“Those around the woman forced her to distance herself from him, and they punished him. He was furious and alone. He became aware of wrongdoing in the company’s past, and he became obsessed with their hypocrisy. This is when the woman asked a friend for help.” She glances at me in the mirror. “This friend left messages for him, so that she might apologize and they might reconcile. But…” She pauses.

“But then my mother disappeared,” I continue, for her, wiping at my sore eyes again with sorer hands. I feel like a walking wound. “That’s how every story about her ends, doesn’t it?”

She pauses, watches me through her dark fringe of lashes. Considers what to say next, as her eyes water. She clears her throat.

“This Brando knows something,” I say, voice catching. “He did something to her.”

“You don’t know that,” she snaps, navy eyes wild. “Brando’s not a bad egg. Even if he was angry with your mother, he wouldn’t harm her.”

I come to my feet, tingling in my sneakers. “Why are you protecting him?”

She sets down the compact she’s been tinkering with. “Because I’ve seen him since. And I’ve … helped him from time to time.” She hesitates at the flash of horror on my face. “I hope you’ll forgive me. I—I promised him I would lead you girls to the Arakit house. As long as he promised me he wouldn’t approach you and scare you.” She turns back to her vanity, picking up a lipstick, and watches me in the mirror. “He never stopped looking for her, you know. I know that much.”

I’m fighting tears, big blurring ones that make no sense. “But who is he?” I ask, in a croak. “How did he get so close to my mother?”

“I can’t be certain.” She holds the creamy burgundy cylinder to her lip, dabs at the quivering flesh, and pauses. “He never told me, exactly. Nor did she.” She catches my eye. “He knows you, so you must have known him, Manon. Memories shift. Find your sister. Maybe she remembers something you don’t.”

I’m hurrying out of White Fox Club, wrapped in a clean purple sweatshirt they insisted I take, even though it’s too warm for it, when my phone gets reception and pings with a voice mail from Hérrakí.