Page 144 of Secrets in the Deep

“Promise me.”

“I promise. Every day.”

The door behind them opened. Joel stood there, a half-eaten burger in his hand. “Yo, Romeo and Juliet, you guys planning to come back in to eat, or is love the only sustenance you need?”

“Looks like you started without us anyway,” Ryan said.

“A guy’s got to eat. You could have been kissing all day. Am I supposed to starve?”

Emily chuckled. “Come on.”

Inside, everyone was scattered around the kitchen, dining, and living rooms. Some were on the couch, others at the table. Ethan and Zac stood by the counter, filling their plates.

“We’re at a dead end,” Ethan said quietly, as Ryan grabbed a plate from beside them. “I can’t find any more information on the missing women or anything in this town referring to Lotus. I can’t even track down the Connoway family members.”

Emily paused, spoon of salad halfway to her plate. “Are you talking about the family who lived in the old mansion?”

Ethan nodded. “Yeah. Did Ryan tell you about the missing and dead women?”

Emily shook her head as she looked at Ryan.

“In the last twenty-five years, three women have gone missing and two others have wound up dead in the river,” Ryan said quietly. “We think they’re all connected.”

She frowned. “What does the Connoway family have to do with it?”

“Maybe not the family, but the house,” Joel said. “Polly found a burner phone in the floorboards of her shop. It had photos of the house and texts to an unknown person saying she knew what they did.”

“Oh, God.”

“We also learned that something called Lotus is involved,” Ryan added.

“And you said you haven’t been able to find the family?” Emily asked softly.

Ethan shook his head. “No. They left thirty years ago and haven’t been seen since. It makes me think there was foul play. There was a father, mother, a son, and?—”

“Two daughters,” Emily finished. “I, um, read one of the girls’ diaries. Or an entry, at least.”

Ryan straightened. “Her diary?”

She cringed. “Yeah. I know. I was being nosy. In her last entry, she wrote about seeing something strange in the sky. A thin white streak of light. Her mother told her it was a shooting star, but she didn’t think it was. She said it moved slower.”

The fuck? “Did she date the entry?”

“Thirty years ago.”

Ryan looked at Ethan and Zac. “Around the time they left.”

“I’ll talk to Ferris,” Ethan said. “See if we can get permission to go in there.”

“Have you talked to the mayor about whatheknows about the family?” Emily asked.

Ryan almost laughed. “Yes. A useless conversation. He was just starting out as mayor when they left, so he says he didn’t know them well enough. Just that they were here one day and gone the next. He thinks something spooked them and they hightailed it back to England.”

“But he doesn’t know for sure?” she asked.

“There’s no evidence.” He slipped an arm around her waist and kissed her cheek. “Let’s finish getting our food. This topic is too heavy for a party.”

Nora came to stand beside Zac and slapped a hand on his back. “Hey, colleague.”