Page 5 of Such a Quiet Place
“How long is she staying?” Tate asked.
I thought of the empty bag in my house. “Not sure yet.”
Officially, Tate and Javier Cora hadn’t seen or heard anything that night—they’d gotten home from a friend’s party after midnight, and there was nothing on their camera. Unofficially, they weren’t surprised. Now I could sense her teeth grinding together, but I wasn’t sure whether it was from anger or fear.
Tate was maybe five feet tall, and small-framed at that. I’d learned it wasn’t her true first name only during the investigation. It was her maiden name, but she and Javier had met in college, where she played lacrosse, and everyone had called her Tate then. So did he. She still wore her thick blond hair in a high ponytail with a wraparound athletic headband, like she might be called onto the field at any moment. I could picture it well. She could summon an intensity that compensated for her size.
Everyone knew Tate and Javier as the gregarious couple of the neighborhood. They hosted weekend barbecues and helped plan the neighborhood social events.
“Do something,” Tate said, making her eyes wide. Pregnancyhad turned her less gregarious, more demanding. But we’d all hardened over the last year and a half. We’d each become, in turn, more skeptical, wary, impenetrable.
I nodded noncommittally.
We both stared in the direction Ruby had gone. “Chase is going to lose his shit when he sees her,” she said before retreating inside.
Though Tate was prone to overreaction, this was not one of those times.
If Chase saw her there—
If no one had warned him first—
I grabbed my things in a rush, taking off after Ruby.
