Page 37 of The Last to Vanish
The woods were not the tie, as much as Trey wanted to believe it. Both Landon West and Farrah Jordan had passed through this inn for a reason. Looking for something. Looking for someone. And now I had evidence that Alice Kelly might’ve passed through here, too.
I felt like I had when I was standing at the base of the falls yesterday, like I was at the center of a funneling.
The Passage Inn—this was the center.
Alice Kelly’s bag had been in the lost and found bin, in the basement of the inn, just waiting for me to find it. And there were only so many people who could tell me how it had gotten here.
THE PHONE WAS RINGINGagain as I exited the bathroom.
“Hey,” Georgia said when I answered. “Sorry to wake you. I just wanted to check. Make sure you were okay—”
“I’m fine,” I said, clearing my throat, clearing the fog from my head. I checked the time, already nine, long enough that I’d typically be up, but not late enough for Georgia to be concerned. “What’s going on?”
A pause. “It’s just, the back office was open this morning, and the dishes were out, and… I’m sorry, my mind jumped to the worst possibility.” She laughed to herself, high-pitched and fake.
“Oh god, I’m so sorry. I came down for something last night and meant to go back upstairs to lock up, and I fell asleep. I think the wine got the best of me. I’ll come clean up, it was delicious by the way, thank you—”
“Oh, no, it’s fine, I’ve got it.” I could still hear her breathing, too close to the phone. “I’m having some trouble finding the binder, though. Do you remember where you left it?”
I stared at my reflection in the bedroom mirror as we spoke. The hollows under my eyes and the sharp jut of my collarbone, the birds taking flight.
This place felt, for the first time, like quicksand.
“I’ll be right up,” I told her, throwing on a crew neck T-shirt and jean shorts, no time to dry my hair. Besides, I wasn’t planning to spend the morning at the inn.
UPSTAIRS, BREAKFAST WAS INfull swing, and I barreled out of the employee doorway into the hall without looking where I was going, colliding with a man carrying a plate.
His dish ricocheted to the floor, napkin and an empty butter packet scattering with the pieces of porcelain. “I’m so sorry,” I said, just as he spoke, “I didn’t see—”
I looked up first—Trey West, in need of a shave, in need of sleep.
“Hi,” I said. He paused, looking up. Eyes skimming the long hair, the casual clothes. “Abby,” he said slowly. “Hi, sorry. I didn’t notice it was you.” And then, with a twitch at the corner of his mouth. “You’re kind of a chameleon, you know.”
I stood, unnerved by seeing Trey here, in this hallway. The same place I’d first seen his brother.
Georgia rounded the corner then, drawn by the noise. She stood at the end of the hall, stopping abruptly. “I’ve got it,” I said as Trey looked her way.
She brushed her hair off her forehead, smiled tightly. “Thanks,” she said.
“Who’s that?” Trey asked, eyes still taking her in. It was hard not to; she was twenty-four, stunning, one stretch of long legs to a long, exposed neck.
“Georgia,” I said. Hoping the sheriff hadn’t told him every detail—about who had found his brother’s empty room. Hoping he didn’t approach her with the same intensity he’d approached everything else.
“She looks familiar,” he said, still looking at the empty place she’d once stood.
“She works mornings. I’m sure you’ve seen her around here.” I made sure I’d picked up the last of the broken pieces of the dish before standing.
Trey stood just as I did, but now he was frowning at the faint tremor in my hands.
“I shook you up,” he said. I started to protest, but he continued. “Not just now. I mean, yesterday. I’m sorry I didn’t come by after my meeting with the sheriff. It was a lot to process.”
I waved him off. “No, it’s okay. It’s your family, you’re entitled to some privacy. It went okay, though?”
His eyes drifted to the side. “Yeah,” he began slowly. “Everyone’s so friendly. Actually between him and Rochelle, I worried they were going to talk me to death.”
I smiled. “Well, they’re the two people who would know the most in a place like this.”
“So I gathered. Hey”—he lowered his voice suddenly—“can I ask you a couple questions later? When you’re not clearly in a rush?” A small smile.
