“Ghost hunting! You don’t know where that bracelet has been. People steal things. And then they pawn them. Maybe someone dug it out of a donation bin.”
I can’t continue down this path, Natalie.
“There’s the engraving,” I said, staring at him.
“Do you think this means anything? Do you think this proves she’s alive?”
“It means he touched it. Recently. Doesn’t it have some value to you?”
He ran a hand through his hair. “She’s gone. You have to let her go.”
“But what if it wasn’t?”
He didn’t answer. He ran out of the room, leaving the coffee steaming and the air filled with a smell I couldn’t quite define.
“Do you think this proves she’s alive?”
***
I didn’t eat dinner that night. I curled up on the couch and clutched the bracelet to my chest, then checked my phone, even though I knew there wouldn’t be anything there.
My mind flashed back to the last time I’d seen her: Nana, barefoot, laughing as she tried to toast a waffle and tie her hair at the same time.
As a child, she couldn’t pronounce her full name. Savannah—she called herself Nana.
It stayed. It was sweet, and it was his. And she was mine. Still. Somewhere…
I fell asleep like that, with the bracelet pressed against the pain I had never been able to relieve.
I curled up on the couch and held the bracelet close to my chest.
***
I woke up because of loud noises.
It was early. Too early for anyone to be at my door. I was still wearing my robe when I opened it. Two officers were standing there: one older, with graying temples, the other younger and tense.
Behind them, three police cars were parked close to the curb.
Across the street, Mrs. Beck stood on her porch and muttered, “Poor woman… ten years.”
“Mrs. Harrison?” asked the older one.
It was early. Too early for anyone to be at my door.
“YES?”
“I’m Officer Phil. This is Officer Mason. We’re here about a bracelet you purchased yesterday.”
“How do you know about…?”
“We need to talk,” he said. “It’s about Nana. Or… Savannah, as she was legally called.”
Felix emerged from around the corner in his tracksuit, half asleep. “What the hell is this?”
“We’d like to come in,” Officer Phil said, his gaze fixed.
“We need to talk.”
“You can’t just barge in here,” Felix said, stepping between us.
Agent Mason spoke for the first time.
“Sir, this is related to an open missing persons case. The bracelet matches a piece of evidence registered to your daughter. She disappeared on May 17th, ten years ago.”
“This isn’t evidence,” Felix snapped. “This is nonsense. This is evidence—”
“You can’t just barge in here.”
“Sir,” Officer Phil interrupted, his tone calm but firm. “We need to get her out. This conversation will go more smoothly if we separate you.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Wait, what? Why on earth…”
“Please,” Phil said gently, turning to me. “Where’s the bracelet now?”
I pointed to the table where I’d carefully placed it the night before. Mason picked it up with gloved hands and placed it in an evidence bag.
“Where is the bracelet now?”
“It was recorded in the original file,” Phil explained. “It was confirmed that your daughter was wearing it when she disappeared.”
“But how did you know who I was?”
“That stall was already under our scrutiny,” Phil said. “Stolen prescription. When my informant saw the bracelet, he reported it, but the vendor sold it to you before we could recover it.”
“That stall was already under our attention.”
“So he remembered you,” Phil said. “And you were the only one who asked about the woman who sold it to him.”
“So… she’s alive? Is that what it means?”
Phil didn’t move.
“It means someone had it. Recently. That’s all we can confirm for now.”
Phil sat on the edge of my chair as if he’d done it a hundred times.
Mason clicked his pen, waiting.
“Have you ever mentioned a desire to leave?”
“It means someone had it. Recently.”
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