Chapter 10
Emma’s eyes slowly bobbed open and she stretched leisurely. Nikos’ side of the bed was empty and cold, but it was after 10:00 in the morning. She chided herself for being so lazy. Last night’s soiree had gone until close to midnight, but Nikos still managed to get to the office bright and early every morning. She imagined the short nights were a main contributor to his increasingly grumpy demeanor.
In the week after the disastrous party, they had been pressed to join some function almost every evening. Apparently, Nikos’ possession of a girlfriend had caused quite a stir amongst his family, and they all wanted to get a good look at her. Of course, she reminded herself, I should be halfway to somewhere, anywhere. She made plans every morning to flee, but found herself waiting for Nikos to return home every evening with a hundred excuses of why tomorrow would be better.
Emma heard Maria puttering around downstairs. She hadn’t had any luck convincing her that the house didn’t need to be cleaned every day. Maria dutifully showed up at 10:00 every morning. Emma enjoyed her company and was grateful she was there to handle the shopping. Ever since their inaugural shopping excursion, Emma had been reluctant to venture out. Nikos had said nothing about the fact that she basically shut herself away in the townhouse, only going out with him in the evenings. He probably is just happy I am not running around screaming like a nutcase, Emma mused as she pulled on her clothes.
Maria poured them coffee when Emma walked into the kitchen. The older woman smiled at her and following their established routine, they both sat down at the table to watch the world go by while they sipped. Emma dutifully filled her in on the previous night’s activities. Maria eagerly awaited the tidbits about what had been served and who attended and who spoke to whom. She would be chattering away to her sisters by the afternoon and by the end of the night, the whole family would have the update.
“Beth says you are pretty and well-mannered. That is high praise from her. Manners are important to her,” Maria informed her after Emma gave her the highlights.
That didn’t surprise Emma. Most engagements they had attended were informal drinks and dinners with different factions of Nikos’ large family. Last night, they had received a formal invitation to a soiree, which Emma had laughed herself silly about. Who said soiree anymore? Apparently, the same woman who put name cards on the table and served a seven course meal over the course of three hours. They had then had to listen to a private performance from a wonderful string quartet. Emma kept waiting for the men to retire for brandy in the drawing room. It had all felt like a throwback to the Victorian romances she used to be so fond of.
“Well, I’m glad I passed inspection.” Emma flipped through the envelopes on the table, more out of something to do than expectation of anything for her. She sipped her coffee and nearly choked when she saw an envelope with her name- her real name- on it. Her stomach dropped to her knees and she coughed and wheezed. Her mind began to spin and she was barely aware that Maria was pounding her unhelpfully on her back. With a mighty effort, she pulled in a lung full of air and waved Maria away.
“I’m alright. Sorry, just went down the wrong way,” Emma babbled and set her coffee down, intentionally sloshing some over the side. “Damn,” she mumbled and looked around for something to wipe it up with. Maria jumped up and bustled over to the sink for a rag. Emma folded the envelope and slipped it in the back pocket of her jeans. She lifted the cup helpfully when Maria returned to clean up the spill and was pleased to see that her hand wasn’t shaking.
Emma managed to finish her coffee as Maria chattered away. Maria said she was going shopping for groceries, and as always, invited Emma to go along. As always, Emma declined and practically shoved the older woman out the door. She locked the door, set the alarm, and went room to room in the house, checking that all windows were tightly locked and drew all of the blinds and curtains. The house plunged into a dim gloom and Emma sat on the stairs, well away from any windows or doors. She examined the envelope. It was just a plain white envelope. Her name and the current address were on the front, but there was no return address, no postage stamp or marks. It had been hand delivered.
With surprisingly steady hands, she carefully opened the back flap and wondered why she was being so delicate. It was almost like she expected it to blow up in her face.
Inside the envelope were two newspaper clippings. Emma spread them side by side on her lap. She gaped at them. The headline on her left leg, ‘Mattas Playboy Off the Market.’ The photo was a grainy image of her and Nikos walking into the luxury restaurant Spondi two nights ago. The clipping on her right leg was almost a year old. It was from the Tribune, Logansport Indiana’s only newspaper. ‘Local Woman Missing After Grizzly Discovery.’ Emma’s stomach rolled with nausea as she stared at the words and a picture of her with long, chestnut hair smiling over her shoulder. She remembered when her mother had taken that picture at a family reunion just a few weeks before her life derailed. Lower on the page there was a picture of a dark blue Buick Regal in a parking deck with crime scene tape all around it. At the very bottom of the page written in red marker the sender had scrawled- ‘Don’t your parents deserve to know you are alive?’
Emma sat frozen on the stairs. Someone had found her, but it wasn’t the DeLaney family. If Malachi DeLaney had found her, he wouldn’t send a calling card. She would simply disappear. Her mind raced around and around like a hamster running on a wheel and never getting anywhere. She tried and tried to think but her eyes kept fixing on the car, on her own smiling, innocent smile, on Nikos’ hand at her back as they walked into the restaurant. How could those women be one in the same? That smiling, stupid girl with the summer sun on her hair couldn’t be the same woman walking into the hottest venue in the city on the arm of one of the most eligible bachelors in Greece.
The sound of the door opening and the beep of someone tapping in the alarm code brought Emma out of her shock. Maria must be back from shopping. She had been sitting there lost in thought for over an hour. Hastily, she folded the clippings and stuffed them back in the envelope. Quietly, she raced up the stairs to the office. She found the book with her money safely tucked away and crammed the envelope between the pages before replacing it on the shelf. The urge to grab the cash and run was almost overwhelming. Her time was up. How many times had she felt like Cinderella over the last several months? The clock was striking midnight on her fairy tale. It was time to leave the ball.