«Pass me the chair, please», I asked my best friend. I climbed into the chair until I grabbed it with both hands, then tossed it onto the bed.
Hanna reached it before I did and began to handle it.
«It is open!»
I was having a heart attack.
It had always been closed with a large padlock and I had the only key. I still guarded it with jealousy and no one had ever had a copy.
I examined the closure as it appeared to have been forced. I opened the lid to make sure all the contents were there.
There was my secret diary which I immediately passed on to Hanna. I started writing it at the age of seven and continued throughout adolescence. I found a horse plush; I had called it Lucky, it was a present from Josh and Hanna for my ninth birthday. I saw the letter my grandfather had written me for my eighteen years, it was precious, it said to chase my dreams and never give up even when life would have presented me its bills. Everything seemed to be there. I recognized a clear plastic folder with dates on it:
15th February 2008
21st June 2008
09th October 2008
I had found them.
Those were the articles about the three missing girls during 2008.
Exactly ten years ago.
The fact that the casket was open, however, was clearly not something I missed.
Had my parents done that?
And why without asking me?
It was not typical of them and I wouldn't have ignored the fact.
I took out the yellowed pieces of newspaper and handled one carefully.
«Look at this...» I suggested to my friend, leaning towards her:
«Katherine Holden. Twenty-two years. Missing», I turned the pages discovering other titles,
«Rachel Brant. Nineteen. Missing», I went on browsing.
«Julie Sullivan. Twenty-five. Missing», I concluded by showing Hanna the similarity with those facts that were affecting Hazycreek during those recent weeks.
She looked at those clippings with perplexity then looked me in the eyes.
«Sullivan, as your boss. Was she the daughter?»
«Yes. I remembered that later her disappearance was denied. They claimed that Julie had moved to London, but she has never been seen in town again», I explained, recalling the events little by little.
«Are you assuming that this is happening again?» she mumbled.
«I am not sure, this might be a coincidence», I replied studying those articles.
I thought of Sebastian and his family.
None of those writings mentioned it, or rather, not in an explicit way, they often went around it and talked about destiny, as if it was a justification for everything.
I needed more information.
Could the Winterbourne family be responsible for those crimes?
I didn't want to believe it; I couldn't bear the idea that Sebastian was involved. Handsome, rich and divinely asshole, but I couldn't think of him as a killer.
Suddenly I remembered what he had said at the editorial insinuating that Hazycreek's rumors were true.
I took them for simple provocations while he kept me stuck to the elevator wall.
Our faces were extremely close.
I had felt his breath caressing my skin and my mind had created an almost indecent situation.
For a moment I wanted him to kiss me, feeling his mouth on mine, his hands over me.
I had just touched his chest, only imagining its perfection.
I felt a fervor inside, a craving out of my control, like a dangerous obsession from which I could not escape.
What's happening to me? Why do I think of him that way?
I watched Hanna out of the corner of my eye, I was dying to tell her everything, to explain what had occurred inside me in the last few days and ask her for advice on how to behave.
She was absorbed in her thoughts and dark-faced as she read the newspaper texts. I stood up and began pacing back and forth, took a deep breath and stood in front of my best friend.
«If I confess something to you, can you promise that you'll be listening to what I say, analyse the situation and just shut up until the end?» I said in bursts like a machine gun.
Hanna looked at me wide-eyed, stood up and grabbed me by the arms.
«You are having a panic attack! Sit down!» she ordered me alarmed.
What the fuck!
I thought incredulous in front of such idiocy.
I was talkative, it meant that I was not calm, that something troubled me, but nothing more serious.
«I am not panicking!», I objected, freeing myself from her grip.
«You're ranting. It never happens to you», she argued, putting her hands on her hips.
I sighed ruffling my tawny hair, it was useless to stall, I had to tell her.
«I might have a crush on Sebastian Winterbourne», I sighed in a whisper.
I closed my eyes and tried to keep my breathing steady and controlled.
«Are you out of your mind, Reb?»
Hanna's scream was piercing, forcing me to squint and shield my ears.
«How can I know? I find him an arrogant daddy's boy, haughty and brash. But he is also interesting...»
Hanna sprinted towards me and grabbed my face with one hand, peering carefully into my eyes.
«Are you under dose?»
«I'm not, for God's Sakes! Is it so wrong?» I replied, offended and sullen.
«He is a Thirsty, Reb! Are you having a crush on... a monster?» she hissed in a low voice, looking over her shoulder.
She was terrified.
«This is not a typical crush; I believe this is something more physical...» I paused, «I think I am attracted by him.»
Hanna turned to the window and after grabbing my old diary from the top of the mattress, she began to leaf through it.
She was so angry that she didn't even want to talk to me.
«Why are you always choosing the most difficult way?» she asked without changing position.
«Because it is me. Rebecca Janette Cross: rebel since I was born, curious by nature and… anarchist in the blood.»
As Sebastian said.
I fought back his thought that punctually was appearing gain, I could feel it, elbowing its way just to come back to my mind.
«Be careful, Reb. Keep always your eyes open», she retorted disinterestedly, turning to me. She was reading with a frown on something I had written.
I was about to say something when Hanna placed under my nose my outbursts as a child.
«Read it!»
“Today a girl went missing. They said in the news. My mom and dad got worried. They told me not to talk to strangers and not to go near the Winterbourne family. Sebastian doesn't look bad. He is a child who comes to school with me. He is always alone. "
I had completely removed those events.
Those thoughts of mine were written on the first pages of the diary. I was still a little girl.
My best friend pointed out the date I had written along the top of the page.
«18th March, 1998», I read aloud.
«Twenty years from now, ten since then», she commented, marking the newspaper articles with her finger.
Oh my God!
«You are a genius, Hanna!» I exclaimed with joy. I hugged her and printed a kiss on her forehead.
She drew back and put on a serious expression.
«Go three pages forward.»
I did what she said without saying a word, I didn't know what to expect.
“This is an unhappy day. A very bad thing has happened. Aunt Lily flew to the sky. There is no more. Josh is always crying and Mrs. Coleman too. It's sad when someone leaves. "
Aunt Lily.
Lily Coleman was the eldest daughter of Meredith and Lukas Coleman, as well as Josh's sister. She had disappeared at the age of twenty-three, involved in a brutal car accident.
3 August 1998.
I looked at Hanna, arching my brows, I knew exactly where she was going.
«What if Lily never had an accident but simply disappeared?» I asked rhetorically.
My best friend nodded her head, letting out a smirk.
«It would mean Josh's sister dissolved into thin air like all these other girls every ten years.»
That possibility was disquieting, I vaguely remembered that period, but nothing suggested Lily was missing, she was simply dead. There had even been a funeral.
But I was a child, like Josh and Hanna, they could have told us anything and we would have believed it.
«How does this make any sense? Why still keeping us from the truth? We are adults now», I argued not fully convinced yet.
I couldn't find a valid reason that could have led our parents not to tell us the truth.
Why was my casket open?
Doubts arose in me, questions to whom I wanted to find an answer.
Hanna looked out of my bedroom's window, she was watching the street, hidden behind the dusty curtain.
«Isn't that the Winterbournes' car?» she suddenly asked.
I rushed to her side and looked over the pane of glass.
A sinuous sport car was parked on the opposite street.
I swallowed.
«This might look like», I cut it short.
Hanna was right instead, that was Sebastian's huge car. I remembered it perfectly.
«With tinted windows?» she disputed rightly disagreed.
«I don't know what to say, Hanna.»
I was no more able to understand anything.
Missing girls, Lily Coleman, the feeling that our parents were hiding something from us. The accusations against the Winterbournes, the legends about the Thirsty, were all buzzing uninterruptedly in my head, creating a din.
And then there was Sebastian, who had suddenly shown himself interested in me to the point of being seen in town. He had been looking for me from the beginning and now he also seemed to be following me.
I was counting on my survival instinct, it had never let me down, but I probably should have listened to Hanna and being careful.
That penetrating look had remained imprinted in my mind and made no sign of leaving.
I wanted to reassure Hanna, tell her that I wasn't feeding any of those forbidden vibes, except of course for professional purposes.
Sebastian represented everything I hated most in people, however, my body seemed to think differently, because although I was fighting to repress all sorts of impulses, the truth was that something had snapped inside me and my desire was nothing more but to have him.
«What is going on, Reb?»
«Help me find out, Hanna».
Chapter 6
Rebecca
I took Hanna to work at Moonlight for the evening shift.
Josh was waiting for us at the entrance, we had arranged to meet with him and spend the evening together.
«I can stay a bit longer with you, I have still time before starting», Hanna said sitting near us.
I begged my best friend not to say anything to Josh. Nothing regarding Sebastian or my strange unwarranted reactions in his presence.
She promised me she would not mention it.
Josh studied us for long moments, shifting his gaze from one to the other.
«There must be something you two are denying», he declared.
I ignored him, awed by the turn that this conversation could have taken.
Instead, Hanna reached Josh across the table and grabbed him by the shoulders.
«We made a sensational discovery today», she exclaimed as if holding back those words with all her might.
Josh blinked in confusion.
I motioned Hanna to sit down and tried to keep order.
«Quiet! It's confidential information», I yelled nudging her.
She pouted and ignored me.
I hoped she could really keep my secret, I trusted her, but I knew her well and I knew how much she loved talking.
«What have you discovered?» Josh asked, intrigued by our friend's statement.
I quickly checked the surrounding environment to make sure that no one was listening to us.
«A couple of days ago I managed to speak with Frank Weather. He made coming back to my mind some episodes happened in the past. I don't know if you can remember, but those disappearances have already happened and, as a teenager, I had kept the Hazy Daily's articles. I could have searched online also, but I thought it would have been easier summing up those clippings that were left at my parents' house.»
Then, Hanna didn't let me finish.
«Three missing girls exactly ten years ago. And this is not everything: in 1998 Reb wrote about another girl that had disappeared, another ten years before. Those events have happened in a cadenced way», she enthusiastically finished. She decided to help me even though facing the truth had scared her to death.
«It is the same year... of Lily», Josh mumbled as he looked down at the table. As a child, he was very attached to his sister, it was an immense pain to bear that loss for him.
«Exactly that», I didn't know what else to say.
«Don't you think that maybe Lily might not have died in an accident?» Hanna spoke a bit carelessly.
I wanted to break her head.
A tactless question that would have inflicted further pain on Josh. But she didn't realize it, she was spontaneous.
Josh slammed his fist on the shiny table's surface.
«What are you thinking of?» he blurted out with a grim expression on his face.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to keep calm. That was the beginning of a no holds barred war, when Hanna and Josh argued, because that's what was going to happen, there was a need to take cover.
First, I had to calm myself and then I could calm them.
«Think about it», she objected.
It was necessary to stop them immediately.
«The inseparable ones, full tonight!» an unpredicted voice said.
The appearance of Gregory Tanner and Tina Harper broke the growing bickering between the two.
They were all righteous people.
Greg was the son of the inspector and Ginger.
We were born on the same day and our families often forced us to organize children's birthday parties together.
Despite the whims, in the end, we always had fun and as we grew up, we became friends.
Greg was an accomplice who deserved absolute respect. He liked technologies and had access to information that were often confidential. He had lent me his help on several occasions, he was on my side, I knew it.
Tina, on the other hand, was a quiet girl, she was the elder sister of the missing Claire Harper. The two did not get along very well, I had already spoken with Tina recently on the occasion of that tragedy.
She was sunny by nature, she faced the days with a smile, but her face didn't lie. She was hiding behind her sand-colored bangs not to show her eyes. Reddened, swollen and adorned with two purple dark circles that not even makeup could completely cover.
I thought it was hard for her family and I was sorry for their pain.
Tina and Greg had met at school, he had completely lost his mind for her and after an infinite courtship, he had managed to conquer her. They had been together ever since, having just celebrated their ninth anniversary.
«How is it going guys?» I asked acting indifferently.
Hanna stood up in a hurry, giving them the place.
«I got to go or this time your mom could threaten me with a kitchen knife», she squeaked to Gregory, winking at him.
«What were you guys talking about?» he asked us after greeting her.
I knew I could safely talk to them.
I wanted to express myself freely on the researches I was leading but I was worried about Tina, talking about the police investigations meant raising an issue in which her family was involved.
I didn't want to cause her any more pain. It wasn't necessary.
Even if...
I looked at her with a frown, she seemed to notice and smiled at me.
«Oh dear! Don't worry, Reb. I know what you're working on. We have already talked about it», she said, putting a hand on her chest.
I listened to her and told them the correlations with old cases that occurred decades ago.
«Does my dad know that you are investigating so deeply?» Greg asked, mulling over my story.
I raised an eyebrow and looked into his thin eyes turning my back towards him.
«No... and he shouldn't know», I declared, resting my chin on the closed fist of my right hand.
A crooked smile broke out on his thin face.
«He won't know. Don't worry.»
«I need some more information. Do you think your old man is willing to chat with me?» I asked Greg, who knew his father better than anyone else.