"He's gone. By now he could be in a different country."
"I don't think he is. I know it sounds crazy but I have this feeling he's still here."
"In California?"
"No. But close. I don't think he left the country."
"Rumor, I know you want to believe that but I don't want you getting your hopes up. He told you he was leaving."
"But he didn't say where he was going. He could be anywhere."
"Which is why it's not worth trying to find him. Where you would even look?"
"I don't know." I look down. "Maybe you're right. Maybe it's not worth it."
"Hey." He lifts my face to his. "If I wasn't stuck here because of my arrest, I'd take you to find him. If that's really what you wanted, I'd do it."
I softly smile. "I know you would."
He brings me into his chest. "I just want to stay like this until all of this is over."
"Me too." I pull back and look at him. "I talked to them today. To the police."
"You did? Why?"
"Brock's lawyer thought I should. She said it's better to cooperate with the cops than try to fight them. She said I'd look guilty if I avoided their questions."
"Guilty for what?"
"They think I was involved in Kristen's death. They think I put you up to it."
"What the hell?" Jackson shoots up from the couch. "Who told you this?"
"Brock's lawyer." I stand up, facing him. "She said the lady who questioned me at the police station today hates rich kids because they're spoiled and always get away with stuff so she'll make it her mission to lock us away."
"That's not fucking happening. What did you tell them?"
"Not much. Brock's lawyer wouldn't let me. She scripted all my answers and wouldn't let me answer anything that wasn't in the script. I didn't tell them about the busted cameras or the noise you heard. Did you?"
"Yeah. I told them everything. They still don't believe me. Kristen's body was found on my beach. Everyone knows she used to hang out at my house. They know we used to date. Used to fight. That's all it takes for me to look guilty as hell."
"The cop made it sound like you were still dating Kristen. Was she just testing me?"
"Yeah. She was seeing how angry you'd get. Seeing if you had a temper like Braden. What did you tell her when she said it?"
"Nothing. The lawyer told her I wouldn't answer the question. Did they tell you Kristen was strangled?"
"Yeah, but they can't say for sure that's what happened until they do the autopsy. They have to test how recent those marks on her neck are. They could've been the ones she already had."
"Did Kristen know how to swim? Maybe someone threw her in the ocean and she drowned."
"She could swim. And she wasn't afraid of the ocean. One of her mom's exes had a boat and she'd go out on it all the time, even when the waves were huge. She didn't drown. She was either killed behind my house or before she got there."
"You think someone killed her, then took her body to your house?"
"It's possible."
"What was the noise you heard when you got home?"
