FISHER HOME

The mood at the Fishers’ is somber and heavy as the family lingers around, awaiting news on Sophie. They occupy themselves with the television or by fiddling with their cell phones or with picking at the spread of food that remains on the dining room table, but they all move as if in a trance.

Bill finds Don standing by a window in the entryway. Since Helen left with Jason and Brent, Don has stayed away from the others.

“Any word yet?” he asks, turning back and seeing his old friend.

Bill shakes his head. “I’d tell you if there were.”

The weighty silence absorbs both of them. The summer night has finally taken effect outside, leaving the sky a navy blue.

“If I’d known any of this was going to happen, I would’ve stepped in,” Don says. “I knew that lawyer was capable of some underhanded tactics, but something like this never crossed my mind.”

Bill is uncertain how to respond. On one hand, he never dreamed that either of the Chases could do something as appalling as what Helen has done; on the other, the fact that she did it makes it difficult for him to believe that Don knew nothing about the whole thing. Then again, Don did come clean about it, because saving Sophie was more important to him than saving face.

“I just hope Brent’s plan works,” he says instead.

“You know how much Helen and I love that little girl. She’s… she’s all we have left of Courtney.”

Then why would you put her in this sort of danger? Bill wants to demand. But Don’s face is so anguished, so pale and fretful, that Bill is once again swayed to believing that he really did not know about Helen and Eric’s scheme until it was too late.

“Then let’s keep praying that she makes it back to us safe and sound,” Bill says.

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