“A friend has asked me to help her look for a missing person,“ Rachel said. "So I'm calling police departments in her area to see if they might have any information about her. Whether she might have been arrested, though I doubt it. Or if someone may have attacked her." She slid a handful of printouts across the coffee table to her. "If you feel like helping, here are some hospitals you can call."

“Althea Carpenter," Sarah read, sitting in the love seat.

“I don't think I've ever heard you talk about her.”

"You probably haven't. I've talked to her a few times, but never met her in the flesh, so to speak." She smiled in response to some memory as she placed another call.

Sarah shrugged and pulled her cell phone out of her pocket. In a few minutes she was navigating through an automated attendant, trying to find a live body to talk to. "Up on the Gold Coast, huh?" she said, referring to one of Chicago's most expensive neighborhoods.

“What does she do for a Living?"

“Runs around with men, mostly, from what I can tell," her mother smiled. "Women, too." She cast a keen eye at her. "Care to tell me what's got you so worked up Lately?"

Sarah held up a finger as a woman picked up her call. A few minutes later she hung up, shaking her head.

"I don't know, Mom," she said.

“A couple of weeks ago, every day was like every other day, you know? I got up, banged around the house, texted my friends, cooked or researched recipes, watched TV, went to bed. Now...everything has changed. Dad's back. Maria is moving in.

You're going to be home a lot more, and I'm going to be home a lot less, going to school. I'm going to have to actually do something, rather than sit around and complain about how you won't let me do what

T want."

Her mother nodded her understanding, even as she was taken off of hold and got a negative answer from a police dispatcher.

“Change is always frightening, sweetheart. Trust me, I know about that. When I walked out of the office yesterday, I almost turned around and ran back in, just because I didn't want to leave my comfort zone. I've been working for

Ben Chihiro ever since I got out of Law school. It felt Like a betrayal to quit, even when I knew it was the right thing for me."

“We wear the chains we forge in life," Sarah said.

“True that," Rachel replied, and Sarah rolled her eyes.

“And there is the fact," her mother said, speaking carefully, as if she was navigating a verbal minefield, "that you're attracted to your father, and want to go to bed with him."

It took a few seconds for the words to sink in. When they did, Sarah denied them instinctively. "No, I'm not! Gross, Mom! How could you think that!"

Her mother Looked back at her mildly.