Then I read the next line and my heart skips a beat.
“I’d love to take you to dinner, princess,” my father, Jesse Peckham, says, giving me a kiss on the forehead before he slips out the door for work.
Princess.
It’s not an uncommon name for a father to call his daughter, but the sight of it there on the page bothers me anyway.
I keep reading.
The main character goes to school, gets picked up by her father, and then visits a diner in … North Sultan. I blink a few times at the name of the town. It stuck out to me before, when the GPS led me and Chasm there to drop off JJ’s body. North Sultan is just such a weird name for a town, particularly one in Washington state. That’s where the diner was. That’s where this diner is.
It’s listed in the novel as Gabbi’s Diner and Drive-In, but when I use that name to search online, nothing comes up that isn’t related directly to the novel itself. I try again with the address that Chasm and I used—it’s saved in my phone’s GPS history—and see what it says.
Last Chance Diner and Grill.
Huh.
I pick the novel out and pad downstairs in search of Tess. She’s currently sitting at the table with the two female FBI agents, tears drying on her cheeks. She tries desperately to swipe them away when she sees me coming.
“Tess?” I ask, going completely still. My fingers dig into the cover of the book so hard that I’m probably bruising them.
“Mia,” she whispers, and then she starts to shake. Paul is sitting beside her, his head in his hand, staring at the table with glassy eyes. I take a step back, feeling my own hands beginning to tremble. I’m so upset that I don’t even notice or care that she’s used my birthname.
“What’s going on? Is it Parrish? It isn’t Parrish, is it?” I ask, and Tess just stares at me, her own eyes wide, her mouth open but no words coming out. I glance to the two FBI agents, recognizable only because of their badges. One of them has long, shiny blue-black hair, and the other is redheaded and sort of angry looking. “He’s not dead,” I say it because I won’t allow myself to believe something that heinous. “Tell me he isn’t dead.”
“They’ve discovered two bodies today,” Tess whispers, shaking so hard that when she tries to stand up and come toward me, she stumbles. The dark-haired agent grabs her by the arm to steady her.
“Easy,” she breathes, glancing over at me briefly before looking back at Tess.
“A girl and a boy,” Tess starts, sniffling hard and then covering her mouth with her hand. I can’t think of a thing to say. I can’t move. I’m not sure that I’m even capable of breathing in that moment.
I glance over at the clock on the screen of the double oven. It’s midnight. Actually, it’s about fifteen minutes after but close enough.
It’s Sunday now.
It’s day fourteen.
It’s … this isn’t happening. This can’t be real. I don’t believe it.
I close my eyes and I reach for that red thread of fate, the one that I swore wrapped both my pinky finger as well as Parrish’s. Giving a metaphorical tug on it, I swear that I can still feel him out there somewhere. I want to believe that. I have to believe that, or I’ll break.
“We’re going down to take a look at the body. I need you to watch your siblings—”
I don’t hear the rest of whatever Tess is saying. Instead, I’m running as fast as I can. So fast, in fact, that I actually slip on the floor at the bottom of the stairs and hit my knees so hard that I see stars. I’m up and moving in an instant, scrambling up the steps and flinging myself into my room. The door slams shut, the lock clicks into place, and I wind up in the bathroom with that door locked, too, the shower blasting to provide a noise barrier.
I immediately call that burner number, the one that’s responsible for all the texts, all the video chats. When nobody answers, I call it again. And again. And again.
Nothing.
Fucking nothing.
I end up sitting on the floor beside the toilet, my arms wrapped around my legs, Tess’ book still hanging from my fingers. I can’t seem to let go of it just now. It’s like I have rigor mortis or something.
Oh gods.
Rigor mortis?!
The bathroom door swings open abruptly and scares the shit out of me. I’m so startled by it that I actually jump and then let out a small scream.
“Dakota, what the fuck?! I’ve been yelling for you.” Chasm covers the length of the giant bathroom in three strides, squatting low in front of me. “What the hell is going on? It’s not …” He trails off, and when my addled brain takes too long to answer, he steals the phone from my pocket. After a quick check, he sees there’s nothing on it and looks back at me. “What? Kimber said she was babysitting, but she had no idea why.”
