She’d been placed somewhere familiar.
Somewhere only one person thought to look.
I rested my hand against the bark, cold and solid beneath my palm.
Talia looked at me, searching my face.
To her, it was still just a tree that stood out among others in the area.
To me, I had just uncovered answers, and a truth capable of shaking our quiet town to its core.
37
Before we left the creek, I took out my cell phone and walked a slow circle around the tree, careful with my footing, my eyes focused on the ground around me. I took a wide shot first, then another from farther back to capture the curve of the creek and the way the land dipped behind the trunk. I crouched and photographed the base where the soil sat uneven, the place where grass refused to grow the same way it did everywhere else. I took one last photo from the water’s edge, with the tree centered in the frame.
Talia eyed me with curiosity, unsure of what I was doing and why, and I didn’t have the heart to tell her yet.
“You took a lot of pictures,” she said.
“I suppose I did,” I said.
I slipped my phone back into my pocket, and she nodded toward the path that led back to her house. We walked in silence for a time, the sound of the creek fading behind us, replaced by the sound of light traffic in the distance.
Halfway back, while Talia walked a few steps ahead, I pulled out my phone again, sending a quick message to Foley and Whitlock.
Can you meet me at the Kinkaid house?
I need you here.
I believe I’ve found evidence pointing to who’s responsible for Audrey and Anne’s murders.
As we reached the edge of the yard, voices carried through the open kitchen window. Raised. Sharp. Not loud enough to make out the words, but tense enough to stop us both short.
Through the window, I could see Gabriel pacing in the kitchen, his hands slicing through the air as he spoke. Brianne stood near the counter, her shoulders drawn tight, one hand braced against the edge as if she needed something solid to stay upright.
Talia frowned. “What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure,” I said. “But I’m guessing it may have to do with a conversation I had with your mother earlier.”
She took a step closer to the house, peering through the glass. “I’ve never seen my mom like that. She looks freaked out.”
I was almost positive they were talking about Anne. Or about Audrey. Or about the way the two were connected. Either way, their secrets were about to be revealed.
I thought of Talia and the devastation she was about to face, a devastation she didn’t even know was coming.
I glanced over at her and said, “Would you do me a favor and wait out here for a few minutes while I talk to your parents?”
Talia raised a brow, surprised. “Is something wrong? If it is, I want to be in there too.”
“I just need a few minutes with them.”
“Why?”
I met her gaze. “I think they know what happened to Anne.”
She tapped a shoe to the ground, thinking. “The more you say her name, the more familiar it is to me. It’s like I’ve heard someone say it before, not too long ago. I just don’t remember who said it. Why would my parents know anything about Anne?”
“Because they were at a bonfire with her the night she disappeared. Just give me five minutes, please. I have a better chance of getting them to talk to me if you’re not in the room.”
