“It was her, Magpie.”

“Who?”

He looked at her intently: “Charlotte.”

Okay, he must’ve bumped his head. “What are you talking about?”

“She called. She seemed scared. I saw her. She was alive.…”

“I think maybe you weren’t feeling well”—she eyed the bottle—“and you just thought you—”

“No,” her father said. “She was older, but there was no mistaking it. I’ve looked at hundreds of photos of her. It was Charlotte.”

“Then it’s a prank,” Maggie said. “Somebody found a girl who looks like Charlotte. Or they did some CGI. A sick joke.” It wouldn’t be the first time someone had played a cruel prank on their family.

“She said help me, Magpie.” Her dad looked like he was going to tear up.

“Charlotte’s dead, Dad. They found her body. She’s—”

“No, think about it. The girl’s head was smashed in, face completely disfigured.”

“But DNA—they must’ve—”

“I don’t think they ever ran Charlotte’s DNA. And why would they? No one questioned that it was Charlotte.”

“But, Dad…” Maggie trailed off. She’d seen him like this before. Going down the rabbit hole. Yesterday it was the video of the party—the image of the Unknown Partygoer. Today, a FaceTime call showing a dead girl alive and kicking. In truth, she kind of liked it. The light in his eyes—the rare optimism, the enthusiasm—spending time together working the case. What strange daddy issues she must have, bonding over her imprisoned brother and his murdered girlfriend.

She decided to humor him. Let him sleep it off. Maggie gestured for him to give her the phone. “You said it was FaceTime?”

“Yeah. I tried calling back, but it just rings.” He handed her the device.

She held the phone, still studying her father.

“The call, it said it was from a town in Mexico.”

Maggie examined the call log. The phone said it was from Tulum, a place called Moloko Bar.

“There are services that can generate fake caller IDs,” Maggie said. “It could be a scam.”

“Or not,” her father said.

Maggie pulled up a travel site on the phone. It described Tulum as “a stylish vacation spot along Mexico’s eastern coast, with amazing beaches, historic ruins, and a cooler, more laid-back vibe than the mega-resorts of Cancún and Riviera Maya.”

Her father stared over Maggie’s shoulder at the photograph on the travel site: a beautiful young woman on a beach sitting on a swing set made of carved wood, paper-white sand under her feet, the neon-blue ocean behind her.

Maggie googled Moloko Bar. It was a nightclub, images of young women in glittery attire getting bottle service, apparently having the time of their lives.

She looked at her dad again. It was as if a lightbulb had gone off over his head.

“Next week,” he said, “for spring break, how’d you like to go on a trip?”

Maggie tipped her head to one side. “Where? You mean there?” She pointed at the screen.

Her dad nodded slowly, his eyes alight.

“I thought we couldn’t go anywhere this year—that money was—”

“Let me worry about that.”

“But Mom is—”

“They get back from Nebraska on Sunday. We can leave later that day or the next morning.”

“I don’t think Mom will like—”

“Let me handle your mother.”

He was acting impulsively. No, obsessed, crazy. Maybe he did have a concussion. But Maggie didn’t have the heart to pop this balloon tonight. He’d come around.

“Get some sleep,” he said. “We’ve got a lot of planning and packing to do tomorrow.”

She wanted to tell him what had happened earlier. That she’d lied to him and was sorry. That she’d been terrified. That she’d used what he’d taught her and gotten away. But instead she kissed him on the cheek and said, “Good night, Dad.”

* * *

Sitting on her bed in her sleep shirt, Maggie hugged her knees as her mind returned to the party. Her heart thrummed looking at the fingerprint bruises on her wrists. She’d been a fool. Believing Eric was interested in her. Believing he was a sweet boy, like her brothers. She tried to suppress the tears, but that look in his eyes. If she hadn’t tricked him into letting his guard down, he would’ve … She didn’t want to think about that. She wanted to forget about tonight. She wanted this stupid year to end so she could leave for college and start over. Someplace where it mattered how intelligent you were, and not just how you looked or how well you threw a ball. Someplace where she wasn’t just Danny Pine’s sister.

She wished her mom was home. She could call her, of course. But she didn’t want to call this late, worry Mom while she was out of town. Mom had enough going on, dealing with Grandpa. And returning to that town where everyone hated them.

She thought about Eric again, pretending to care about Danny’s case. Faking interest in the video. She reached for her laptop, which was at the foot of the bed. She wanted to check for any comments or tips about the video. If there was one thing the Pines were good at, it was using Danny’s case to avoid their problems. Excitement flickered in her chest. The page was filled with dozens of new comments, potential tips. But then she read them:

Slut

You should KYS

No one invited a loser to the party

Your brother’s a killer and you’re a whore

Skank!!!!!!!

A sob escaped her mouth. It was Eric or his friends, it had to be. And KYS? Kill yourself? Because she’d rejected him? Or was all this to deter her from saying what had really happened in that laundry room? She snapped the laptop shut. She pinched her eyes closed and cried herself to sleep.

CHAPTER 15

MATT PINE

The consular officer who was supposed to pick up Matt at the airport was a no-show. Matt texted Agent Keller, then made his way past the luggage turnstiles crowded with travelers waiting anxiously for their bags. He stopped at the rental car counter, but they had no vehicles available. The rental agent told him that Tulum was about two hours away, and cabs and shuttles were just outside the main exit.

He careened around the frazzled masses and through the surprisingly small doors that led outside. Bright sunshine assailed him.

Near a cluster of vans, a man holding a clipboard approached him. “Welcome to Mexico,” he said in accented English. “Do you have a reservation?”

“I don’t. I need to get to Tulum,” Matt said.

The man grimaced. “We’re booked solid, my friend. This is our busy season.”

Matt let out a breath. “There’s nothing? I’ll take anything you have. It doesn’t have to be nice.”

The man paused, like he was thinking. He unclipped a walkie-talkie from his belt and said something into it in Spanish. A distorted voice responded.

“It won’t be very comfortable,” the man said, “but we can probably fit you in. Three thousand pesos.”

“Will you take US?” Matt asked, showing the man a twenty-dollar bill.

“Yes, one hundred sixty dollars.”

Matt had five hundred dollars in cash, the ATM’s daily maximum. “I’ll take it.”

“Bus cinco,” the man said, pointing to a line of vans. They were larger than standard vans, but smaller than buses.

Matt didn’t speak Spanish, but cinco was easy enough. What college kid hadn’t been to a Cinco de Mayo party? Matt paid the fare and hesitantly tipped the man a twenty—he didn’t have smaller bills—leaving Matt enough for a shuttle back to the airport and dinner. He found the van with a sign displaying the number five.

The driver was leaning against the vehicle smoking a cigarette. He sported an impressive mustache.

“I understand you have room for one more to Tulum,” Matt said, looking back toward the man with the clipboard.

The driver crushed out his cigarette on the sidewalk. Without saying a word, he led Matt to the back of the van. Matt could see the outline of travelers through the tinted windows. The shuttle looked packed. The driver then opened the back hatch and gestured for Matt’s duffel bag.

Matt threw it inside, and the driver started rearranging the other bags. He was piling them to one side in a very particular way.

“Oh,” Matt said, realizing that the man was making room for him. He climbed inside and sat in the cramped space surrounded by luggage. It wasn’t as bad as he’d expected. At least he could stretch out his legs. That was more than he could say for the Spirit Airlines flight.

“Are you okay back there?” a woman said from the main compartment. She had a sweet Southern accent.

Matt pulled himself up on the seat back so he could see into the crowded cabin.

“It’s great. Thank you for letting me hitch a ride.”

“You let us know if you need anything, hon.” Her voice held a motherly hint of concern.