If whoever did this to Page doesn’t return.
And where is Hope?
“No,” Ash says. “I can’t get a signal.”
“Try again,” Caro says. “Page?” she says. “Page, can you hear me?”
“Caro,” Ash says. “The floor is covered in something. I think it’s gasoline.”
“Shit,”Caro says. Ash is right. What she took for a scent of varnish is far too strong, and the floor is slippery everywhere with the petrochemical.This is all very, very wrong.“Okay. I don’t really want to move Page, but we can’t stay in here with these fumes.”And because it feels like someone might be about to light this place on fire.She isn’t seeing any obvious signs of a spinal injury in Page, but this is still a risk. She hesitates. Is she making the wrong call?
She doesn’t know what else to do.
“Can you help me move her?” she asks Ash. “I’ll take her head and shoulders, and you can take her feet?” The wavery window glass casts watery light on Ash as she hurries over. They will have to maneuver Page through the wooden pews, but it should work; there aren’t very many of the benches left. It looks like people have torn them out over the years. As souvenirs? Kindling? Caro’s mind is reeling. They have to get out of here. There is no pulpit, no stained glass, no paintings. The church is bare-bones and smells of something underneath the gasoline.
Caro coughs. She has always been sensitive to fumes. She slides her hands and forearms under Page’s head and shoulders. “We want to keep her as stable as possible,” she’s saying, when a sudden sound makes her turn.
The door to the church has swung open and ricocheted back off the wall. Standing inside the doorway is Caro’s father.
“Dad?”Caro says.
Page is stirring. Her eyelids flutter.
We have to get her out of here.Caro can’t do it alone. “Ash?” she says. “Ash, can you help me?”
But Ash is still staring at the doorway, where, Caro realizes, Dan has appeared behind Henry. Caro looks at them both, the two men she lovesmost in the world. Dan, with his kind eyes and his floppy brown hair; Henry with the whole of her childhood tied up in his being.
A sound. Page, clearing her throat. Caro leans down to hear what she’s saying.
“It’s him,” Page says, her voice raspy. “He killed my sister.”
66
ASH
PAGE HAS GONE UNDERagain. “We have to get her out of here,” Caro tells Ash in a low voice. “Weallhave to get out of here,” she says, louder. “Ash, can you help me?”
But Ash is frozen. Has Caro had some kind of mental break? Did she not hear what Page said? That Henry—or possibly Dan?!?—killed Page’s sister?
And whoisPage’s sister? Ash stares at Page’s face. The coloring—it’s so similar to Hope’s—and her build—it’s slight but strong, like Hope’s—
“I know her,” Henry says, pointing at Page.
“Dad,” Caro says.“Shhh.”She looks at Dan. “What are you doing here?”
“The police brought him in,” Dan says. “None of us could get through to you, so I went and picked him up.” He sounds bewildered and sincere, but is he gaslighting Caro? Ash can’t tell. She doesn’t know him, not in person, not for herself. “He wanted to come out here, so I brought him. He was really agitated.” Dan coughs. “We should get out of here. These fumes—”
They look at Henry, who does not look agitated. He looks deadly calm and very focused, his gaze locked on Page. “Eve Herriman,” he says. “That’s Eve Herriman. She’s one of my students.”
“Dad,” Caro says again. “You don’t know—”
“Who’s Eve Herriman?” Ash asks.
“Eve Herriman went missing twelve years ago,” Caro says. “It’s her body that we might have found in the canyon.”
“What?”Ash says.How does Caro know that? What the hell is going on here?HasCarobeen sending the texts?Where is Hope?“How do you know?”
“Wehaveto get out of here,” Caro says. “Dan. Help me with her?”
