The Family Secret by Marie Wilkens

Author:Marie Wilkens [Wilkens, Marie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-08-17T22:00:00+00:00

24

“Now, come to think of it, she was in there quite a bit longer than us or Dillon's parents. We all carpooled together, and by the time she came out, I was starting to get worried.”

“That’s strange,” Pearl muttered. “I wonder why she had to be in there so much longer than the two of you.”

“Don’t think about it too much. I’m sure they had their reasons. Are you home now?”

“Yeah, I was just getting ready to lie down.”

“You get some sleep now. If you need anything, I’m just a phone call away, okay?”

“Thanks, Mom. I really appreciate it.”

When she ended the call and plugged in her phone on the nightstand, Pearl closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep. Her mind wouldn’t stop racing, though. Every detail and piece of information that they’d gathered in the past several hours weighed on her mind. She knew Matthew would keep his word and call if he found anything, but the silence was suffocating. The conversations with Wendy and her mother played through her head. It didn’t make any sense why they would spend less time with her parents.

Wendy and Pearl were close, but their time was mostly spent going out or drinking wine at home after Conner went to bed. Her parents, on the other hand, saw him almost every day in some capacity. They would often pick him up from Valerie’s when she was running late or had to stop for groceries. The tight-knit relationship they had with Conner was one reason they were still in the small town. Had it not been for their grandson, Pearl knew they’d have moved south to warmer weather years ago. She rolled over and tried again to close her mind down. After another hour of failing to fall asleep, Pearl huffed and sat up.

It was such a childish thing to be dwelling over when she could just ask her friend herself. Not wanting to miss a call from Matthew or Ben if something happened, she grabbed her phone and carefully crept down the steps. If Wendy had dozed off as well, she didn’t want to wake her friend. The information wasn’t life and death. It was just a tick that was driving her slightly insane. Wendy was sitting on the couch, watching a news briefing on Conner. Instantly, her heart started to ache at the sight of his photo being splashed across the screen.

“Hey,” Wendy whispered. “No luck sleeping?”

She shook her head and sat on the sofa across from Wendy. The volume was turned almost all the way down. Pearl could now see that Wendy had her laptop sitting on the coffee table. Her friend was lucky enough to work from home. After the pandemic, the cyber security firm she worked with decided everyone could stay home. Her friend, in true form, had assumed it was to cut corners on the bills. They were a billion-dollar company yet freelanced their workers to keep them from gaining benefits. Still, Pearl was grateful her friend was available to be with her.

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