Page 42 of One Last Secret

I start climbing anyway. “We need to look in Celeste’s room,” I say. “She might have drawn something that can tell us where she is.”

Jasmine’s been on the phone since scolding me, but when she hears that, she says, “Hold on,” then looks up at me. “You’re saying she might have told us where her destination is?”

“It’s possible,” I admit. I have no love lost for the woman, but now’s not the time to fight. She has access to resources that can find Celeste safe and sound.

They follow me upstairs, and we head to Celeste’s room.

The room is a mess, but not the way Victor's studio is when he leaves or is taken. It's just covered with different artwork, all in various stages of completion.

The drawings are mostly abstract, like Victor’s work but somehow even less representational. Instead of vaguely humanoid shapes engaged in exaggerated but readily identifiable activities, there are just shapes and colors arranged in patterns I can’t understand.

A few are less abstract, and it’s those that draw my eye. In these drawings, a tall, thin silhouette steps for a bright blue light with yellow rays surrounding it. In some drawings, the light is circular, in others rectangular. In one, the light fills the entire page, and the silhouette is a small, dim shadow near the center.

This is the portal her father steps through, but I have no idea what it means. I’m sure it means something, but I won’t findout what that is anytime soon. Certainly not soon enough to find Celeste.

There’s a loud knock on the door, and I jump. A moment later, one of the officer’s radio chirps. “Four-five-four, what’s your twenty?”

The officer answers, “We’re in the subject’s bedroom inside the house. The tutor believes there might be evidence here.”

“I was wrong,” I say. “There’s no evidence.”

“Negative on that evidence, two-two-three. Is that you at the front door?”

“Affirmative. We have four units, and we’re canvassing right now.”

“Ten-four. Are we ten-fifty-three for this call?”

“Negative. Subject is on foot, so we’re assuming no ten-fifty-three.”

“Roger that. We’re heading downstairs.”

When we make it outside, I expect to see Detective Reyes. Instead, the officer in command is a sergeant I recognize as one of the subordinates who searched the house when Victor went missing. Jasmine stalks toward him, her chin lifted. She points her finger at me and says, “Sergeant, this woman interfered with a lawful order to remove this child from the premises and place her into the care of her maternal grandparents. I’d like formal charges to be filed against her for interfering with a lawful court order.”

“And I will follow through on every threat I made, Miss Jasmine. You neglected all of your responsibilities in this case. It’s not acceptable that you—”

"I don't give a shit," the sergeant snaps. "No one's leaving the premises right now. We're going to tear the neighborhood apart for the second time this week, looking for another missing person from this house. If we arrest people, it'll happen when I'm ready for it. Don't talk to me again."

Jasmine turns to me with a haughty smile. She thinks she’s won, I suppose. “I’ll be heading to mysuperiorto report the exact reason why the girl under my care is now missing instead of safely with her grandparents."

I meet her eyes and feel a disturbingly cold sensation run through me. At the same time, I decide I will ruin her. I will have Sean discover every law she’s ever broken and every policy she’s ever flouted. I will tell her superiors, the news media, social media and the police. She doesn’t give a damn about Celeste. She’s just an arrogant little bitch who wants to prove that she’s the biggest fish in the small pond of Monterey, California’s Child Protective Services. I’ll—

“Mary.”

I start, and Evelyn pulls away. She looks at me warily. “Are you all right?”

I sigh. “No. Not even close.”

“Come sit down.”

“I can’t sit. I need to help look for her.”

“You’re shaking. Your legs are spasming again too. You need to rest. You’re not a young woman anymore.”

When she says that, I feel the pain in my legs again. Pins and needles accompany that pain. She’s right. I’m not a young woman, and I’ve exerted myself physically more than I have in perhaps my entire life.

I let her lead me inside. As my anger toward Jasmine fades, my guilt increases. I’ve failed. I’ve lost Celeste. I feel another flash of anger, this time toward whoever took Victor. This girl needed me, maybe more than anyone has before. And I was helping her. I was going to bring her out of her shell. Instead, she’s had a mental break and now she may be lost for good.

I hate people sometimes. I know it’s not kind to say, and I know it’s not helpful to feel this way, but I do. People are selfishand cruel, and those that aren’t selfish and cruel are crushed and beaten by those that are until they break.

---