“We appreciate you coming over so soon,” she said.
Who was this woman?
And what had they done with Tilly?
Vaughn stood in the kitchen, leaning against the counter with his arms crossed. He straightened when he saw me, his expression cautious but controlled.
“I didn’t think we’d be seeing each other again so soon,” he said.
“Neither did I,” I replied. “What’s on your mind?”
“Before we get to that, I want to apologize about my behavior this morning,” he said. “I now see all that you’re doing for our son. It means a lot to us.”
First Tilly.
Now Vaughn.
It was like I’d stepped into an episode of The Twilight Zone.
Tilly nodded, then gestured toward the table. “Please. Sit.”
Vaughn cleared his throat. “After I saw you this morning, I came home and told Tilly everything Logan had said about the locket, the cabin, and the missing girl.”
Tilly nodded. “Vaughn told me that no one ever mentioned her name. But when he described her—where she disappeared, the timing, the cabin—it felt familiar. Too familiar. And I started thinking.”
“We were wondering if the locket Audrey found belonged to a young woman named Anne,” he said.
My pulse quickened, though I tried to remain unfazed by his comment.
“Yes, the locket belonged to Anne,” I said.
Outside, a gull cried, the sound sharp against the stillness of the room.
“We never imagined,” Tilly said. “Not once did we consider her name would come up again after all this time. Or that she could be tied to what happened to Audrey.”
“And now?” I asked.
“Now we want to help,” Vaughn said.
Of course they did.
Because they were also tied to Anne and to Audrey, which landed them in a prime position on my suspect list. I couldn’t decide whether they were being straight with me or working together to butter me up. If it was the latter, they would soon find it was a waste of time.
Vaughn cocked his head to the side, looking at me like he knew what I was thinking. “We swear to you, we had nothing to do with Anne’s disappearance or Audrey’s murder.”
“I hear you,” I said. “But I need more than assurances.”
Tilly nodded. “We understand. How can we give them to you?”
“Tell me about the bonfire,” I said. “Start from the beginning. What you remember. What you saw. Who left first. Who stayed the longest. Everything.”
Vaughn and Tilly exchanged a tense glance.
“How do you know about the bonfire?” Tilly asked.
“I have my ways.”
Tilly crossed one leg over the other. “It was supposed to be a great night. And then it all went wrong.”
