“I had a Taser,” Hope says. “And a phone to record him with.”
“Hope.” Ash is angry. “This wasn’t—isn’t—none of this is amovie. These are ourlives.”
“I know,” Hope says quietly. “It was complete hubris to think I could catch him. And I’m never,ever, going to forgive myself for any of this.”
Ash reaches out and gently takes one of Caro’s bandaged hands in hers. She threads the fingers of her other hand through Hope’s. “That’s where you and Ty were both wrong,” she says.
“Thereisstrength in numbers.” Caro’s voice is firm. “We did what we came here to do.”
“But from now on, you tell useverything,” Ash says.
“I will.” Hope squeezes both of their hands. “I was wrong not to. It’s just—I was the one who brought the lurker upon us. It was because of me that you were being watched all that time. I felt like the only way to get you to love me again was to fix it, and the only way to fix it was to go off on my own.”
“We didn’t stop loving you,” Caro says.
“I know.” Hope sounds like she can’t believe it, like it’s too good to be true. “I’m so sorry. I’ll say that for the rest of my life. I’llbethat for the rest of my life.”
“It’s okay,” Ash says.
“We didn’t die,” Caro says practically, and they all laugh. And then they remember Eve, and they go quiet.
74
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EVE HAS BEEN GONEfor twelve years. I’ve had plenty of time to imagine all of the scenarios.
She was scared.
She was screaming.
She was begging,
She was silent.
She fought like hell.
She never saw it coming.
Now I know more than I did, but still not everything. Ty’s picture on Eve’s camera from the Underground was the first clue. Now that the police have looked into things, I know that Ty met Eve at the events center, where he worked in catering. I know they dated, but she never told me or Grandma about him because it didn’t last long. I know he killed her when she tried to break up with him. He talked her into hiking the Underground with him—one last day together. He killed her there and hid her in a crevice. At some point, a flood brought her out for the women to find.
I never suspected Ty. I never saw him until I came to work at Sonnet. I wonder how long he knew I was her sister. I wonder how long he was watching me. I would notice them, sometimes this year, the photos of metacked up on the bulletin board that looked slightly different because they were taken on a disposable camera and then developed. He stalked me, he stalked Skye. Both of us took down our photos before the other saw them. I wish we had talked more. I wish we hadn’t disliked each other so much. Maybe we would have figured things out.
Caro saw the last photo of me before I did and took it down before I saw it. She thought it looked like Hope. The three of usdolook alike.
But only Eve and I are sisters.
When the police searched Ty’s house, they found a darkroom for developing film. They found lots of things there. I don’t like to think about it.
Eve’s disappearance happened when Hope was here filmingThe Last Portal. It was constantly in the news. The story stuck with Hope. She wanted to see if she could make a movie about it, draw some attention to Eve’s case. She came to me with the plan and said I could be a co-producer. That I could have half of the proceeds.I want to help you, she said.And I want to find out what happened to Eve.
No, I said.Please.I was sixteen then.I don’t want a movie about her. Please leave her alone.
I couldn’t believe it when Hope said,Okay.
And then she came back, years later.If I wanted to disappear from the Underground,she asked,how would I do it?I wasn’t afraid of the Underground. Because Eve and Ty didn’t sign in at the hike register, and no one saw him come out at the end, I never knew my sister died in the Underground. I never knew she was there.
You could cut over to Mystery Canyon, I told Hope.It’s hard, technical canyoneering. Not anyone can do it.
