CHAPTER 37

I t had been days with no updates. Raleigh was growing restless. She knew she needed to be patient, but she’d been patient for over a year now. It was too much to ask that she keep being patient. With Hollis working from home and then no longer working, that enabled Raleigh to go home, if she wanted to, but she’d grown accustomed to being around Hollis, Olivia, and the nurses taking care of her. She knew she should go home, though. Their relationship was still relatively new, and they’d essentially been living together due to their circumstances, so she’d told Hollis that she would spend the night at her own place, which would give them all a little space.

She hadn’t wanted space, but Hollis could use some time alone with her mother, and Raleigh being there meant that they couldn’t have that. So, instead, Raleigh had worked from her office for a few hours, cleaned the place, and had done some laundry before she grabbed her car keys and hit the road.

The therapist Molly had recommended was over thirty minutes away without traffic, so it took a while to get there. Once she’d signed in, she put her phone on silent, which she never did, but she didn’t want to be disrespectful. Then, she sat and waited her turn. The first time was more of a consultation than an actual appointment, and it would be a chance for the two of them to get to know one another and see if there was a good match. She’d been told that therapy could only really be effective if one had the right therapist for them, so she wasn’t holding out hope that this doctor would be the one for her.

The appointment itself had been fine, but since her benefits didn’t cover it, she had to pay out of pocket. Watching the receptionist swipe her card had about given Raleigh a panic attack. She wouldn’t be able to afford this once a week, which was the schedule the doctor had recommended in the beginning. Raleigh would have to move some money around or put these appointments on credit cards and hope she’d be able to pay them back with more client work. Scheduling the next appointment had been the last step before she left, and when she got into the car and needed her GPS to get home, she remembered that she’d put her phone on silent.

“Shit,” she said, noticing two missed calls from Dylan and a text message asking Raleigh to call her.

◆◆◆

“Shouldn’t we be at the station?” Raleigh asked once she was inside Dylan’s home office.

“My place was closer to where you were,” Dylan said.

“Right,” Raleigh replied, sitting on the sofa next to Dylan. “So? There’s news?”

“There is. But before I begin, there’s still no concrete evidence that it’s Eden. I just want to–”

“Dylan, I get it, okay? When you know for sure that it’s her, I assume you’ll lead with that.”

“I will.” Dylan nodded. “But we do have good news.”

“Tell me.”

“We have two really good leads. There’s a possibility that she moved to a small town in Alabama.”

“Alabama?”

“Yes. But I’m not putting my eggs into that basket. It’s a very small town of only about a thousand people. We have to follow the lead, so officers are working it now, but it’s not likely she’d want to hide in a place that small. The only way I could see that happening would be if she was truly delusional and believed herself that Eden was her daughter. She wouldn’t really be in hiding then.”

“So, she might be in Alabama?”

“Or, she might be in San Antonio,” Dylan added.

“Texas?”

“Much larger city. And, it turns out, her family spent time there during a few summers. Her brother remembered and gave us the lead yesterday.”

“How can we find her in a huge city?” Raleigh asked.

“Just keep working it,” Dylan replied. “We’ve notified San Antonio PD, the Texas Bureau of Investigation, and the FBI is sending a team there. It’s a good lead, Raleigh. I spoke with her cousin again this morning, and it’s much more likely, according to the cousin and her brother both, that she’d go to San Antonio than a small town in Alabama that she has no history in.”

“What’s the name of the town?”

“In Alabama?”

“Yes, Dylan,” Raleigh said, pulling out her phone and unlocking it. “I can see how long it’ll take me to get there.”

“Raleigh, you can’t go there.”

“Watch me. You said it’s a small town. I can drive there and find her before you guys can.”

“Raleigh, you can’t. We have to do this the right way. Remember, there’s a chance it’s not Eden.”

“No other girls of Eden’s age disappeared a week before or a month after Eden did in this state or the surrounding ones. I know. I checked. If she has a little girl, and her own daughter died, this is my daughter,” Raleigh said, feeling her blood begin to boil. “I’m tired of waiting, Dylan. Let me go find her myself.”

“If you go there, and we don’t do this the right way, it could cause more problems. Think about Eden, Raleigh. What if you show up, and she doesn’t know who you are? You’ll take her from the woman she thinks is her mother?”

“ I am her mother!” Raleigh argued.

“I know,” Dylan replied. “Raleigh, I promise you, I don’t think she’s there. By the time you drive all that way, the officers there will have concluded the same thing. Or, they’ll at least know more.”

“Then, I’ll go to San Antonio.”

“And what will you do there? Drive around until you find her? We’ve got detectives, unis, and agents looking for her,” Dylan reasoned. “I’m reviewing school records for all daycares and preschools I can find in San Antonio to see if there’s anything there.”

“I’ll help,” Raleigh volunteered immediately.

“I can’t release the records to you. You’re not in law enforcement, Raleigh.”

“This is bullshit, Dylan!” Raleigh stood up, dropping her phone on the sofa.

“Hey, what’s going on?” Ada asked, walking through the still-open door. “Everything okay in here?”

“It’s fine,” Dylan said.

“You sure?”

“Dylan, she’s there,” Raleigh said, tears forming in her eyes.

“I know this is hard…”

“You can’t know how hard this is!” Raleigh said louder than was necessary.

“Hey, she’s trying to find–”

“Ada, it’s okay,” Dylan interrupted her wife, who was likely about to defend her.

“I’m sorry,” Raleigh said to them both. “God, I’m so sorry. You’ve done nothing but try to help me. You’ve asked for nothing, and we’re so close to finding her. I’m sorry. I’m just freaking out.”

“I know,” Dylan said calmly.

“Dylan has this calming tea she makes me drink when I get a little heated. I’ll make a cup for you,” Ada offered, giving Raleigh an empathetic smile. “Okay?”

“Thanks, but I’m okay,” Raleigh replied. “I just don’t know how to do this.”

“Water, then. I’ll be right back,” Ada said, turning to go.

“Babe, can you just give us a minute?” Dylan requested.

“Yeah, sorry. I heard yelling, so I came running.”

“I’m sorry,” Raleigh said again.

Ada reached for her hand, took it, and gave it a squeeze.

“It’s okay. I just don’t like it when people yell at my wife. Only I ’m allowed to do that.” Ada winked at her before she let go of her hand and left them alone in the office.

That moment of levity allowed Raleigh to gather herself, and she said, “Dylan, thank you.”

“It’s just going to be a little longer, okay?”

“What if it’s not her?” she asked, allowing herself to really think about that question for the first time.

“We’ll keep looking until we find her.”

Raleigh sat back down and said, “You’re the only one who’s found any leads so far. And I can’t expect you to work on this forever. You’re not even getting paid.”

“I worked Noah’s case until we found him.”

“He’s your wife’s brother,” Raleigh said, wiping tears from her cheeks.

“And Eden is your daughter. Everyone who’s missing out there belongs to someone in some way. I can’t help them all, but I can help you find your daughter.”

“So, what do I do, then?”

“Go home,” Dylan told her. “There’s nothing you can do to help. That’s me being honest, Raleigh. Just wait for me or the FBI to call, and we will call. I’ll tell you what we find in Alabama as soon as I know, and I’ll keep you updated on San Antonio.”

“Okay,” Raleigh relented. “I guess there’s nothing else to say, then.”

◆◆◆

Raleigh didn’t call Hollis on the way home nor once she got there. She knew that if she did, Hollis would just tell her to come over or that she’d go to Raleigh’s house and spend the night with her there. Hollis needed to be alone with her mother, though, and Raleigh needed to be alone in her misery, impatience, and tears. She cooked herself a dinner for one and sat in the living room eating it, trying to focus on anything other than her daughter. When a commercial advertising an upcoming episode of Kenna’s show came on, she turned the TV off. Hearing about someone else’s tragedy was the last thing she needed right now. Being reminded of her own was up there on that list, too, so she just did the dishes and went into her office to work. Thankfully, while she was out, she’d gotten two messages from possible clients requesting a meeting to talk about her services. She sent them her calendar to book times and closed the computer, unable to do anymore.

Hollis texted right before Raleigh was about to take a shower, and she replied that everything was fine, but that she was about to shower and would call her later. Then, she took a long, hot shower and emerged feeling just as miserable as when she’d climbed into it. Walking down the hall, she entered Eden’s room and fell onto her daughter’s bed. Despite Raleigh having not washed the bed set since before that day, Eden’s scent wasn’t there any longer; it just smelled a little of dust now. She cried into Eden’s pillow as she contemplated packing up, getting into her car, and driving straight to San Antonio, but she talked herself out of it because, unfortunately, Dylan was right, and she just had to wait.

“Hey. You sound like you’ve been crying,” Hollis noted when Raleigh called her back while still lying on Eden’s bed.

“I’m fine,” she lied.

“Babe, what’s going on? Did therapy not go well?”

“I forgot I even went to therapy,” she said, laughing a little.

“You forgot? What–” Hollis paused. “What happened? Did something come up with Eden?”

Raleigh told Hollis everything she knew then, which wasn’t much.

“I’ll head over.”

“No, it’s okay,” Raleigh said. “Stay with your mom.”

“The nurse is–”

“You and I both know it has nothing to do with the nurse being there, Hollis. I’ll be fine. I think I’m just going to sleep in Eden’s room tonight, and there’s not really room for you in this toddler bed.”

“I miss you,” Hollis said.

“I miss you, too,” she replied.