“The eight of you were having dinner together?” one of the officers asked.
Caroline could no longer differentiate between the various voices. She felt as if someone had lowered a giant glass bell jar over her entire body, like that author who had committed suicide by sticking her head in an oven. What was her name?
“Breathe,” she heard Peggy say as she sat down beside her and put her arm across her shoulder, although the invisible jar prevented Caroline from actually feeling her touch.
“Yes,” Jerrod answered the officer. “In the garden restaurant directly below. You can see it from the window.” He walked to the window and pointed. “Yes. There. You can actually see our table.”
“What was the name of that writer?” Caroline asked Peggy. “The one who committed suicide by sticking her head in an oven?”
“What did she say?” Becky asked.
“Sylvia something, I think.”
“Sylvia Plath,” Peggy told her.
“Right.”
“Why is she talking about Sylvia Plath?” Rain asked.
“I think she’s in shock,” Peggy said. “Caroline? Caroline, are you okay?”
“Samantha’s gone,” Caroline said.
“I know.”
“I should never have left her.”
“Mommy, I have to go to the bathroom,” Michelle said.
“I’ll take you,” Peggy offered.
“I want Mommy to take me.” Michelle’s hands wrapped around her mother’s neck, breaking through the invisible glass shield.
Caroline felt the air being squeezed from her body, as if she were being strangled. “Please, somebody,” she cried. “Get her off me.”
Everyone’s eyes focused immediately on Caroline.
“I’ll take her,” Becky said quickly, lifting the squirming youngster into her arms and carrying her into the bathroom, Michelle screaming in protest.
The police continued to ask variations of the same questions for the next hour, to which the group gave variations of the same answers. “Did any of you accompany your friends when they went to check on their daughters?” one of the officers asked.
“No,” they answered.
“Why do you ask that?” Steve said.
“What are you implying?” Hunter asked.
Caroline knew why they were asking. Her husband had been the last person to see Samantha. Was it possible that something had happened on his watch? Could he be in any way responsible for their daughter’s disappearance?
No, he wasn’t responsible, she decided, answering her own question. Still, it was at Hunter’s insistence that they’d left their girls alone. Which made him responsible after all.
Except I can’t blame him, she thought in her next breath. I gave in. I went along. I’m just as guilty. This is my fault, too.
“What happens now?” Hunter asked as the police were closing their notepads and preparing to leave.
“You go to bed, try to get some sleep,” the oldest of the officers answered. Caroline thought she’d heard one of the other officers refer to him as Detective Ramos, but she wasn’t sure. “We’ll meet again in the morning.”
“You expect us to sleep?”
“Probably not,” Ramos conceded. “But it would be a good idea to try.” He checked his watch. “It’s almost two A.M. Nothing more will be accomplished tonight. We’ll resume our search in the morning and contact the local papers if we haven’t found your daughter by noon.”
“That’s it?”
“The border has been notified. Officer Mendoza will be posted outside your door all night in case anyone tries to contact you. We’ll follow up, check on the waiter you saw in the hall and the housekeeper you talked to, conduct interviews with the entire staff. But this will all take time. Please, Mr. and Mrs. Shipley. Try to get some sleep. Your daughter needs you.” His eyes fell on Michelle, who was once again fast asleep in her mother’s arms, then circled the room, sizing up its occupants. “Obviously I need all of you to be available tomorrow.”
“We’re supposed to be leaving tomorrow,” Rain said.
“Clearly that’s not happening,” Peggy said, her voice a sharp rebuke.
“Of course not. I didn’t mean…”
“Mr. Shipley, do you have a picture of your daughter that I can borrow?” Officer Ramos interrupted.
Hunter reached into his wallet, removed a small photo of Samantha from behind his driver’s license. “I’m sorry. It’s a few months old.”
“Beautiful child,” Ramos said, tucking the picture into the pocket of his shirt. “I assure you, we’ll do everything in our power to get her back to you.”
“Do you want us to stay here tonight?” Becky asked Caroline after the police and the hotel manager had left.