“She’s been claiming,” he says more to himself than me. Then he looks up at me with confusion darkening his face. “Are you sure these are right? What about her rent, food, clothes? Fuck, what about her studies?”
“I’ve checked them, Rhett. She hasn’t put through any claims. What has she been doing? When last did you talk to her?”
He takes his phone out and looks at it. “I spoke to her on Monday.”
I get up from my chair wondering what the hell is going on.
“When you saw her the last time, did everything seem fine?”
Rhett gives me a look of warning. “I would know if something was wrong with my own sister, Logan.”
I just stare at him waiting for him to answer my question. Although he’s angry I can see him thinking about it.
He stares at his phone and I see the moment his confusion turns to worry.
“I would’ve met up with her while we were in Saluda. She was getting ready for graduation and I was just going to stop by before coming home. Then everything happened with Della and Danny. We’ve all been pretty much trying to find our feet after we found out Carter has a daughter. You know how it’s been.”
I sit down again as the feeling that something is very wrong creeps over me.
“I haven’t seen Mia in … fuck, I think the last I saw of her was when we left to move here. When was the last time you actually saw her?”
Rhett sits down and I watch as panic flashes over his face. He brings the phone to his ear and I can hear the muted ringtone before it goes to voicemail.
Rhett shoves a hand through his hair and gets up again.
“Where are you going?”
“I’m catching the first available flight. I need to see Mia. I need to see with my own fucking eyes that she’s okay.”
Rhett doesn’t turn to leave but instead the color drains from his face, as he whispers. “I can’t remember when last I actually fucking saw or spoke to her in person. We’ve been chatting via texts. She’s been busy. I’ve been busy. Fuck.”
Rhett races out of my office and it’s only then I pick up my own phone. I scroll through the messages looking for signs that Mia was hiding something. I’ll be the first to admit we haven’t been talking a lot, but the few messages over the past three years made me think she was fine. I thought she was busy enjoying being a student.
She’s always been pretty level-headed. I can’t wrap my mind around any of it. I start to make excuses, telling myself that there’s something wrong with the trust account. Maybe the bank has been debiting the wrong account with all of Mia’s expenses. Yeah, I’m sure that’s it.
I quickly log onto the bank and start to go through all the accounts I have access to.
I’m sure it’s all just an error on the bank’s side.
~
The second my phone rings I answer. I’ve been worried sick. I’m about to get on the first flight myself. I’ve been imagining all the horrible things that could’ve happened to Mia.
“Is she okay?” I ask Rhett. I need to hear the words that it’s all just one big misunderstanding and that Mia is fine.
I can hear Rhett breathing before he clears his throat. “I can’t find her, Logan. The house is empty. It’s been fucking empty for months. The garden is overgrown. Everything is covered in dust inside the house. She’s left most of her stuff, though. I don’t fucking understand what’s going on.”
He lets out a harsh breath, and I can feel his worry seep right through the line.
“I checked with the college and she didn’t graduate. She dropped out without letting me know. What the fuck is going on?”
“Contact her, Rhett. Phone her. Message her until she answers you. Ask her to meet face to face with you, or to come to New York.”
“Don’t you fucking think I’ve already tried that? She doesn’t even answer my texts anymore. It shows that she reads every one of them, but she flat out ignores them.”
I close my eyes as a fresh wave of panic hits. Why would Mia ignore us?
“Come home, Rhett. I’ll make a plan. We’ll hire someone to track her down. I’m sure she’s fine and just rebelling. It’s normal.”