The Secrets She Kept

The Secrets She Kept - Chapter 4

Twenty minutes later had us weaving through the side roads close to my home. As our search radius got larger and larger, the  stone in my gut grew heavier and heavier. The longer she was missing, the more likely we would find her injured or -.

I swallowed and glared out of the window. The dull thud of rain on the glass matched my terrible mood. If I didn't think about it, it couldn't happen. Because, while I knew the end was getting closer by the day, I wasn't ready to let go. Not yet.

"Is there anywhere your mum liked to go?" Richie asked, his voice cutting into the tense silence of the car.

I shrugged my shoulders helplessly, my fingers still firmly wrapped around my phone as I scanned the pedestrians rushing to get out of the rain. My heart plummeted further with each unfamiliar face I saw.

"She used to love the little bistro in town with all of the fake flowers on the wall. You know, the one that does those miniature cupcakes? Or the pier in summer. It was always her favourite but we took the bus to get there." My voice was quiet as I remembered the happier times. The times when the disease has yet to rob my mum of her independence. "We haven't been for a few years. She doesn't like the crowds much these days."

"She may just go there anyway. It's worth a drive past just to check."

"Okay."

"We'll do the bistro first and then, if all else fails, we drive out to the pier." Richie said, flicking his indicator and taking the next corner. "Hopefully the weather will stop her from thinking a trip to the beach is a good idea."

"That won't matter. Sometimes she's so lost in the past that the present almost ceases to exist." Turning in my seat to face him, there was a bite of pain as the seatbelt cut into my neck. I offered him a grim smile. "Besides, my mum has always loved the beach in the rain. It was kind of our thing."

I laughed sadly, my eyes intent upon his profile without really seeing it, and shook my head.

"When I was little, I was so sure she was this powerful goddess. She would just stand there in the middle of the storm with her head back and her face towards the sky. It was the only time she ever looked completely at peace. Her toes in the surf with not a care in the world." I snorted and shook my head. "I thought she was the one creating the storms. The silly things we believe when we're little."

"It was certainly easier back then." Richie commented, taking a sharp corner.

I brought my hand up, freeing my skin from being pinched further by the seat belt.

With a sigh, I turned my attention back to the world streaming past the window. "But, no matter how much I wish it, she's just as human as the rest of us."

"They all are." Richie murmured, his voice thick with a story just begging to be told. 

I didn't ask. He didn't share.

It was a story I would likely never know. For all of the years we had worked alongside one another, we were almost strangers. He only knew about my life by accident. I only knew as much about him as the public office gossip. His stories were not going to be fodder for a mere acquaintance.

"You know –." Before Richie could finish what was sure to be unsubstantiated reassurances, his phone started to ring on its perch on the dashboard.

The screen lit up. Lindsey's name flashed up in bold. My hand pressed against my stomach as it churned uncomfortably. Why was she calling already? Something had to be wrong.

"Can you answer that?"

Reaching out, I snatched up the phone and swiped to answer the call. As it fought to connect, I pressed the button to put it on speaker phone.