Page 63 of The Stranger in the Mirror

“A bad man, sweetie. Forget the word,” I say, so angry I’m struggling to keep my voice even. I hand the phone back. “I didn’t know you had a Facebook account. Are you on any other social media?”

She shakes her head no. “Just Facebook.”

“We’ll talk more about it later.” I need some time to figure out how to handle this. “Come on, let’s go pick some apples,” I say cheerily, trying to salvage the day. Cassandra smiles at me, but the smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes.

After we finish, I put the apples in the car and slip an arm around her. “Where would you like to go for lunch? Your choice.”

She shrugs. “I don’t know.” She’s clearly still feeling hurt.

“Well, what are you in the mood for?”

“I guess some soup might be nice.”

“How about the Chowder House, then?” I know it’s one of her favorites.

She nods, a bit more warmly. “Okay.”

“Let’s go then. Nothing better than lunch with my favorite girls.”

***

Cassandra’s upstairs, putting Valentina to bed. I pour two glasses of cabernet and wait. Things are back on an even keel, but I’m still disturbed by the thought of her posting things on Facebook. Every time I think I’ve covered all my bases, something new crops up.

She comes into the room and takes a seat next to me on the sofa. “Finally asleep.”

I hand her a glass and lift mine in a toast. “To the best mother in the world.”

She blushes but taps her glass against mine and takes a sip.

“It was a nice day, don’t you think?” I begin.

“Mmm-hmm. But we’ll never eat all those apples.” She laughs. “I guess I’ll be baking some pies.”

“That sounds delicious.” Turning to her, I brush a stray hair from her forehead. “Cassandra, I wanted to apologize for what happened. I should never have grabbed your phone from you. I sort of lost it for a minute there.”

She bites her lip. “Thanks. I was a bit surprised.”

“You see, I had a patient whose daughter was kidnapped and murdered after a stalker saw her picture on social media.”

She gasps. “What?”

I nod. “Yes, you can’t imagine the ways in which things can be tracked these days. Apparently he got into her Facebook profileand saw the photos and began obsessing about the little girl. He found out their location because of the geo info on the images, and eventually took her from their house.” It’s not actually a specific case that I’m citing, but I know that these kinds of things happen all the time.

Her face is white. “That’s horrible. I just downloaded the app last week. But all my privacy settings are on. I didn’t think it was a risk.”

“There are some very sophisticated hackers out there. Even when you think your privacy is protected, it’s not. It’s crazy how often big companies are hacked and all their customers’ private data leaked. It’s really not safe to put anything out there.” I sigh. “And not just about Valentina, but you as well.”

“You think?”

My mind is filled with thoughts of people from Amelia’s old life coming across her image and tracking her down.

“I do. I’d die if anything happened to you. I think it’s best if you stay off all social media.”

“I guess you’re right.”

“Good, I’m glad that’s settled. Relax and drink your wine.”

She shouldn’t actually be drinking with her medication, but one glass won’t really hurt, and it tends to put her in a better mood, make her more compliant. We finish up, and I lean in to kiss her. “Do you feel like the medicine is helping the depression?” I ask.

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