“Where’s Hope?”
“Have you heard from Hope?”
“Are you here because the police found her?”
“Or her body?”
“Ghouls,” Caro mutters.
“Have you heard from her agent?” asks a person holding a microphone (a reporter? a podcaster? it could be anyone, in this day and age). “She’s supposedly trying to get in touch with you.”
“Do you think that’s true?” Caro asks Ash.
They’ve only met Hope’s agent once—briefly, online—but she seems like someone you’d want to have on your side. Hope never gave either Ash or Caro contact info for Raye, though. And Hope didn’t tell Raye where she’d be. Is there a reason for that?
Before Ash can answer, someone shoves into her from the side. “Hey!” Caro says, immediately pulling Ash closer to protect her. “Give us space.”
Don’t engage, Ash thinks, but the mistake has been made. The press of people is fully upon them, and there are so many people shouting out that she can’t tell what any of them are saying.
But then a voice pierces the cacophony. “What areyoudoing to find her?” someone shouts. “You’re her friends! You’re in all those pictures with her!”
Pictures?Ash thinks.There’s more than one?
The door to the police station opens and Officer Flanigan comes out. “You didn’t tell us you were coming,” she says to Ash and Caro, her voice tight.“Hey!”she shouts at the crowd. “Move back!” They obey, but barely.
“You have our phones,” Ash says as Officer Flanigan ushers them in the door. She takes them past the officers and receptionist in the foyer, through a metal detector, and down a hall past cubicles teeming with people.
“Here.” Officer Flanigan opens the door to a small room with two-way mirrors, a table, and four chairs. The room is cold and overly air-conditioned. “I’ll be back.” She closes the door behind her, and things are quiet.
“She seems pissed at us,” Ash says, rubbing her arms.
“She does,” Caro agrees. “But maybe she found something out about the anonymous numbers.” She pulls out one of the chairs and sits down, stretching her long legs in front of her. The gesture is one of trying toease discomfort, not of nonchalance. “Did you talk to Wade this morning before we let them take our phones?”
“Yeah,” Ash says. “Did you talk to Dan?”
“Yeah. It was good to hear his voice.” Caro sounds wistful, and Ash feels a tinge of jealousy. Caro and Dan seem so evenly, perfectly matched, in sync in every way. They don’t have kids, and Ash wonders if that’s because they don’t feel like they need anyone else. They even look a bit alike—tall and lanky, skin that easily tans, warm brown eyes. In fact, Ash thinks, Dan and Spencer look alike, too, except for the fact that Spencer’s bald and Dan has that thick shock of dark brown hair. Caro definitely has a type. DoesAshhave a type? Wade used to have (more) blond hair; he still has blue eyes. Does Ash usually crush on people who look like that?
She doesn’t know if she has a type. She’s had Wade for so long.
“I called my dad’s care facility, too,” Caro’s saying. “He was resting and couldn’t come to the phone, but they said he’s been doing well the last couple of days.”
“That’s great.” But Ash isn’t ready to move away from Dan and Caro and what Dan knows. “Did you tell Dan anything about where we are?”
“Not yet,” Caro says. “But when we get our phones back, we’d better let them know. If our photos are all over social media, someone’s going to see that and send them any second now. It’s better that it comes from us.”
Ash is grateful that Caro didn’t ask if she’s said anything to Wade. Ash didn’t tell him where they were this morning, but he didn’t ask. Maybe because he already knows. She gave him plenty of hints during that phone call the first night. “Do you think you could really have gone the whole time without talking to Dan?” she asks Caro now.
“I was planning on it.” Caro turns to look at Ash, and Ash wonders what she’s thinking. Does Caro know that Ash broke the rule the very first night?
“Do you thinkyoucould have?” Caro asks Ash.
“I guess we’ll never know,” Ash says.
Caro rotates her neck, as if it’s giving her discomfort, too. “Howisyour family? I’m sorry I didn’t ask yet.”
“They’re fine,” Ash says. “Wade actually ended up going on a trip. His mom is watching the girls.”
“Really?” Caro says. “Does he do that kind of thing a lot?”
