Chapter 19. No One Will Be Able to Save You

Mark looked at the address he had convinced Cedric to write on a paper last night. The taxi dropped him off. He decided not to drive to Charlotte’s house. He wanted to look as normal as possible. He rang the doorbell twice, but no one responded. As he was about to do the manual method, knock, the door opened.

An elderly woman with streaks of grey hair in her golden locks stood firm-faced.

“Good morning, ma’am,” he greeted, confirming the time on his watch. He woke up at 4 am and wasn’t sure just how far the day had gone.

“Morning,” she responded gravely.

“My name’s Mark. I’m a friend of Charlotte. We’re partners for a project, but she hasn’t been in school since last week.”

“Mrs. Eva. She has never mentioned you. I usually think my baby’s antisocial…” She sniffed, tears running down her face. Almost immediately, she straightened up, wiping her tears with a satin handkerchief. She composed herself and continued, “She hasn’t been here either.”

“Wha