Page 29 of The Change
Franklin stayed quiet for a beat too long. “You want to tell me how you could know that, Nessa?”
She came right out with it. “I saw her.”
“Yousawher?”
Nessa had planned to tell him everything, but at the last moment, she lost her nerve. She’d held on to her secrets for thirty-five years. She wasn’t ready to reveal them all at once. “I saw her in a dream,” Nessa lied. “That’s how I knew where to look for the body. She’s been calling to me. She’s been waiting for me to find her.”
This time, the pause that followed was so long, Nessa felt the need to fill in the silence.
“The girl I saw looked seventeen or eighteen but could have been younger. She died wearing a pale blue dress and black heels, and she had a little quilted black leather handbag. Her hair was intwists and it looked like it had just been done. She was dressed like she was on her way to a party.”
“There was a bag like the one you described underneath the body,” Franklin said. “It was empty but the label said ‘Ofelia.’ That mean anything to you?”
“Ofelia? Never heard of it.”
“Me neither. But according to Google, it’s a popular Caribbean retail chain. We’re checking the files for missing girls who might have family there. Right now, it’s our best lead, unless you can give me something else.”
She could. “The girl wasn’t alone in my dream. There was another young woman down there—a Mattauk girl who disappeared two years ago. Whoever killed her must have dumped her body in the ocean. She was my daughters’ age. They went to the same school. I believe her name was Mandy Welsh.”
“You’re telling me that in your dream, this girl Mandy Welsh was dead too? Are you sure, Nessa?”
“No, I’m not sure!” Nessa snipped. “I’m new to all of this. All I’m asking is that you go take a look. Will you do that or not?”
She expected pushback, but he offered none. “I will,” he said.
“Good,” Nessa huffed. The combination of wine and emotion was making her head swim. “Now if you don’t mind, I’m going to get off the phone and go to bed.”
“Thank you,” Franklin said. “Thank you for trusting me with your dream.”
She paused, taken aback by his words. “You’re welcome,” she said, though she didn’t feel like she deserved his thanks. She should have told him more. “Don’t make me regret it.”
An hour later, she passed out with her head on the dining-room table and the empty wine bottle in front of her.
Hurling Begonias
After Nessa dropped her off at home, Jo walked through the door to find Lucy playing Zelda on the giant television her father had purchased for video games. Whenever Jo popped home from work during the day, that was usually where she found Art.
“I’m sorry I’m late.” Jo kissed Lucy on the crown of her head. “You must be starving, poor thing. I brought you a sandwich from the deli on Main Street.”
“Thanks,” Lucy said, without looking up. “I’ll take it to school for lunch tomorrow. Dad and I made beef ravioli from scratch.”
“You did?” Jo marveled. “Was it edible? How’s your belly feeling?”
“It feels fine. The pasta was yummy. Hey—can you take me to visit Harriett sometime?” she asked.
“We’ll see. Where is Dad?” Jo asked.
“Bedroom,” Lucy told her, still without looking away from the screen.
Upstairs, Jo made as much noise as possible as she walked down the hall. She’d learned it was best to give her husband fair warning. Still, she found Art on the bed with the computer on his lap. He closed the top as she entered.
“Maybe wait until the kid’s in bed?” Jo didn’t give a shit if Art watched a dirty video now and then, but she couldn’t disguise her disgust at what she’d come to see as a massive waste of time.Video games and porn consumed so many hours of her husband’s day, it was a minor miracle he managed to feed himself or their daughter.
“For your information, I was working.” Art sounded indignant. Who knew, maybe this time it was true. “Where have you been? Lucy said you were hanging around with Harriett Osborne. So what’s the story? She really a witch?”
“Yes.” Jo glanced down at the clock on her phone. She’d timed the trip home perfectly. “Turn on the local news.”
“You mean on the television?” It was as though she’d asked him to tune the wireless toNews of the World.
