The Lola Quartet

by Emily St. John Mandel

“Well, we knew Gloria was getting foreclosed—” “But what kind of a real estate agent takes pictures of someone else’s child? Asks her questions? They’ve found us, Sasha, they’ve found us—” “No one’s found us,” Sasha said. “There’s no they.” She was looking at Daniel now. “There’s just a him. One person. Who probably hasn’t left Utah.” Daniel was expressionless. “Who probably has no idea where you are and probably stopped looking years ago. Everything will be fine. Listen, Daniel’s here.” Anna made an indecipherable noise. “Let me talk to him about this.” “What the hell can he do?” Anna asked. “All he’s ever done is—” “He’s a cop,” Sasha said. “Snap out of it. I’ll call you back.” She disconnected and watched the call fade from her cellphone screen. “A stranger showed up and took a picture of Chloe,” she said. Saying the words aloud made the story real, and she began to be afraid. “It might be nothing,” Daniel said, when she told him the story about the real estate agent. “A misunderstanding.”

I don’t get this: for this whole book nobody has communicated to anybody else for shit. And now all of a sudden Anna, Sasha and Daniel are talking about everything? Why aren’t they including Gavin?