“I’ll let you know anything I learn,” she said. “Look, Mom, I’ve got to get back to work. I’ll talk to you later.” And she hung up on the lie, tossed her phone back on the bed. She had no interest in her job whatsoever, and as she glanced to where she’d left her laptop and saw that it was open to the website for A Vision in White, she turned her attention back to the street, where she saw, in a flash of blond hair, Sophia Russo pushing her way into the coffee shop across the street.

Her heart lurched.

She hadn’t yet met the woman; she’d only seen digital pictures of Sophia that Megan had sent to her phone days before she’d vanished. God, had that only been about a week ago? It seemed a lifetime. Since landing in Riggs Crossing, Rebecca had spied Sophia in the small town twice: once, wrapped in a long coat and fuzzy hat when Sophia had been hurrying out of a strip mall that housed a bakery, a convenience store, a gun shop, and a consignment store that sold “gently used” items; a second time, when Rebecca had been idling at a light and Sophia, in the crosswalk, had walked to her parked car on the next block. That time, Rebecca had watched as Sophia slipped into her gray vehicle and would’ve lingered longer at the light except that the driver of the pickup idling behind her gave a sharp, angry beep of his horn, forcing her to hit the gas and gun through the intersection. She’d experienced the unlikely urge to follow the blonde that day, because, whether she wanted to admit it or not, Sophia held a fascination for her. She’d quickly circled the block, and upon spying Sophia’s Ford disappearing around a corner going the opposite direction, Rebecca had done a quick U-turn and had tailed the gray car down to Aspen Street and the Cascadia Apartments, a nondescript two-storied cinderblock building. Once parked, Sophia had climbed out of her car, keys in one gloved hand, and had walked in knee-high boots to her end unit. As if she’d sensed she was being watched, Sophia had looked over her shoulder before unlocking the door, her gaze fastening on Rebecca for a heart-stopping instant just as Rebecca had driven past.

Sophia hadn’t shown any surprise when their gazes collided, and Rebecca would have sworn later that the blonde had actually shown the hint of a smile, almost as if she’d expected Rebecca to follow her.

But that was crazy, wasn’t it? At the very least, paranoid.