Officer Clark clears his throat. “We can discuss that in a moment,” he says. “Right now, we want to ask you if you know anything abouta LikeMe account that went live within the last few hours called @findhopehanover?”
“I’m sorry?” Ash sounds both pissed and puzzled. “You’re asking us about aLikeMeaccount?”
“It has only one post, but it’s gone viral,” Officer Flanigan says, holding out her phone to them. “It has a picture of the three of you.”
Caro takes the phone first. It’s a picture of her, Hope, and Ash at Sonnet. Caro’s chest knots painfully.Hope.She’s sitting by the fire in her orange Sonnet hoodie, holding a skewer with a marshmallow on it, leaning forward to say something to Ash and Caro.
Who took this?Caro wonders with a shiver. This was the night before the hike.Who was watchingthen?
In the photo, Hope looks beautiful and intense, her mouth slightly open. And yes, she is the focus of the picture, but the other women are clearly Caro and Ash. The three of them in their hoodies, faces lit from the fire. There’s a slightly vintage feel to the photo, as if whoever took it used a filter to make it look like it had been taken on film.
Caro wishes with every fiber of her being that they had never come here. She would spend the rest of her life just seeing Hope’s gorgeous face on a screen, big or small, a movie screen or a computer or a phone, if it would mean that Hope were alive and safe and sound.
“Yes, this is us.” Caro hands the phone across the coffee table to Ash. “We’re in the photo, but we didn’t take it. Obviously.”
“We didn’t even know it was being taken.” Ash sounds shaken. “Who would have done this?”
“So neither of you began this account or have any knowledge of it?” Officer Flanigan says, taking back the phone.
“Let me head this off at the pass.” Ash’s tone has sharpened. “We did not make this account. We did not ask someone to take this picture and then post it. We also did not hurt our friend. We love Hope Hanover, and we will do anything and everything we can to help and find and protect her.”
“You sound defensive,” Officer Flanigan says.
“We’re not,” Ash says. She hands her phone to Officer Flanigan. “Here. You can see from this that I didn’t start the account or access it. And Caro and I have been getting anonymous texts and calls. Can you find out a way to trackthose?” She takes a deep breath. “I’m sorry. I know I’m getting fired up. But we want to help.”
“The way you can best help Hope is by answering our questions,” Officer Clark says. He’s adapted a tone of gentle mildness.
“And we’re wondering why you didn’t tell the police that it was Hope Hanover who was missing,” Officer Flanigan says.
“We gave you—or one of your colleagues, I guess—all the details,” Ash says. “The name she was using for this trip, her phone number, her address, everything we knew.”
“The name you gave wasn’t Hope Hanover,” Officer Flanigan says.
“Holy crap.” Spencer looks as if he’s coming back to life, as if everything they’ve said over the past few minutes has finally sunk in. Some color has returned to his face, and he no longer looks like he’s on the verge of passing out. “Tony was right.” Spencer shakes his head. “He kept telling us that she was famous. Kevin and I kept telling him he was seeing things. And we didn’t have reception in the canyon, so he couldn’t look her up on his phone to prove it.”
“So Tony knew,” Ash says. She and Caro exchange glances. Hanging out and playing poker with the guys—it had been dangerous. They’d known that. But Hope had insisted on accepting the invitation.
And now both Hope and Tony are missing.
Tony is dead, Caro amends. They have found his body. They have not found Hope’s.
A thought darts across Caro’s mind, quick as a sparrow.What happened in the canyon when the rest of us weren’t there?And then another, one that surprises her so much that she takes a step backward, her legs hitting the table behind her.Could one of them have killed the other?
We were supposed to disappear, Caro thinks.But not for good.
“You didn’t recognize Hope?” Ash asks Spencer, sounding suspicious.
“No,” he says. “I feel so stupid. I mean, something about her did seem familiar. But she looked, like, older than Hope Hanover. More real.”
Yeah, dumbass, Ash’s facial expression seems to say, and as she and Caro catch each other’s eye, they both have to look away quickly so they don’t laugh. It’s wildly inappropriate. None of this is funny. They are on the edge.
“She was so… normal,” Spencer is saying. “I mean, she was obviously gorgeous. But she didn’t have an entourage.”
“Sheisobviously gorgeous,” Ash says. “Notwas. Andwe’reher entourage.” Caro puts a hand on her back.
“Now everyone knows it’s Hope who’s missing.” Ash draws a shuddery breath. “This is going to be a trainwreck.”
35
