Page 93 of My Sister is Going to Kill Me

Mandy glared at Guy. “I won’t leave Liv.”

“If you want to protect her, we have to.”

A desperate feeling rose in the back of Mandy’s throat. “No.” She turned to Charlie, who was now looking at Thor. “I can’t leave my sister. And you can’t leave yours. You and Devon both got threatened.”

Charlie didn’t take his eyes off the river guide.

Mandy tried one more time. “Cross me and you’re dead too. This is my company, not yours. Whoever murdered Babette and Stefan may be after you, Charlie. But they could be after Devon too. If we leave, and she dies—”

“Our only shot at saving everyone is to leave now,” Guy interrupted.

“Ten grand,” Charlie said to Thor.

“Deal.”

Before Mandy could protest further, Thor wrapped a wiry arm around her shoulders. It felt boa constrictor tight, locking her in place on the sand.

“Sorry, sunshine. You’re coming with us. Law of the wild. We’ll keep you safe.”

Chapter Thirty-Nine

It was the shouting that woke Liv up.

It was just before dawn. The air was cool and thin, the canyon walls washed in sepia like old tea. The voices were coming from directly below her, by the boulders that separated the cove with the boats from the sandbar where everyone had slept. Big Pete and Katy were standing on the rocky outcropping, yelling and waving their arms at a raft in the middle of the river.

Liv sat up and squinted down at the dark water. Were the park police here already? The boat didn’t bear distinctive markings that suggested official duty. In fact, it looked remarkably similar to the rafts they’d paddled in for the past two days. There were three people in the raft—no, four—the middle of the boat loaded high with gear. Were they bringing specialized equipment to handle Babette’s body? Evidence processing kits?

Liv started mentally sorting the questions and information she wanted to share with the authorities. But before she could dig into her bag for a pen and paper, she heard Big Pete’s shouts from below take on a furious pitch.

“Hey! Stop!”

She looked again. The raft was riding low in the water, weighed down by its cargo, moving fast. Too fast. The navigator at the back was paddling hard, shooting past the sandbar where the others were starting to rouse. The yellow boat bucked over a patch of whitewater before swirling into an eddy, and Liv assumed it was going to whip around and approach the beach on its far end. But then, it shot downriver into the yawning granite canyon, and the shadowed cliffs swallowed all sight of it.

Just before the raft disappeared, Liv caught the words stamped in red across the back.

Wild Adventures.

“Is that another tour group?” she shouted down to Big Pete. “Are they going for help?”

Big Pete didn’t acknowledge her. Instead, he said something to Katy, and the two guides hopped down the rocks to the cove where their boats were tied up. Headed for the radio, she bet. There must have been a conversation—or hand signals, maybe?—before Liv had woken up.

Even if she’d wished for an opportunity to speak with the people on the raft directly, it felt good to know that someone else had an inkling of what they were dealing with. It was too easy to feel isolated out here, thousands of feet below the surface of the earth. If they were going to get through this, they needed others. The more people got involved, the less likely their problems would be crushed by the rocks or washed away down the river.

She hurriedly dressed, then headed down to join the guides by the boats. But Katy stopped her on the hillside before she made it to the shore.

“We need a minute,” Katy said.

“For what?”

Big Pete was approaching the stern of the supply boat, moving cautiously, as if it might bite him. Had Charlie, Stefan, and Guy slept through the shouting? Liv couldn’t see the second raft on the other side of the chub, but the raft in front of it bobbed merrily in the water.

She heard movement from behind her. The other guests were beginning to rouse, some clambering groggily to their feet. Oddly, Mandy wasn’t among them. Their fight last night had been regrettable, but her sister was quick to forgive, and she was unreasonably chipper in the morning, which, for once, Liv craved. She wanted to see Mandy’s wild hair and frenetic smile. She would accept whatever colorful curses her sister might lob at her. She was ready to try again to figure things out properly together, as a team. As soon as Mandy saw Guy untied and unharmed, Liv wouldn’t be the bad guy anymore.

Liv hiked over to where they’d camped the night before. Her sister’s backpack was still there, unzipped and spilling over with spangly bikinis and sarongs. There was a sketchbook and a small tub of CareFree by her inflatable pillow. But no Mandy.

Liv turned and ran down to where Katy and Big Pete were standing by the supply boat.

“My sister,” she said. “She’s gone.”