minutes of quiet crying, the family lapsed back into silence.
Everyone was thinking
the same thought, that if each of them had
done one thing differently that day they could have staved off all
the pain that they were all suffering. Cassandra had told everyone
they couldn?t have known what was going to happen, but in saying
that she seemed to take the burden of guilt onto herself. She
seemed locked in her own head, unable to let go of the fact that
she, of all people, should have been able to protect her family.
?Call your mother,? Noel said suddenly to Helen, breaking everyone
out of their tortured thoughts. ?I?m the only one who can bear
to be near Hector now, and I want to see my nephew. He?ll need
me.?
Helen nodded and pulled out her cell phone. It was the same
phone Hector had given her with bloody knuckles and a toothless
grin after Lucas had beat the stuffing out of him, but she buried
that memory and dialed her mother?s number. As her phone connected,
she stood up to leave the kitchen and wandered toward the
front of the house, which was usually quieter.
She heard two rings at the same time, one in her ear and one
somewhere inside the house. Helen looked around and found her
mother?s bag hanging on a hook in the front entryway. She chided
herself for not being more aware. Daphne had been kidnapped; of
course she had left her things behind. Helen hit END and heard the
phone in the bag cease ringing. She stared at her mother?s purse,
and was overcome with an irresistible urge. Just as Helen reached
for it, there was a knock at the front door a few feet away from her.
Helen hastily opened her mother?s bag and took out the cell
phone. She quickly scrolled down the list of latest calls as footsteps
approached from the kitchen. Concentrating on the glowing