“Okay, let me bring up her file. Kara Lundquist, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Okay, I’ve got it. Can you tell me the name of the website you found her at?”
I gave her the details.
“I’ll have Detective Gilroy look at this in the morning. Was there anything else?”
“No, not so far. But she could be in danger. Who knows who she’s been seeing—？”
“We’ll make sure we follow up in the morning.”
Her voice was firm. Nothing was going to happen tonight.
A wall of exhaustion toppled over me as I ended the call.
I snapped my laptop shut. I didn’t want to see that image of Kara anymore. Crawling up the bed, I collapsed on the pillow, my nerves fried.
Gray had found his wife on that site. What must that have felt like? His own wife. I realised now how Kara and Evie must have met each other. Through prostitution.
Kara, why?
My perfect little girl. What happened to you? Why did you do this?
What clues about Kara had slipped past me over the past few months? I’d thought she’d had everything she could possibly want or need. She’d come from a loving home. She was smart, beautiful and we lived in a lovely town close to the college she attended. James and I had taken her away on skiing vacations in New Zealand during the American summer. Island retreats in the Bahamas during the winter. She had everything money could buy. But love and money—the two elixirs of life—obviously hadn’t delivered the magic they were supposed to. Whatever the formula was, I didn’t know it.
Kara had been drifting away from me a long time before she disappeared. Sometimes, I couldn’t form a picture of her in my mind. I wanted desperately to see her one way, but another, distant side to Kara would push into my mind.
I laid myself back on the bed, the mess from my handbag all around me—and fell into a half sleep, a strange, whirring haze that wouldn’t allow me to shut my mind off.
24. Evie
I POKED MY HEAD INTO THE sick room. Kara was sleeping in one of the beds, Cormack sitting on a chair next to her.
Last night, when the aquarium challenge was done and the mentors had entered the room, Brother Sage had been the one to resuscitate Kara. She’d stopped breathing, but she’d still had a pulse.
Cormack raised his bleary eyes. I guessed that like me, he hadn’t slept well after returning to the dormitory. He had Kara’s hand in his, lightly thumbing her fingers.
“How’s she doing?” I asked quietly.
“She’s not bad. Could have been worse.”
I nodded, not wanting to think about how close Kara had come to drowning. “Why don’t you go get breakfast? I’ll stay with her for a while.”
“Appreciate it.” Drawing himself to his feet, he wandered out of the room.
Out in the hallway, I heard a group of people passing by. Then shouts and angry voices.
I stuck my head out the door in alarm.
Richard was standing with Poppy, Yolanda and a few others. Cormack was jabbing his finger angrily in Richard’s direction. “You were prepared to let her die, you bastard.”
Richard held his palms up. “Back off, son. I did what I had to do. If you—”
Before he could finish, Cormack took a couple of strides forward and punched Richard hard in the jaw. Richard staggered back, Poppy catching him.
“Leave him alone,” Poppy cried.
“He almost killed her,” Cormack accused.
“I didn’t wrap her wristband around that chain.” Cupping his jaw, Richard drew himself up to his full height. “I did the one thing that was going to finish the challenge and get the mentors into the room. I did the best thing I knew how to bring help. If you want to get mad at anyone, get mad at them for not rushing in sooner and stopping the challenge. They can all see what’s going on in the room, right?”
Richard shrugged Poppy away and stormed off in the direction of the cloister. The others, except for Poppy, spoke in confused voices among themselves and moved off down the hall.
“You can try to talk yourself up, now, but I’m not buying it,” Cormack called after Richard, but there was now a hint of uncertainty in his voice. He moved off towards the refectory, his shoulders tense and turned inward.
“I don’t know what to think,” I muttered to myself as I entered the sick room.
Poppy followed me in. “Richard was just trying to win, like we all are.”
“A person’s life is more important than winning a challenge.”
She tilted her head as if reconsidering. “Guess you’re right. But Cormack doesn’t have to be so mean.”