I can’t believe he’s here. I feel suddenly cold, so cold. Mom is talking to him as he follows her into the kitchen. “We wanted to call you,” she’s saying, “but we couldn’t find your number.”
“Call me? Why? Has something happened?” Dan asks as he comes into the room. “I—” He stops when he sees Paula. He doesn’t look at me at all.
“Paula, this is Dan, Sarah’s boyfriend,” says Mom. She runs her hand across her forehead. Her eyes are wide with shock. If Dan’s here, that means Sarah hasn’t run off with him.
Paula nods.
“Dan, this is my neighbor, Paula,” Mom continues. Dan nods back. Does he realize who Paula is?
“What’s going on?” he asks. “Sarah’s phone has been off. I came over to see her.”
“Oh, Dan,” says Mom, her voice shaking. “She isn’t here. We haven’t seen her since Saturday. Haven’t you heard from her at all?”
“No. What’s going on?”
Dan turns his head to look at Mom, and I can’t see his face. I wish I could. I bet his expression would give him away.
Paula stands up, her chair scraping the floor noisily in her haste. “I’d better be going,” she says. “I do hope she turns up.”
“Turns up?” Dan repeats. He looks at Paula, and I see a crease spread across his forehead. I watch him closely. He definitely looks surprised to hear that Sarah is missing. There are beads of sweat on his forehead. Does he really know nothing, or is this all an act?
“I’ll see Paula to the door, then I’ll tell you everything, Dan,” Mom says.
For a moment I am alone with Dan. I wish he’d say something, confide in me. I watch him. His hands don’t keep still. He’s rubbing his fingers together.
Mom is back. Phlegm clogs my throat, and I cough.
“Dan, the police have been looking for you,” Mom tells him.
He seems nervous now, his feet shifting back and forth. His eyes flash in alarm. “What? Why?” he asks.
“You haven’t seen or heard from her then, Dan—not since Saturday? We thought she might have been with you.”
Dan shakes his head. “No.”
“Sarah was at a concert on Saturday night and didn’t come back here. No one’s seen her since. Sit down, Dan—this must be a shock. I’ll make you coffee.”
Dan moves toward a chair and leans on the back of it, but he doesn’t sit down. “A concert? I thought she was working last weekend.”
It’s Mom’s turn to shift around awkwardly.
I look at Dan. I’m sure this is an act. He’s challenging Mom to confirm what he knows—that Sarah was two-timing him.
“She went with a friend…actually, her ex, Richard. I think he must have gotten tickets for the concert a long time ago. She probably felt she had to go. You know what she’s like!”
“Right,” says Dan, with an edge to his voice. “So I assume the police have been questioning him?”
“Yes,” Mom says. “He was the last person to see her, but I don’t think they… They want to speak to you too. You’ll call them, won’t you?”
Dan’s gaze is steady. “Of course,” he says.