Chapter 4 - ELENA’S RULESRuby did not cry.
She simply stared at Damon as if attempting to compare every part of his face with her own.
Damon felt helpless beneath the scrutiny.
“Do I look like you?”
He almost laughed from nerves.
“A little.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“You have Elena’s eyes.”
“What do I have from you?”
Damon’s voice softened.
“I don’t know if you have anything from me yet.”
Ruby looked away.
That distinction mattered.
Possible was not certain.
Damon refused to tell an eight-year-old she had found a father before he knew the truth.
Tessa arrived twenty minutes later.
She was sixty-two, wore sensible boots and a green wool coat, and immediately understood that Ruby needed control more than questions.
She sat two stools away.
“My name is Tessa.”
Ruby nodded.
“I’m Damon’s aunt.”
Another nod.
“I used to work with kids whose families were having complicated days.”
“That sounds like social services.”
Tessa smiled faintly.
“Sometimes I worked with them too.”
Ruby stiffened.
Tessa noticed.
“No one is stuffing you into a car today.”
Ruby relaxed by approximately one percent.
Tessa explained that because Ruby’s mother was missing and Maribel was hospitalized, an adult had to report that Ruby was safe.
They could do that without immediately separating her from familiar people.
“Damon isn’t familiar,” Ruby said.
Damon looked wounded.
“He gave me bread fifteen minutes ago.”
“Twenty-eight,” Damon corrected.
Ruby almost smiled.
Tessa noticed.
“So we start there.”
They contacted a child welfare liaison named Claire Benton.
Claire agreed to meet them at the diner.
She also contacted police regarding Elena.
Ruby suddenly whispered, “Mom won’t like that.”
Tessa asked, “Why?”
“Because she doesn’t trust police.”
“Did she tell you why?”
“No.”
Ruby played with the swallow.
“She had rules.”
Damon leaned forward.
“What rules?”
“Keep my backpack packed.”
He went still.
“Never tell strangers where we sleep.”
Tessa’s expression changed.
“Anything else?”
“If she says ‘swallow,’ I’m supposed to go to Mrs. Knox.”
Damon and Harold exchanged a look.
“And the necklace?” Damon asked.
Ruby hesitated.
“If anybody recognizes it and asks for Mom, I’m supposed to leave.”
“Even me?”
“She didn’t say.”
“Did she ever mention my name?”
Ruby thought.
“Once.”
Damon’s heartbeat jumped.
“When?”
“Last year. She was looking through an old bag. There was a paper with Voss written on it. I asked who that was.”
“And?”
“She said, ‘Someone I should have told the truth to a long time ago.’”
Damon closed his eyes.
The anger he had carried toward Elena for nearly nine years suddenly felt different.
He had believed she simply left.
Blocked him.
Changed numbers.
Abandoned their apartment while he was working.
He had spent months searching.
Then years pretending he no longer cared.
Claire Benton arrived.
She was calm, professional, and careful not to tower over Ruby.
After establishing basic information, Claire confirmed Maribel was recovering in the hospital.
No relatives of Elena had yet been located.
There was no immediate report explaining her disappearance.
But something else surfaced.
Claire received a call while sitting in the diner.
Her expression tightened.
She stepped outside.
When she returned, Damon knew something had changed.
“What?”
Claire looked at Ruby.
Then at Damon.
“Elena’s car was found this morning.”
Ruby stood.
“Where?”
“Near the bus station in Boston.”
“Was she there?”
“No.”
Ruby’s face fell.
Claire continued gently.
“Her purse was inside.”
Damon’s stomach dropped.
“Phone?”
“Gone.”
“Anything else?”
Claire hesitated.
“Someone had searched the vehicle.”
Ruby gripped her necklace.
Then she whispered something only Damon heard.
“She told me if she ever left her purse behind…”
Damon leaned closer.
“What?”
May you like
Ruby looked terrified.
“It meant she didn’t leave on purpose.”
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