“She was right about one thing—it doesn’t change anything,” I said. “But it’s more than most people have ever said.”
Ford shook his head. “I’d have paid money to see that conversation.”
“Wouldn’t have been worth much. She spoke for thirty seconds. We stared each other down for a few more. Then it was done.”
But apparently she was going to be next door, and I had to figure out what to do with that.
The sun had shifted enough that the awning’s shade crawled across the table. My fish was cold, but I picked at it anyway.
Needing a subject change, I glanced up. “Anybody heard from Jace beyond what he said in the group text about Ford’s proposal?”
“Not for a few weeks,” Sawyer admitted. “Last I heard, he’s still somewhere classified. Willa’s hoping he’ll make it home sometime this fall for a visit.”
“Think he’s a lifer?” Ford asked.
Sawyer leaned back and considered, now Jace’s brother-in-law as well as brother-in-bond, as we all were. “Maybe. The guy doesn’t exactly know how to do normal.”
Ford snorted. “None of us do. You forget how to when half your adult life’s been lived by orders.”
Sawyer tipped his chair back, squinting toward the parking lot through the slats of the deck rail. “That or we just get used to the noise in our heads.”
He wasn’t wrong. The silence after structure had a way of turning on itself, filling up with the ghosts of should-haves and what-ifs. That static had followed me since the day I packed out of base housing.
I caught movement at the edge of the parking lot. A woman moving too fast for the heat, head down, stride clipped like she was chasing something she couldn’t quite catch. Astrid Thompson. She blew past the line of parked bikes and tourists, eyes on her phone as she furiously tapped at the screen.
Ford followed my line of sight. “She’s on a mission.”
“She’s worried.” Even from here, I could see the tight set of her shoulders.
Astrid didn’t even glance our way as she cut through the entry toward the main bar. A moment later the door swung shut behind her, muffling the burst of sound from inside.
“What do you suppose that’s about?” Sawyer asked.
I shook my head. “Nothing good.” Over the course of my career, I’d seen the faces of too many people who were close to their wit’s end to dismiss it as something benign.
When Astrid emerged a few minutes later, her mouth was set in a hard line. She moved to the nearest table, speaking to the occupants and flashing her phone as if showing a photograph. Looking for someone or something.
I was already out of my seat headed for her before I’d consciously made up my mind. “Astrid? Something wrong?”
She exhaled a breath. “Hey, Rios. I hadn’t heard you were back on-island.”
“Haven’t been for long. What’s going on?”
Her gaze shifted as Ford and Sawyer joined us. “One of my grad students is missing.”
She angled her phone so we could see the screen. An early twenty-something girl with wind-blown dark hair and a shy smile.
“She didn’t show up for work this morning, and nobody’s seen or heard from her. I feel like I’ve looked everywhere.”
Another missing girl.
For just a moment, I flashed back to that long ago summer, when we’d combed every inch of this island looking for Gwen. We knew now why we hadn’t found her. If we’d started sooner, right after the party, would it have made a difference? I had no idea. But I wouldn’t make the same mistake again.
“When did you last see her?”
“Last night on the beach during hatching observation.”
“And what time was that?”
