"What do you want me to say? Girls do all manner of things nowadays to make a buck. You ever heard of OnlyFans? Not like I can stop her."
"You ever seen that tattoo before?"
"No."
"Back to my question. Did you ever have a fight?"
"What if we did? People argue all the time."
"And money for college?"
"She didn't have any." Mark took a drag and exhaled slowly. "She kept talking about it but I told her she needed to get a job. I don't make enough to put her through it." He sighed. The cigarette burned between his fingers. "You have to realize. Things haven't been easy since her mother bailed. I figured maybe Fiona had done the same thing. Gone off with her boyfriend. I'm doing the best I can to keep the lights on, alright? Now can I go? I'm going to be late."
Noah nodded.
Mark got in his truck, started the engine, and tore away down the road. Noah watched the tailgate disappear around the corner and remained in the empty driveway.
He was reachingfor the Bronco's handle when the sound of a bicycle chain reached him from up the street. Ethan came riding up the sidewalk, standing on the pedals, his hair windblown and his backpack bouncing against his shoulders. He slowed when he saw Noah's vehicle in front of the Spence house and coasted to a stop at the end of the driveway.
"Dad? What are you doing here?"
Noah shut the vehicle's door. He had been so consumed with the investigation that he hadn't thought about this moment. Hadn't prepared for it. Hadn't figured out the right way to say what needed to be said to his son about the girl his son was in love with.
Ethan walked the bike up the driveway, his face shifting from confusion to something sharper. "Why are you at Fiona's house?"
"I had to speak to her father."
"About what?"
"Look, Ethan. Fiona's missing."
The words landed and Ethan stopped walking. The bike tilted sideways and he caught it by the handlebars but didn't right it. He stared at Noah.
“Ruby said something like that. I thought she was joking.” His voice cracked. "I haven’t heard from her in days. She's not been replying to texts, so I came by thinking..." He trailed off. "Is she?"
"No. We're still looking."
"When were you going to tell me this was official?”
"Once I knew more."
Ethan stared at him with something that was part anger and part fear and part the realization that his father had kept this from him. Noah could see it working through him, the betrayal and the terror braiding together in his face.
"Ethan, did she ever tell you about her modeling?"
“She mentioned something about Strutz once. But that's all." Ethan's chin dropped. He gripped the handlebars until his knuckles went white.
"Son, I'm sorry. I was going to?—"
"Is this related to the body of that college girl they found a few days ago?"
Noah didn't know how to answer. Before he could find the words, Ethan turned his bike, swung a leg over the seat, and rode off down the street without looking back.
"Ethan. Ethan!" Noah called after him. The bicycle rounded the corner and was gone.
He let out a long breath and stood there in the empty driveway for the second time in five minutes, watching someone leave.
The briefing roomwas full again. Ray stood at the front with the whiteboard behind him covered in names, locations, and photographs connected by lines of red marker. Noah sat near the back. Callie was in the second row. McKenzie leaned against the side wall. His sister, Maddie Sutherland, the assistant district attorney, sat in the front with a legal pad on her knee. Officers and deputies filled the remaining chairs and lined the walls.
