia saw no reason to explain to a child that age that he wasn’t her biological grandfather. Anyway, her mother asked her not to.
“There’s no reason to tell her anything different,” Natalie said, when Hayley was working on a family tree project in first grade. “She’s too young to understand, and I don’t want her thinking any less of me for something that happened so long ago.”
“Mommy, that would never happen. Hayley worships you.”
“And I’d like to keep it that way.”
Talia honored her word to her mother, assuming they would revisit the subject when Hayley was old enough to understand. Then Natalie was gone, and there’s been no reason to bring it up.
Apparently, she underestimated her daughter’s interest in her biological roots.
As they walk over to the Landing, Talia clutches her phone, wishing Hayley would call back, though unsurprised she hasn’t.
Clearly, she’s giving Talia the silent treatment.
That, or she’s fallen in the tub and hit her head and . . .
Don’t even go there. She’s fine.
There are times when Talia wonders where Caleb got his anxiety. This, however, is one of those times when she knows—and is—the answer to that.
According to the locator app, Hayley has kept her promise and is still in the house.
“So this is where you used to work? Pretty fancy,” Ben comments, indicating the valet stand in front of the restaurant and the sign advertising Kobe Steak & Maine Lobster Surf and Turf.
“It was a dump back then,” she informs him as he reaches to open the door for them. “My mom used to say—”
She breaks off, seeing a flyer taped to the glass. Beneath the headline Missing, there’s a photo of a pretty teenage girl. Sarah Greene. She’s sixteen.
And she disappeared yesterday, in broad daylight, from Mulberry Bay.
Kelly touches her arm. “It’s okay, Talia. Don’t let this—”
“Did you know about this?”
“I just found out a little while ago.”
“How could you not tell me?”
“Tell you what?” Caleb asks.
“Because Hayley’s safe. She’s at Haven Cliff. You can see her on your app.”
“But she’s not calling me back, and she’s not answering texts!”
“Because she’s upset with you, Talia. You know how she is. This”—Ben points at the flyer—“has nothing to do with our daughter.”
“You don’t know that, Ben! You don’t know . . . there’s a lot you don’t know!”
“Who’s that girl?” Caleb asks, standing on his tiptoes to see the flyer.
“What don’t I know?” Ben asks.
Talia shakes her head, calling Hayley’s phone.
The line rings . . . rings . . . rings again . . .
Voicemail.
She immediately redials. “She’s not picking up!”
“Because she’s ignoring you,” Ben says.
“Then you call her.”
She expects him to protest, but he turns to Kelly. “Why don’t you and Caleb go in and get a table.”
“Good idea. Come on, Caleb.” With a backward glance at Talia, Kelly ushers her son into the restaurant.
Talia can’t even look at her.
“She should have told me,” she tells Ben as he pulls out his phone.
“Yeah, well, it sounds like there’s some stuff you should tell me,” he says, placing the call to Hayley.
“I will. Just . . .”
She can hear the line ringing.
Then voicemail.
“Something’s wrong, Ben.”
“She’s probably just mad at both of us.”
“No. I have to get to Haven Cliff. Where are the keys?”
He reaches into his pocket. “Talia, don’t you think you’re overreacting? She’s—”
“I’m not overreacting!” She jabs a thumb at the flyer on the door. “She disappeared yesterday!”
“Who knows what was going on with her?” He pulls his car keys out of his pocket. “We know our daughter. Hayley’s not the kind of kid who would—”
“Yes she is!” She snatches the keys from his hand and heads toward the parking lot.
“You don’t even know what I was—”
“Whatever you were going to say, you’re wrong! Kids keep things from their parents, Ben. Kids disappear. That girl on the flyer. And my friend Caroline . . . she—”
He’s at her side, putting an arm around her shoulders. “It’s okay. I know. I’ll go. You stay here with Caleb. I’ll get Hayley and bring her back here.”
“No. I’m going.”
“What about Caleb?”
“You stay here with him.”
“I’m not letting you take off alone. Not like this.”
“You’re not letting me?”
“You know what I mean. I’m worried about you. And about Hayley. Caleb’s fine with Kelly. And I’ve got the keys to the house. Let’s go.”