214 Palmer Street(45)
And then there was the matter of her head injury. Had someone tried to kill her but been interrupted by Buster’s barking? Between the menacing notes and her life-threatening attack, it seemed likely, but why would anyone want her dead?
It wasn’t lost on her that this snooping around online and creating a fake account was like something a crazy person would do. A sane person would call the FBI with their suspicions or file a police report. It’s not that she didn’t want to follow the sensible path. Oh, how she’d love to hand this over to someone else and let them do the investigation. If only her husband’s best friend wasn’t the chief of police, someone who could easily discredit her. What was it he said? She thought hard, replaying the conversation in her mind. He called it cognitive impairment, and then said: False memories, memory loss, feeling like you’re losing your mind—that must be terrible. Gavin could portray her as a woman on the edge, one who’d lost her grasp of reality. He had friends in law enforcement in the surrounding communities, so it wasn’t as if she could venture outside of town and report it to another municipality.
No, she decided, proof was needed.
After Cady had contacted her, she thought long and hard before she responded. Finally, she’d typed in: Doing fine. Not on Facebook much, but thought I’d say hello. Apparently, this sounded like something Alexa would say, because Cady replied by telling her about the move to Wisconsin and their new jobs. Alexa, as written by Sarah, was sufficiently happy to hear how well things were going for the Caldwells replying with enthusiasm. When it came time for Alexa to share, Sarah begged off, saying she had to go but that they’d catch up later. Cady answered with the heart emoji.
And that was it.
The only message she got from the other end came from Josh, wanting her to contribute a video clip for Cady’s birthday montage. She’d declined, of course, and he was disappointed but accepted her excuse. She never commented on any of Cady’s posts and because her name never came up, Alexa Glemboski became virtually out of sight and out of mind. Sarah’s initial thought had been that in learning more about Cady, she could make some kind of connection with her in real life. Once she knew her interests and routine it would be easy enough to join the same yoga class or shop at the same places. From there she imagined they’d build a friendship, which would lead to an offer on her part to do some gardening in the back of their yard, or watch their dog when they were out of town. The dog turned out to be temporary—a service dog they’d volunteered to train. And Cady gave up yoga at the studio to do it at home. Easier with our schedules, she’d told a friend in response to a comment saying she was missed in class. Even though Sarah was an online interloper, keeping an eye on Cady under false pretenses, she found herself drawn into Cady and Josh’s world and struck by their likeability. Under different circumstances, she might have become friends with Cady. The trouble was that, in this lifetime, there didn’t seem to be a plausible way for Sarah to accidentally meet this woman.
Sarah was ready to give up on the whole idea when Cady announced the big landscape project. Our whole backyard is going to be torn up but when it’s done, we’ll have the garden of my dreams, Cady had exclaimed, then went on to talk about the new planting beds, fire pit, statuary, fountain and seating area. They hadn’t hired the company Sarah worked for, but she was impressed with the renderings Cady had posted online.
With all they had planned, Sarah had hoped their landscaper would stumble onto the bomb shelter himself, saving her the trouble, but she wasn’t that lucky. As the days went on, Cady posted photos of their progress, showing that most of their work was being done closer to the house. It seemed likely that the back of the lot would only get fresh sod.
And then, of course, the Caldwells had the opportunity to go on a month-long research trip. At the time Sarah read that post, it seemed to be a good omen. The universe giving her an opportunity. Now she scanned Cady’s Facebook page only to find her last post from a few days ago, a photo of the ship, accompanied by the words: Wish us luck!
She looked over the comments and was glad to see no one mentioned keeping an eye on the house. Most of Cady’s friends wished her bon voyage and said they couldn’t wait to hear all about the trip after her return. We have to do a girls’ night and go out for Margaritas when you get back, her friend Jocelyn said. Sarah had noticed Jocelyn’s comments often mentioned alcohol and getting away from the husbands. There was a story there, not that she’d ever hear it.
Now, ensconced in the Caldwells’ house, she checked Maggie’s Facebook page, relieved to see that the older lady hadn’t made any updates in the last week, not even to announce that she’d won a spa getaway in a contest. Right now Maggie Scott was probably in the midst of getting seaweed wrapped or whatever other treatments Sarah’s money had purchased for her.
While she was on Facebook she switched over to her own profile and checked her messages. There were three. One from her mother-in-law:
Darling Sarah, I hope this finds you well. When you get a chance, could you give Kirk or me a call? We’re worried about you. Love, Judy.
Judy always composed messages as if they were letters, which Sarah found to be sweet.
Kirk, too, had left her a message:
Sarah, I’m not sure what prompted your getaway. I’m confused and I miss you. Did I say or do something to upset you? If so, let’s talk it out. I love you. Call me, please.