Page 74 of Did You See Evie

“Don’t worry about it,” I say, shutting the door behind me.

THIRTY-SEVEN

When I return home, two bottles of wine in hand, the house is empty.

I’d thought that emptiness might reignite my despair, that the silence might trigger alarm bells inside me. Instead, it has the opposite effect. I feel peaceful. Whole. This was my space before it was ours, and it feels like I’m reclaiming my territory, refusing to let Connor and his choices infringe on my happiness.

And then I think back to the tape.

And I think about all the time I’ve spent with Joanna in recent months.

And I think of all the ways Connor and Joanna must have deceived me to keep their affair going.

I take pride in being in control of my life. Their affair was taking place right under my nose, and I never saw it. It makes me question my judgement.

You don’t know her.

Like with everything this week, my thoughts go back to Evie.

If my fiancé and my assistant were able to slide this by me, what other signs about the people in my life might I have missed? Maybe Evie was more damaged than I thought. Maybe she did have the ability and the desire to run away. Or worse, maybe her reckless actions landed her in a dangerous situation, and I was too caught up in my own life, caught up in the version of Evie I thought I knew, to see.

My phone rings. The idea of Connor plaguing me with phone calls and apology texts makes me sick.

I’m relieved when I see it’s Nadia calling, but not enough to answer. I silence the call, finishing off the last of my bottle of wine.

By the time I’ve popped the cork on the second bottle, she’s called again.

“Are you sitting down?” she says when I answer.

“Yes.” My tone is short, disinterested. I’m glad that there’s been enough separation between us that she won’t be able to sense how upset I am.

“I was able to track who Evie was talking to.”

I sit up, happy to think about something that doesn’t involve Connor or Joanna. Happy to think about something that could help us find Evie.

“Who is it?”

“It isn’t good,” she says. “I sent everything I found to your email, so you could take a better look.”

I stand and wobble into the kitchen. I sift through my work bag, looking for my laptop.

“How were you able to find him?”

“I started by doing a reverse image search. Turns out this guy uses the same photo across all his profiles.” She pauses. “If I’ve found the right guy, Evie could have been in more danger than we realized. All the girls on the team could be.”

“What do you mean?” I ask, opening my email.

“Cass, you know him.”

My entire body locks up. “Know him?”

“He works at the school.”

When I click on Nadia’s email, the first image that pops up is the same one I saw on Beatrice’s phone. A picture of a shaggy-haired boy, his face obscured.

Below that, is the picture of the actual person using the profile.

Kyle.

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