Page 50 of Everything She Feared

“Family’s everything,” Sara said.

“Goodness, that’s so true. Do you have children?”

“A daughter.”

“Ahh.” The woman smiled. “A daughter is a daughter all of her life.”

“So the saying goes.” Sara smiled. “Anything else?”

“No, thank you.”

Relieved she’d gotten the woman’s order right, Sara moved on. Then it struck her and she glanced back. Had she seen the woman at Anna’s funeral? Had she been one of the people looking at her and Katie? Sara wasn’t sure. She didn’t know her. The woman had to be a friend of the Shaws, she thought while clearing plates from table six. Table two wanted apple pie and more coffee.

While working, she grappled with the ever-increasing financial strain she faced, and how she needed to find a newaffordablesitter for Katie. Friends, like her neighbor, Val Rossi, a retired flight attendant, were helping. Val was up before dawn each morning to walk Bingo, her retriever. After hearing of the tragedy, Val had come to Sara’s house with lasagna and insisted on watching Katie and getting her to school during Sara’s morning shifts.

As Sara worked, a tiny ringing in the back of her mind got louder, forcing her to confront the one thing she feared most: Anna’s death.

What had happened on that cliff? How had Katie ended up with Anna’s necklace? Why was Sara even questioning it? Maybe she was being too paranoid. Her thoughts spun. Were Katie’s sessions with Dr. Mehta helping? Or would they open a door to something more terrifying than Sara could ever imagine?

Will the truth be exhumed?

Some press reports had included photos of Sara and Katie—but none identified them. Still, newspeople had come to her home and called her phone the day it happened. Sara figured they’d gotten her number and address from other parents in the Sunny Days group.

But no news outlet and nothing online had publicly identified Katie or Sara and their link to Anna’s death.

None had dug deeper.

They can’t know who I am.

Not yet, at least.

And since then, news media coverage of the tragedy had waned. Social media chatter about it had also subsided. Still, Sara couldn’t shake the feeling she was being watched, followed.

“Sara?”

She turned to see Beth and Polly huddled in the alcove near the kitchen door. She stopped to join them.

“What’s going on? Are you okay?” Polly asked.

“You look a little uneasy,” Beth said. “Everything okay?”

“I’m fine.”

Beth and Polly traded disbelieving glances.

“You’ve been through so much,” Beth said.

“If you want to get together later at your place and talk...” Polly said.

For a second Sara considered finally confiding the truth,the whole truth, unburdening herself of the immense weight she had carried all these years. But no, she could never let that happen—never.

She killed the thought as quickly as it rose.

“Thank you, guys, but I’m fine. Really.”

“Our offer stands if you change your mind,” Polly said.

“Thanks.”

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