The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon

Author:Jennifer McMahon [McMahon, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction, Retail, Suspense, Thriller
ISBN: 9780385538503
Publisher: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Published: 2014-02-11T05:00:00+00:00

Hello?”

“Hi, Ruthie. It’s Candace O’Rourke.”

Ruthie had put Fawn to bed, and Buzz had gone out to buy them some beer. As soon as he’d pulled away, the phone started to ring. She’d answered quickly, afraid the ringing would wake Fawn.

“You were at my house today,” Candace continued when Ruthie stayed quiet, stunned. “With the wallets.”

As if Ruthie really needed reminding. She crept outside, easing the front door closed behind her. Cordless phone in hand, she went down the front steps and into the driveway.

“How did you get this number?” Ruthie asked. Their number was unlisted, impossible to find.

“I’m sorry if I did anything to scare you off,” Candace said brightly. “I was just so shocked to see the wallets, to hear your story. I’m really glad you answered—there’s so much I didn’t get a chance to ask you.”

The night was cold and clear; the stars were brilliant. Ruthie looked up and saw Orion overhead, remembered her father teaching her to follow the line of stars that made up Orion’s belt to find the star Aldebaran, which was the eye of Taurus the bull. Taurus was her father’s astrological sign, and though she’d never admit it to anyone, she sometimes imagined it was him up there, looking down on her.

She made out the Big and Little Dippers, the frosty Milky Way stretched out across the middle of the sky.

“Is Alice still missing?” Candace asked.

“Alice?” Ruthie stammered, mind racing.

“Your mother, dear.” She spoke slowly, as if Ruthie were a young child. “You said she’d disappeared?”

“But—I didn’t tell you her name.”

“So she’s still gone?” Candace sounded almost hopeful, excited by the prospect.

“I’m going to hang up now,” Ruthie said, in full panic mode. “I’m sorry to have bothered you today. I think I made a mistake.”

“Oh, it was no mistake,” Candace said. “Please don’t hang up. There are things I can tell you.”

“What things?” Ruthie watched her breath come out in great clouds of steam as she spoke.

“Like about Hannah,” Candace said, voice teasing, luring Ruthie in. “My precious girl. There’s not a day that’s gone by when I haven’t thought of her. I know this might sound crazy, but I never believed she was gone. There were times when I could almost feel her out there, waiting to be found. Does that even make sense?”

“Yes,” Ruthie found herself saying as she leaned back and looked up at the stars, which made her feel suddenly dizzy. Head spinning, phone clenched in her hand, she thought about chemical elements, pink cupcakes, green bears; about the ways everything was connected. Maybe it wasn’t all so random. “Yes.”

And then she hung up the phone.

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