“You can’t just barge in here.”
“Sir,” Officer Phil interrupted, calm but firm. “We’re going to need you to step outside. This conversation will be easier if we separate you both.”
My heart dropped. “Wait, what? Why would —”
“Please,” Phil said gently, turning to me. “Where is the bracelet right now?”
I pointed to the table, where I’d laid it carefully the night before. Mason picked it up with gloved hands and placed it in an evidence bag.
“Where is the bracelet right now?”
“It was logged in the original file,” Phil explained. “Your daughter was confirmed to be wearing it when she vanished.”
“But how did you know who I was?”
“That stall’s been on our radar,” Phil said. “Stolen property. When my guy saw the bracelet, he called it in — then the vendor sold it to you before we could grab it.”
“That stall’s been on our radar.”
“So he remembered you,” Phil said. “And you were the only one asking about the woman who sold it to him.”
“So… she’s alive? Is that what it means?”
Phil didn’t move.
“It means someone had it. Recently. That’s all we can confirm for now.”
Phil sat on the edge of my armchair like he’d done this a hundred times.
Mason clicked his pen, waiting.
“Did she ever mention wanting to leave?”
“It means someone had it. Recently.”
“No.”
“Was there any tension at home?”
“No. I mean… when she was a teenager, sure. But nothing serious.”
Then Phil asked it. “Ma’am, did your husband ever tell you Nana came home that night?”
I stared at him. “What? No. That’s not possible! She never came home.”
“There was a tip,” he said. “An anonymous call. They said they were a neighbor and they saw her enter your house the night she vanished.”
“That’s not possible! She never came home.”
I felt like my insides were being squeezed.
“That… that can’t be true, Officer.”
Phil didn’t push. He just nodded.
“Sometimes tips get buried. Sometimes people are scared to tell the full truth.”
The officers stepped outside.
I heard shouting.
“That… that can’t be true.”
“You’re digging up things that don’t exist!” Felix yelled. “You’re harassing my wife!”
Then:
“You don’t have proof. That bracelet could’ve been anywhere. Pawn shops, online —”
Officer Mason interrupted, his voice clear enough to echo across the lawn.
“Sir, how did you know the bracelet was ever out of the house?”
“You’re harassing my wife!”
He let that hang there.
“As far as the case file goes, your daughter was wearing it when she disappeared. No one saw her again. Not officially. So how could you know the bracelet ended up in a pawn shop… unless you knew something we don’t?”
Silence.
Then I opened the door, stepping out into the sunlight, my robe fluttering in the breeze.
Felix turned toward me, his face drained. “Natalie, don’t —”
“… unless you knew something we don’t?”
“Don’t what?” I asked. “Don’t speak? Don’t question? Don’t find our daughter’s bracelet and bring it home?”
“Stop twisting this!”
“I’m twisting nothing. You’ve been screaming at my hope for ten years.”
“Sir, the vendor who sold the bracelet described the person as being tall, slim, with big curly hair.”
Felix’s face twitched. “That’s not her.”
“How could you know?” I asked.
