“Di, there’s still no word from Abigail,” I say. “And I admit this kind of thing isn’t totally out of left field for her, but still.” I wish someone would tell me exactly how worried I need to be. Oliver seems to think I’m freaking out more than I should be, but what if he’s not freaking out enough? I move to the window, looking out over our garden. “Ollie says she’s having an affair. I suspect that’s what Dennis thinks too.”

“But you don’t?”

I sigh. “I don’t know.”

I hear the creak of my friend settling into one of those wooden benches they have along Main Street.

“She adores Sam,” I say. “That’s what makes it all so hard to understand.”

Dinah stays on the line, silent.

“You’re worried she won’t come home, aren’t you?”

I swallow. Apparently all it took was for someone to name the fear for it to arrive, fully formed, in my throat.

“I am,” I say. “I am worried about that.”

Dinah hesitates.

“You know…it might sound a little crazy, but you could always hire a PI.”

“A what?” I frown down the line.

“A private investigator,” she says. “I know it sounds a bit kooky, but real people do it, you know. Remember Philip Preston from high school? He’s a PI now, I think.”

“Okay…” I say slowly. “I mean, it’s an idea. But it feels a little…”

Intense?

Premature?

Overly dramatic?

Who hires PIs in Birch Bend? I sigh, looking out the window.

“I mean,” Dinah goes on, “the police won’t be able to do anything. Unless they believe she, you know, left under duress, or is in danger somehow.”

“I mean, she might be in danger,” I say. And I’m not just being dramatic. That’s the thing about my sister. Abigail carries a grain of danger with her wherever she goes, it’s how she’s always been. The truth is that what’s inside my sister has always been the most explosive force in the room.

“I say just keep calling her,” Dinah says. “Keep texting. She’ll crack. She’ll have to.”

“Thanks, Di,” I say.

“Keep me posted,” she says.

I hang up, and sit there with my phone in my hand. Dinah’s probably right, I think. We just need to wear Abigail down. Likely she’s already regretting whatever impulsive decisions led her to drive off like that, but doesn’t know how to go about undoing them.