“We have an informant, I take it,” she said as we sat at the picnic table in the backyard. Her tone was light, amused even. I searched her face for any signs she was covering a sudden panic attack, but she was cool as ice cream. Glass-shard-laced ice cream. Sweet and smooth and deadly.

“Multiple ones,” I said, not wanting Vee to bear the brunt of it. “Seems some of your girls aren’t too comfortable with the lies they’re hearing, like the one where Alastair told me he never met Ginny or Brandi.”

“Yes, they were snooping around the property. Yes, I lied and I’m sure Alastair did, too. We caught them ransacking our outbuildings, looking for our secret drug stash. A few weeks later, they turn up dead. Do you really think we were going to share that information?”

“So why not call the cops when you actually caught them?”

“We didn’t need that kind of attention.”

“From what I heard, it was Alastair who said no cops.”

She paused, then said, “Do you know where I grew up, Ms. Levine?”

“No idea.”

She smiled. “Liar. I’m sure you did your research. What it didn’t tell you, though, is the kind of neighborhood I grew up in. I saw a lot of Ginnys and Brandis there. I had some for friends. And one thing they all had in common? No one would ever call the cops on them. People told themselves they were doing those girls a favor, giving them a second chance. They weren’t. They were just teaching them what they could get away with. So, yes, I wanted to call the police. Alastair persuaded me not to.”

“Because it would call undue attention to the group.”

“Particularly so considering what they were looking for. People expect to find two things at a place like this: sex and drugs. But the locals have met the girls and they know we aren’t keeping sex slaves. So Ginny and Brandi figured we must have drugs. If those suspicions got out, it would plant a new seed in the townspeople’s minds—one that’ll worry them more than group sex.”

Her explanation made sense. It didn’t mean it was the truth, of course. Megan wanted to protect her investment here. She knew exactly what to say.

“I know why Alastair didn’t want to call the police,” I said. “He was protecting Ginny.”

“Maybe.” A twist of a smile. “His faith in humanity extends a bit too far sometimes.”

“No, I mean Ginny specifically. I know about their connection.”

“Connection?” Her confusion seemed genuine.

“He used to live in Columbus.”

“I know. That’s why he chose it. He knows the town and they know him—at least the older folks do.” She paused. “Do you mean he knows her family?”

I said yes, that was it, and she said he hadn’t mentioned that to her. I looked hard for some sign of dissembling, but found none. Alastair hadn’t told her Ginny was his daughter.

I saw Adam peeking out from behind the barn, so I said my good-byes, and motioned to Adam that I’d meet him at the bottom of the hill.

* * *

I PULLED THE Jeep over to the side of the gravel road. Adam climbed into the passenger seat.

“Find anything?” I asked.

“Nope.” He started doing up his seat belt as I pulled off the shoulder. “Got into the shed with the Santeria stuff, but they’ve taken off the lock and cleared out the back room. Filled it with rakes and—”

The Jeep jumped forward. I slammed against my seat belt. Adam hit the dashboard.

“Shit,” he said. “Can you pop the clutch after I’m belted in?”

“That wasn’t—”

A crunch and another jolt, this one making the Jeep rock. I twisted to look over my shoulder just in time to see the front end of an SUV hit us again, wrenching my neck hard. I caught the grill in the rearview mirror and recognized the emblem.

“Cody Radu,” I said.

“Drive,” Adam said.

“Like hell.”

Cody had pulled back and was idling, waiting. I reached for the door handle. Beside me, Adam cursed as he tried to get his open. The rear impact damaged the frame, making the doors stick. Mine came free first. Cody was driving up alongside the Jeep, moving fast. Making a break for it. An energy bolt in his back tire would stop that.

I started opening the door.

“Savannah!” Adam yelled. “Watch—”

Cody swung the SUV into the side of the Jeep. The door crunched shut, metal squealing as the SUV sheered along it.

“Goddamn it!” I said. “God-fucking-damn it. What the hell is he—?”

“Put it in reverse and go,” Adam said. When I didn’t answer, he grabbed my shoulder. “Go, Savannah, or I’ll yank you over here and do it myself.”

“I’m not running away,” I said as Cody did a three-point turn in front of us.

“I didn’t say that, did I? Drive in there.”

Adam pointed down two ruts that led into a field. “You want to get him? You can’t do it here where anyone can drive by. He’s got a four-by-four. He’ll follow.”

I nodded and turned the ignition key. The Jeep clunked as we started forward, but still ran. I turned onto the makeshift road just as Cody roared up.

I hit the gas. The Jeep flew along the path. Jarred a few of my fillings loose, but I kept my foot down, hitting the ruts and sailing over them like a Jet Ski going against the tide.

When I tried to look in the rearview mirror, Adam said, “Eyes on the road. I’ve got it.”

“Can I get a play-by-play?”

“You’re winning.”

The track crossed a field and continued toward a patch of forest.

“Head in there,” Adam said as if reading my thoughts.

“And Cody?”

“Trying valiantly to keep up, and battering the shit out of his fancy SUV.”

I smiled.

“I don’t think he has the four-wheel drive engaged,” Adam said. “If he even knows how to engage it.”

I floored it when we hit an open patch. We sailed over a streambed and came down with a crunch that made Adam clasp the grab bars.

I eased off the gas as we hit the forest—a spotty stand of trees with another field visible on the far side. Branches scraped the Jeep and Adam winced, but said nothing.

“I’ll cover the damage,” I said. “Even throw in a new top.”