Chapter 4 - The Woman From The Bus Had A Name
Nora Vale found me before I found her.
She was waiting outside my residence hall the next evening.
Gray coat.
Dark jeans.
Forty-five looked about right.
The woman from the transport lane.
I knew before she spoke.
“Rachel.”
I stopped ten feet away.
“You used my bus.”
“Not yours.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yes.”
“Were you inside yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“Why hide?”
She looked toward the residence entrance.
“Because Mason was there.”
“He isn't a reason.”
“No.”
She corrected herself.
“Because I was afraid.”
Better.
“Of him?”
“Of starting this badly.”
I almost laughed.
“You hid inside a bus and spoke through an emergency door.”
Nora winced.
“Fair.”
“Why come now?”
“Because I saw your transfer announcement.”
“What announcement?”
“The university ran a new-student post.”
Of course.
My face.
My name.
My major.
My mother had shared it on every platform she had.
Rachel is going back to the place Emma vanished. Pray she finds answers.
I hated seeing it in my head.
Nora continued:
“I knew Mason would see it too.”
“You knew he'd attack me?”
“No.”
She looked angry.
“I would have stepped out sooner if I had.”
“Why were you on that bus?”
“I arranged to ride in with the driver.”
“You still work here?”
“No.”
“Then why would he allow that?”
“He worked with me for nine years.”
Grounded enough.
No secret access tunnels.
People know people.
“Why didn't you come through the front?”
Nora looked ashamed.
“Because I thought if I saw you before you saw me, I could decide whether to talk.”
“You wanted to decide for me.”
“Yes.”
Good.
We were improving.
“Where is Emma?”
“I don't know.”
I stared.
“Wrong answer.”
“It’s the only one I have.”
“You drove her away.”
“Yes.”
“To Richmond.”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
Nora looked toward the sidewalk.
“I dropped her at a motel.”
“What motel?”
She shook her head.
“I’m not giving you that.”
My anger sharpened.
“You don't know where she is but you remember the motel.”
“Yes.”
“Then give me the name.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because it was one place she asked me not to turn into a trail.”
I stepped closer.
“She's my sister.”
“I know.”
“You helped her disappear.”
“No.”
Nora's voice hardened.
“I helped a twenty-four-year-old woman leave campus.”
“She was twenty-three.”
“Twenty-three.”
Nora corrected.
“She had withdrawn from school. Packed her bag. Told me she needed a ride.”
“You knew she was cutting off her family.”
“Yes.”
“And thought that was fine.”
“No.”
That stopped me.
“I thought it was frightening.”
“Then why help?”
“Because frightened adults still get choices.”
I hated that sentence because part of me agreed.
“What happened in Richmond?”
Nora took a breath.
Emma stayed three nights.
On the fourth morning she left before Nora arrived.
Paid cash? No, let's keep not tactical. She simply checked out.
Left one message at the front desk:
Thank you. Don't follow me.
Nora didn't.
“You just let her go.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She asked.”
“That’s all?”
“No.”
Nora looked at me.
“I also knew if I followed her, I would become another person deciding her fear meant she didn't mean what she said.”
I looked away.
My mother had used almost the opposite logic.
Emma said she was safe.
Diane decided calm meant danger.
Two adults.
Two interpretations.
One missing sister.
“What did Emma tell you about us?”
Nora's face changed.
“Enough to know I shouldn't be the one telling you everything.”
“Convenient.”
“Yes.”
She took it.
Then:
“She talked about you more than your mother.”
My throat tightened.
“What did she say?”
Nora hesitated.
I saw her decide whether withholding was another form of control.
Finally:
“That you always thought she was leaving because she stopped fixing things.”
I stared.
“What things?”
Nora looked at me.
“Your mother.”
I felt anger rise.
“You don't know my family.”
“No.”
“I know what Emma told me.”
“Which was?”
“That she had been the emergency plan in your house since she was fourteen.”
I laughed once.
Not because it was funny.
Because it sounded too neat.
“She loved helping us.”
Nora's expression changed.
“Those can both be true.”
That irritated me more.
“What happened at 2:14?”
Nora looked away.
“She called Diane.”
“I know.”
“What did she say after?”
Nora turned back.
“I wasn't with her.”
“What?”
“She called your mother after I left the motel.”
“So you don't know.”
“No.”
“Then how did you know about 2:14?”
“Emma told me the next morning.”
I froze.
“You spoke to her after the call.”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
Nora stared at me.
Then:
“She said your mother had heard her and still wasn't listening.”
That was all Nora would give me.
Before leaving, she said:
“One more thing.”
“What?”
“Your sister did not ask me to hide where she was forever.”
I waited.
“She asked me not to tell anyone until she decided whether she wanted to be found.”
“And did she decide?”
Nora's face tightened.
“I don't know.”
“Why not?”
“Because she stopped telling me too.”
May you like
That was the first moment I believed Nora might actually have lost Emma after helping her leave.
Which meant there was still another half none of us had.
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