Page 105 of My Sister is Going to Kill Me

“Thor?” she said. “How well do you know Katy?”

The guide squinted. “Why?”

“Seemed like she was pretty confident with that gun.”

Thor snorted. “You should see her throw an ax. She annihilated a group of truckers at a bar in Flag last summer. Fastest two hundred bucks I ever made.”

“Is she some kind of Wild West kid?”

“More like a trust fund kid. She came out here five years ago from the East Coast. Lives in an old horse trailer. But you can tell she came from money.”

“Do you know what business her family was in?”

“We don’t talk about past lives out here. It’s for the best.”

Past lives. Was it possible Katy came from a wealthy family and was the whale behind Stefan’s firm? It seemed like a stretch for a young outdoorswoman who spent weeks at a time on the river to have a second life as an international investor. And Katy had never gotten close to Babette—she’d been at Deer Creek Falls watching the boats while all that had gone down. Unless she knew a secret way to hike to the Throne Room? There could be hidden slots and tunnels all over the side canyons like the one Thor had taken her through.

Speculation was getting her nowhere. Further from Liv. Further from help.

She looked over to where her dad was sitting on the other side of the raft, picking at his cell phone, his long legs straddling the cold radio. Earlier, when the canyon had narrowed between tight columns of granite, Thor had told them the satellite phone would be out of commission for a few miles. But now they were floating on sluggish water under an open sky. It had been like this for at least an hour. Why hadn’t Guy called his contacts?

“Dad,” she said. “No more planning. We have to get help.”

To her surprise, he nodded. “Right you are. And I’ve got the guy.” He looked up from his phone. “At first I thought we’d need a team, but this situation calls for maximum discretion, laser-sharp skills. Paulie’s our guy.”

“Who is Paulie?” Charlie asked.

“An ex-cop I met in prison—not dirty, just light-fingered. Smart. Very capable. He was this close to retaking the detective exam when he got pinched, and he’s got contacts all over the west who owe him favors.”

“A convict?” Charlie said.

“Ex-convict. He’s rehabilitated, like me.” Guy nodded. “I’m thinking I make the connect, you put up the cash. A hundred grand should do it, and I won’t take a nickel for referral. I can call him on the sat phone right now.”

Mandy stared at him. They all stared at him.

“Dad. No.”

“How about a little faith, Mand? A little belief in your hardworking dad?”

“We have to call the authorities,” Mandy said.

Guy scoffed. “You sound like your sister.”

Weird. Good. She kept going. “We need to take this seriously. I’m not the one who forced us to flee. I’m not the one who ditched my sister on a beach with a murderer.”

“That’s not fair,” Guy barked. Then he seemed to physically collect himself, as if he recognized that showing anger might endanger his position. “You know Livvie wouldn’t have been willing to come with us. Secure your own oxygen mask first, right? That’s what we’re doing. So we can help her.”

“Help her how? By not using that radio? By not getting legitimate help? And no one really does that, Dad. Flight attendants say it in their spiel, but no parent is going to watch their own kid choke for air and not do everything they can to help them breathe again. That’s how real people actually behave around folks they love.”

“So real people are willing to make irrational sacrifices? If that’s the case, excuse me for trying to make sure we get out of here alive.” Guy shook his head. “Liv can take of herself. I’m confident—”

“When is that not the case?” Mandy was losing control now, but she didn’t care. “Fake it till you make it, right? You taught me that. But we’re not in the magical-thinking kiddie pool. Your sketchy friends aren’t going to fix this. People have died. We have to stop. We have to go back. At the bare minimum, we have to call the police.”

Her words were met with silence. Guy looked annoyed, Thor unreadable, and Charlie hadn’t made eye contact with her since she’d started ranting. Was this how things went when you told the truth? Mandy thought of all the times Liv had come off as sanctimonious, how many times she’d batted away her sister’s objections and kept storming forward. Her dad had shown her how to do that, too.

“He doesn’t want to call the cops,” Thor said. “And frankly, I don’t want them involved either. We’ve broken all kinds of rules today.”

“I won’t go back to prison, Mand. I can’t.” Guy’s hard edge softened, and she could hear the fear and sadness behind it.