“Enough of living in the past, Marlene,” he said. “Let our son rest in peace.”
I read them all.
***
Denise opted for a more subtle approach. One Thursday, she showed up with two coffees and a brochure from a grief counselor.
“Honey, you’ve been carrying this responsibility alone for ten years,” she said. “No one is asking you to forget it, just to breathe.”
I took the brochure, but I didn’t call.
Something deep inside me refused to let go. Call it instinct, stubbornness, or a mother’s refusal to bury a child she never got to say goodbye to.
I didn’t call.
***
That Saturday, I was strolling through the local market when I saw them. I almost fell to my knees on the sidewalk!
Hannah’s earrings. The ones Rick designed.
The middle-aged, tired-looking woman behind the table was arranging a chipped porcelain set.
“Where did you find that?” I asked. My voice didn’t sound like my own.
She looked up and shrugged. “It arrived in a box with my belongings two weeks ago. I don’t know exactly whose it is. My son handles the back-and-forth trips.”
I saw them.
—Please— I whispered. —I need it.
The woman announced a price. I didn’t even count the tickets.
My hands were shaking so much they almost fell off.
***
I drove home with these earrings pressed so tightly against the palm of my hand that they left marks.
***
When I entered the kitchen, Rick was serving coffee.
“I need it.”
My husband paled, then turned red, when he saw them. Afterward, he placed the cup on the counter, slowly and carefully, though I could see the trembling in his hand.
“Why did you bring these things into this house?” he shouted.
I froze.
“Because they belonged to Hannah!”
He stared at them for a long time. Then he shook his head.
I could see the jolt.
“They’re not yours, Marlene,” she said neutrally. “Many jewelers make piano-shaped earrings. It’s a common style.”
“Common?” I said. “You designed them yourself!”
Suddenly, my husband gripped the edge of the kitchen counter so tightly that his knuckles felt like bones.
“Throw them in the trash! Hannah is dead!”
I didn’t understand, because Hannah was missing, not dead.
Rick avoided looking me in the eyes.
“They’re not yours.”
***
That night I slept in the guest room. I cried until morning, clutching those earrings to my collarbone like I used to do with my daughter when she was little.
Shortly before dawn, I finally fell asleep.
I was woken up by a knock on the door.
I put on my lab coat and opened the front door. Two officers were standing in the doorway, badges visible and worried expressions on their faces.
“Mrs. Rhodes?” one of them asked.
I slept in the guest room.
My heart raced.
“Yes?”
The same officer looked over my shoulder. I turned around. Rick was standing barefoot in the hallway, still wearing his old lab coat.
“Ma’am, we need to speak with both of you,” the agent said. “We have new and important information about Hannah. It concerns the earrings she found yesterday.
She had an obstruction in her throat.”
Rick was barefoot.
“Have you found Hannah?”
She didn’t answer. Instead, her gaze remained fixed on my husband.
Then he said calmly, “Madam, it’s time you knew what your husband has been hiding from you for the past ten years.”
Rick didn’t say a single word.
I was feeling unwell, so Inspector Palmer led me to the sofa while Inspector Gomez stayed near the door.
Rick hadn’t moved.
“Have you found Hannah?”
“Mrs. Rhodes,” Palmer said, “Cheryl, the woman from the flea market, called our tip line yesterday. She’d seen Hannah’s picture in one of those old cold case reports, and something about Hannah’s reaction to those earrings caught her attention. Her son told her where the casket came from. It belonged to a woman named Judith, who died two months ago.”
The name was barely familiar to me. I’d probably heard it twice in twenty years.
“Judith,” I whispered. “Rick’s sister?”
“She had seen Hannah’s picture.”
Palmer nodded slowly.
“She was her older sister. They had lost contact years before they met. She lived in a fairly isolated rural area of Ohio, with no neighbors or close relatives. Since Cheryl’s call, we have discreetly investigated this information, reviewing Judith’s file, coordinating with Ohio authorities, and confirming that a young woman was living in her house.”
PART 3
