“An afterparty,” Traci said. “Where was this? And was Parrish there?”
“She was there,” Olivia said. “We rode over together, with KJ. There were a lot of people there, and I’m not sure the last time I saw her.”
“Again. Where was the party? Come on, you’re not in trouble. I just need to know where Parrish could be.”
“The Shack,” Garrett began. “It’s this old—”
“I know where it is,” Traci cut in. “When did you see her last?”
Garrett ran his hands through his hair. “I don’t know. Maybe around one?”
“She was talking to one of the guys from the band,” KJ volunteered.
“And then what?” She turned to the chef. “Felice, did you see her last night?”
“I came back here and soaked my feet and went to bed. Last time I seen Parrish was down at the beach, right when the storm came up, telling everyone to move inside.”
Traci turned to the others. “And she didn’t come back here with any of you?” She recognized that her tone was sharper, because she was growing desperate.
“Not with me,” Livvy said. “Tommy, one of the other servers, gave me a ride back.”
“Me and KJ rode a golf cart back here together,” Garrett said.
“So. What was the last time anyone saw Parrish last night?”
“Maybe one thirty?” Livvy was apologetic. “Just a guess. My phone was dead by the time I got off work.”
“Hey. Maybe try calling her phone here. Maybe she forgot it or something,” KJ said.
Traci made a show of tapping her niece’s number. “It’s still going directly to voice mail. Which means she either turned it off, or it’s dead.”
KJ shifted uncomfortably from one foot to the other. “Do you want me to go out to the Shack to look for her?”
“That’s a great idea,” Garrett said quickly. “Me and KJ will go scout around.”
“I’ll go with you,” Traci said.
“Well, it’s super muddy out there after all that rain last night,” he said. “If you’ll just let us borrow your golf cart, we can run out there, check, and come right back.”
“I don’t know.” She was raising a welt on her ring finger from all the twisting and turning. “I don’t have a good feeling about this. Maybe I should call the police.”
“You don’t wanna do that,” Garrett said. “I mean, how embarrassed would she be if she was, like, with a guy? Also, have you checked at the hotel? Maybe she decided to go in early to work and just forgot.”
“Not likely,” Traci said. “But I’ll walk over there and check. You two go out to the Shack. Call me right away if you find her.”
The area around the Shack looked like a dump truck had overturned, spilling out beer cans and bottles, cigarette butts, lighters, and discarded Solo cups. The ground was muddy and matted down around the fire pit. Flies buzzed around half-empty foil pans of food, and the sickly sweet smell of rot lingered in the swampy summer air.
“Man, what a mess,” KJ said, surveying the site.
“Come on,” Garrett urged, handing him one of the plastic garbage bags they’d brought from the dorm. “We gotta get the place cleaned up. If Mrs. E sees this, we’ll all be in deep shit.”
The two men began loading trash into the bags. It was hot, miserable work.
KJ tossed a full bag of trash onto the back of the golf cart. “I’m just gonna take a look inside the Shack, make sure she’s not in there.”
They removed the broken padlock from the door. Rusted hinges squeaked as he pulled on the door handle. He stepped inside. “Jesus!”
CHAPTER 29
