Page 24 of Wild Idol

“How close is the resemblance now?”

“When she first came by the house after the surgery, I didn’t recognize her.“ Mrs. Fowler shrugged. “What are you gonna do?”

“Does she have any identifiable features? Birthmarks, scars, tattoos, previous fractures?”

Mrs. Fowler‘s eyes narrowed. “That seems like an odd question to ask.”

14

“Is she dead?” Ms. Fowler asked, her suspicious eyes narrowing at me.

“We just need to rule that out as a possibility,” I said.

Her eyes rounded, and her jaw went slack. “A possibility?”

“I’m sorry, we just don’t know.”

Her lip quivered, and her eyes brimmed.

“It’s too soon to say. There was an accident earlier.”

“What kind of accident?”

I gave Margret limited details. She obviously didn’t catch the news on TV.

Mrs. Fowler looked dazed, trying to put all the pieces together.

“I feel terrible that we’ve put you in this situation,” I said. “I know it’s difficult, but until we have further information, we have to assume that she’s still alive.”

I didn’t want to give her false hope, but I didn’t want to destroy her world either.

Margret sniffled, nodded, and wiped her eyes. “As far as I recall, she never had any broken bones. If she has any tattoos, she never told me about them, and I never saw them.” Mrs. Fowler thought about it for a moment. “She’s got a scar on the back of her head when she fell off a swing when she was a little girl. Hit her head on a rock, and I had to rush her to the emergency room. She got a few stitches.

“What about dental work?”

“She had braces as a kid. She had a few fillings. Nothing major unless she’s had work done in the last six months. But you never know—she could have gotten veneers or some other type of cosmetic procedure to help her look more like Sable. I’m telling you, she was obsessed. I think sometimes she thought shewasher. I know she’s been doing drugs from time to time, and I think it just messed with her head. She was having some issues. Depression and whatnot.” She shrugged again. “Like I said, I think she just wanted to escape.”

“Do you know if she was seeing anyone?”

“Well, she had been dating Matthew for a long time, but I’m not sure what the status was. I think they broke up a few months back, but I could be mistaken. They could have gotten back together for all I know. Like I said, it’s been quite a while since we talked.”

“What about friends?“

“I think she’s still close with Alyssa, but I’m not sure.”

“I’ll need contact information for both of them.”

Mrs. Fowler nodded. “I’ll just get my phone.”

She stepped back into the house and returned a moment later. She texted me her contact info.

“You mentioned she was doing drugs here and there,” I said. “Do you know if she owed anybody any money? Was she dealing? Could she have gotten sideways with somebody?”

Mrs. Fowler shrugged. “I guess anything is possible.”

I thanked her for the information, apologized once again, and assured her we would be in contact the minute we heard anything.

We left the porch and ambled back to the Porsche.