“Oh my God.”

I backed toward the doorway.

“You both know.”

“Rachel,” she said.Language Resources

“Don’t.”

I held up my hand.

“If you knew my brother, if you knew anything about what happened to him—”

Christopher slammed his palm against the chair
control.

“Enough!”

I stared at him through tears.Gems & Jewelry

Then I picked up my coat.

“I need this job,” I said quietly. “More than you could possibly understand.”

His eyes met mine.

“But if that necklace came from my brother, I will find out how.”

I walked out.

Mrs. Alvarez followed me downstairs.Beauty Services & Spas

“Rachel.”

I kept walking.

“Please.”

I stopped near the front door.

She lowered her voice.

“You should go home tonight.”

“Was Ryan here?”Business News

She hesitated.

That hesitation answered everything.

My eyes filled.

“When?”

“I cannot tell you.”

“Cannot or will not?”

“Both.”Standardized & Admissions Tests

I laughed bitterly.

“My son is sick. My daughter is hungry. I came here because I had nothing left. And now I find the one object that belonged to my dead brother hanging around your employer’s neck.”

Mrs. Alvarez looked genuinely shaken.

“I am sorry.”

“That doesn’t help.”

“No.”Language Resources

She reached into her pocket.

“Take this.”

She handed me an envelope.

I didn’t open it.

“What is it?”

“Your first week’s salary.”

“I worked two hours.”Doors & Windows

“Mr. Bennett pays caregivers weekly in advance.”

My hands trembled.

“How much?”

“Five thousand dollars.”

I stared at her.

I thought I had misheard.

Five thousand?”

“Yes.”Bath & Body Products

I nearly dropped the envelope.

That was more money than I had earned in three months at my old cleaning job.

“Why?”

“Because no one stays.”

I thought of Brandon.

Medicine.

Food.

Heat.
Then I bought groceries.Business News

Real groceries.

Chicken.

Milk.

Fruit.

Bread.

Eggs.

Cereal Emma liked.Language Resources

Cookies.

Fresh vegetables.

Medicine.

Two new blankets.

A space heater.

Emma stared at the shopping bags as if I had brought home Christmas.

“Mommy, are we rich?”Food

I laughed and cried at the same time.

“No, baby.”

I kissed her forehead.

“We just got lucky.”

That night, after they slept, I sat at our tiny kitchen table and pulled an old cardboard box from the closet.

Ryan’s box.

I had carried it through six apartments and two marriages.Food & Grocery Retailers

Inside were photographs.

Letters.

School papers.

A baseball glove.

And one picture that made my heart stop.

Ryan at twenty-one.

Standing beside Kitchen & Dining

me outside our grandmother’s house.

Around his neck was the same silver locket.Book a Spa Day

I turned the photo over.

Summer 2007.

Three years before his death.

My hands began to shake.

Ryan had disappeared in October 2010.

Police said his car had been found near Lake Michigan.

A body had washed ashore eleven days later.Follow Stars

Badly decomposed.

The police told us identification was made through dental records and personal effects.

There had been no viewing.

We cremated what we were told was Ryan’s body.

I had stood at a cemetery holding a small urn while a priest talked about eternal peace.