Chapter 2 - My Mother Said 2:14 Never Happened
Campus security separated us.
Mason was taken toward the transport office.
I was walked to student health because my cheek had already started swelling.
The officer asked whether I wanted to make a formal complaint.
“Yes.”
No hesitation.
Mason hitting me because he was angry about my sister did not become understandable because my sister was missing.
I had learned at least one thing before classes started.
The nurse gave me ice.
I called my mother.
Diane Carter answered immediately.
“Did you get there?”
“Yes.”
“How’s the dorm?”
“Mom.”
Silence.
She knew my voice.
“What happened?”
“What happened at 2:14 the night Emma disappeared?”
Nothing.
Not confusion.
Nothing.
I sat straighter.
“Mom.”
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
“A woman just said your name from inside my campus bus.”
“What woman?”
“She said to ask what Emma said to you at 2:14.”
My mother breathed differently.
I heard it.
“You're hurt.”
Not a question.
“Why?”
“Rachel.”
“Why did you ask if I’m hurt?”
“Because you sound—”
“Mason Reed punched me.”
Her voice changed instantly.
“What?”
“I’m fine.”
“I'm calling the school.”
“No.”
“He assaulted you.”
“I already reported it.”
“Then I'm calling your dean.”
“Mom.”
She stopped.
I pressed the ice harder against my cheek.
“Did Emma call you?”
“No.”
“Wrong answer.”
“Rachel.”
“Did she call you?”
My mother said nothing.
The nurse looked over.
I stood and went into the hall.
“Mom.”
Finally:
“She called.”
My knees almost gave out.
I leaned against the wall.
“You told me she didn't.”
“I told you I hadn't spoken to her.”
“That’s the same thing.”
“It wasn't a conversation.”
My throat tightened.
“What was it?”
“She was upset.”
“What did she say?”
Diane started breathing faster.
“She wouldn't tell me where she was.”
“Was she alive?”
“Obviously.”
“Was she hurt?”
“I didn't know.”
“Did she say somebody had her?”
“No.”
“Did she ask for help?”
My mother stopped.
The question changed the silence.
“Mom.”
“She said she needed time.”
I closed my eyes.
Twenty months of posters.
Missing-person pages.
My mother going on local television saying:
We haven't heard Emma's voice since Tuesday evening.
I had sat beside her.
Held her hand.
Believed every word.
“What else?”
“Rachel, you don't understand how she sounded.”
“What else?”
“She told me not to call you.”
That hurt.
“Why?”
“She said you would try to stop her.”
My fingers tightened around the phone.
“Stop her from what?”
“She wouldn't say.”
I remembered the last week before Emma disappeared.
Three unanswered calls.
My texts getting shorter.
Come home.
Mom needs you.
Stop doing this.
Emma answering once:
I can't keep being the emergency contact for this family.
I had called that cruel.
“What time did you call the police?”
My mother went quiet.
“Mom.”
“Morning.”
“What time?”
“Seven.”
Less than five hours after hearing Emma alive.
“Did you tell them she called?”
“Yes.”
That surprised me.
“Then why didn't they tell me?”
“I asked them not to involve you in every detail.”
My stomach tightened.
“You decided.”
“You were nineteen.”
“I was her sister.”
“You were barely sleeping.”
“That wasn't your decision.”
Diane's voice hardened.
“I had one daughter gone and another coming apart.”
I laughed once.
“You still had two daughters.”
Silence.
Then my mother said:
“You don't know that.”
That stopped me.
“What does that mean?”
“She sounded wrong.”
“How?”
“Calm.”
I almost laughed again.
“That’s wrong?”
“For Emma, yes.”
My mother’s voice cracked.
“She was saying things like she had already decided everything.”
“What things?”
Another pause.
Then:
“She said she was safe.”
I stopped.
My mother continued quietly:
“She said she was leaving by choice.”
The hallway seemed to tilt.
“And you reported her missing.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because people can say they're safe when they're not.”
“Did you believe somebody was forcing her?”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
Diane answered immediately.
“Mason Reed.”
I stared at the cinderblock wall.
The boy who had just punched me.
Maybe.
Then:
“And a woman from the transport department.”
My hand went cold.
“What woman?”
My mother said:
“Nora Vale.”
A name.
Finally.
May you like
Then she added:
“The woman who drove Emma off campus the night she disappeared.”
