Alexandra, Gone by Anna McPartlin

permission from the families.”
    “No, she still has some work to do for this upcoming show—she’s a perfectionist. And we are still waiting for permission from the families, although that man missing from Clare, Joe something, his family has come back and would love to be involved.” Oh Christ, I hope she comes home in time for the show in two weeks.
    “Okay,” Leslie said, “I’ll call her later.”
    “Fine,” Jane said, “but don’t be surprised if she doesn’t answer. When she’s in the zone the whole world could be collapsing around her and she wouldn’t notice.”
    “Right,” Leslie said, and sensing Jane was nervous she let it go at that. “Probably better to leave her be.”
    Jane nodded enthusiastically. Stop nodding, Jane.
    Tom left soon after. He had promised to go online to book the tickets and accommodation for the London gig and insisted on paying for it. Jane had then insisted that they both take home slices of carrot cake, chocolate log, and a biscuit cake she spotted in the fridge that she’d made two days previously and forgotten about.
    Tom hugged both women before he left. “Thank you,” he said, “thank you. Thank you. Thank you.” He sighed and smiled, then turned and walked down the steps, leaving Leslie and Jane standing together at the door. They waved to him as he drove off.
    When he was out of sight, Leslie turned to Jane. “So what’s really going on with Elle?”
    For somebody who didn’t spend a lot of time with people, she was incredibly intuitive.
    “You’d better come back in,” Jane said.
    Jane brewed another pot of coffee and began by telling Leslie about Elle’s New Year’s Eve and Vincent’s note.
    “Good God,” Leslie said. “Could she go to prison for that?”
    “I have to meet that sniveling little snot Vincent next week to sort out compensation. Basically if we buy him a new car he won’t press charges, and if he doesn’t press charges hopefully the DPP won’t either.”
    “ ‘I want you, I need you, but let’s face it, I’m never going to love you,’ ” Leslie repeated, shaking her head in disbelief. “Just when I thought it was safe to go back in the water.”
    Jane explained her sister’s inexplicable passion for the man who had mistreated her from the day they met and how, having an inexplicable passion of her own for the father of her child, she understood and sympathized with her sister’s misguided love.
    “You can’t choose whom you love,” she said.
    Leslie thought about it and it made her crave more cake. After that, Jane explained that whenever things got on top of Elle she would hang the GONE FISHING sign on her front door. This signaled that she needed peace and quiet, time away from everything and everyone, and until she was ready to face the world again she would be off the radar. Leslie was aghast that Elle would just disappear like that and couldn’t understand why Jane indulged her.
    “That’s extremely selfish,” she said. “What if you need her?”
    “I leave a voice message and hope she picks it up,” she admitted before dismissing Leslie’s concerns, noting she was simply happy that Elle gave her a clear indication of what she was up to so she didn’t have to worry. Although of course she did worry, but not as much as she would if Elle disappeared without warning.
    It took Leslie a few minutes to realize the significance of Elle’s latest fishing trip, and it became clear only when Jane recounted the time two years earlier when she had failed to return for two months.
    “Will she paint while she’s away?” Leslie asked.
    “She hasn’t before,” Jane admitted.
    “But the Missing Exhibition is scheduled for April!”
    “She’ll be home, it’s important, she’ll get it done,” Jane said, but Leslie could tell she wasn’t convinced.
    “And if she doesn’t?”
    “Well, we’ll just have to find Alexandra in a club in March,” Jane said, and she knew her proposal sounded weak.
    “It’s not