My Husband's Face Changed
Chapter 02 - My Husband's Face Changed
Richard had always been good in public.
He knew exactly when to smile.
Exactly when to touch my elbow.
Exactly how long to pause before answering a difficult question.
But when he saw the photograph in my hand, his face changed.
It lasted less than a second.
Most people wouldn't have noticed.
I did.
"Evie," he said carefully. "What's going on?"
Lucy moved behind me.
Her small hands clutched the back of my jacket.
Richard looked down at her.
"Who is this child?"
I studied the man I had been married to for eleven years.
"You tell me."
His eyes returned to the photograph.
Something passed across his face.
Fear.
Not confusion.
Fear.
That distinction would haunt me later.
Richard recovered quickly.
"This isn't the place for whatever this is. Security should take the girl somewhere private."
"No."
My answer came so quickly that several guests turned.
Richard lowered his voice.
"Evelyn, there are reporters here."
I almost laughed.
A frightened child had walked alone into a ballroom carrying a blanket and my missing sister's photograph, and my husband's first concern was the reporters.
I looked at Lucy.
"Where is your mother?"
Her lip trembled.
"She went to work Tuesday night."
"Tuesday?"
It was Friday.
Lucy nodded.
"She never came back."
I felt the floor tilt beneath me.
"Who have you been staying with?"
"Nobody."
Richard stepped closer.
"That's enough. Evelyn, this could be some kind of scam."
Lucy flinched.
I turned on him.
"Stay away from her."
For the first time in eleven years of marriage, Richard looked genuinely shocked by my voice.
I asked one of the officers to clear a private room.
Then I took Lucy's handbag myself.
It was heavier than I expected.
Inside were two dresses, a toothbrush, a stuffed rabbit missing one ear, three granola bars, and a small plastic bag containing exactly thirty-seven dollars.
Everything a child owned.
Everything she thought she might need if she never went home again.
Richard followed us toward the private suite.
I stopped at the door.
"Not you."
"Evelyn."
"Not yet."
His jaw tightened.
That was when Lucy tugged my sleeve.
"There's something else."
From the bottom of her bag, she removed a small brass key attached to a paper tag.
Written on the tag was an address.
I knew the address immediately.
May you like
It belonged to the house where Caroline and I had grown up.
The house Richard told me had been sold seven years ago.
