Page 82 of To the Grave

When we were all so full we could barely move, Jace and Otis cleared the table with Cassie and Sarai’s help, arguing that the rest of us had done most of the prep work and cooking.

Wolf made coffee and we decamped to the living room where Otis made a fire. There were three pies in the kitchen, but we were all too full to think about dessert, so we opted for a game of charades until we decided we were too full for that too.

I lounged on the couch with the Beasts while Cassie and Sarai sat by the fire and Daya took one of the wing chairs, and we filled Daya in on our search for Michael White and the truth about Arlo Kane’s disappearance.

I left out my fear that Mac was my biological father. I still hadn’t told the Beasts about the letter from Mac I’d found in the attic at my dad’s house. I wasn’t ready for my paternity to be casual dinner conversation.

“I remember them,” Daya said.

Wolf’s head snapped up. “You never told me that.”

Daya shrugged and took a drink of her coffee. “You never asked. And I was younger than Mac and his crew. I only knew of them, but I remember them ruling the roost during high school. The girls were wild for them.” She looked at me. “Unfortunately for all the other girls, Mac, Arlo, and Michael only had eyes for your mom.”

I sat up straighter. “All of them?”

“They never said as much,” Daya said. “Your mom was all about Mac, but it was pretty obvious the other two carried a torch for her too.”

I remembered the picture in the yearbook: Mac with his arms around my mom, Arlo looking on, a sharp glint in his eyes.

Had they fought over her?

“That’s… wow,” I said. “I’ve never heard that before.”

“I’m sorry I can’t tell you more,” Daya said. “I’ll let you know if anything else comes to me.”

“Thanks,” I said.

“So what’s next?” Sarai asked.

Wolf looked at me before turning to answer her question. “We’re thinking of going to Boston to see if we can find anything out from the school. Yearbooks and law reviews have been good to us. We were thinking we might be able to find something out fromThe Daily Free Press.”

“What’sThe Daily Free Press?” Cassie asked.

“It’s the school paper, but it’s only archived at the university library,” Jace said.

“Isn’t it weird how some stuff isn’t on the internet?” Sarai asked. “I mean, think about it, there’s still information in the world you can’t find on Google.”

Daya laughed. “I’m still trying to get used to the fact that you can find anything there at all.”

“I think it’s a good idea,” Cassie said. “The Daily Free Press. Maybe Michael White will show up in an article about a job fair or one of the clubs.”

“That’s what we’re thinking,” Wolf said. “We’re at a dead end otherwise.”

Aloha still hadn’t gotten back to us about Blake’s second phone. Except for Michael White and his alleged grad school attendance, the trail was cold.

Daya looked into the fire, her expression pensive. “Let the information lead you, but be careful.” She looked at Wolf before her gaze slid to me. “All of you.”

Chapter 54

Ruth

The lot at the park was dark and empty as the sun sank behind the mountains. I checked my phone for the time.

6:03 p.m.

McSexy was three minutes late. Not a big deal. He’d be here and I knew he’d be here because I had him practically panting to fuck me. It wasn’t all on purpose. Our flirty texts had just kind of slid into something more sexual, and I hadn’t wanted to seem like a baby by putting him off.

Plus, hewashot. And older. Iwantedto go to bed with him. It was just a lot of pressure. What if he didn’t think I was good in bed? What if he thought I was a total amateur?

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