Page 12 of Whispers of the Lake

I came to the solid conclusion that Eve was a woman who talked too much, shared too much, and wanted too much. A person like that doesn’t just ignore the rest of the world. They don’t shy away from attention. Theyembraceit. Eve may have been on a getaway to disconnect, but she would still be vocal about it somewhere.

I went back to the listing and searched for the owner’s number. When I found it, I typed it into my phone’s keypad. As I brought the phone to my ear, I glanced out the window of my office that revealed the hallway, and spotted Herbert walking with two cups of coffee in hand. The phone rang as he set my cup down on the desk.

“Thank you,” I mouthed.

“You know I got you,” he mouthed back, then he disappeared again.

I took a sip of the coffee that was still warm and creamy.

The ringing on the phone was replaced by a deep voice. “This is Alex,” a man said.

“Oh—hi, Alex! Alex Reed, right?”

He hesitated before saying, “Yes?”

“Great. I was just calling about your listing for the ‘Gorgeous Two Bedroom Lakefront Cottage in Sage Hill.’ ” I read each word from the listing carefully.

“All right. You interested in booking it, or what?”

Okay, rude asshole.

“If so, you know you can just book online,” he added sarcastically.

“Yes, I’m well aware,” I returned, clinging to politeness. “I was actually calling to see if you have someone staying in the cottage right now who goes by the name of Eve? Her last name is Castillo.”

The line went dead silent. So quiet, I thought he’d hung up. “Hello?” I pulled the phone from my ear to check the screen. The digits were still ticking away as the call rolled on. “Mr. Reed?”

“I don’t know anyone by that name.”

“Oh, okay. I believe she booked your rental a few days ago but—”

“I can’t share our tenants’ information with strangers over the phone. Look, I have to go. All the info you need about the place can be found online.” He hung up before I could squeeze another word in.

“The hell?” I muttered. Right. So, this Alex Reed was a stickler.

I clicked on the profile link for Alex on the bottom of the listing page and he only had one property under his name. And it wasthatcottage Eve booked. How would he not know her name if her stay was that fresh?

Call it the investigator in me, but that feeling in my gut was heavier now. Sure, I could’ve been overreacting. For all I knew, Eve was doing all this just so I would talk to her again. She was pretending to run off and be sad, ignoring her own sister, just so I’d reach out to her. She’d done something like this before. After an argument, she performed a disappearing act just to see if we cared enough to come looking for her.

A part of me wanted to let it go. Eve would come back. She’d call Zoey. She’d tell her that she broke her phone or accidentally dropped it in the damn lake while trying to take a selfie. Whatever the case was, I was sure she was fine.

Shewasfine . . . but that little voice in the back of my mind whispered otherwise.

She can use her laptop to reach out to Zoey.

Nope, spotty Wi-Fi, I thought.

She could drive somewhere else to find service and check on her sister if she needs to.

Not if she’s high, I thought.

Worst case scenario, she can bail on the trip and drive back home.

Not if something happened to her.

I drummed my fingers on the desk, telling myself over and over again she was fine. Just being Eve. Reckless, inconsiderate, selfish Eve.

Eventually, I couldn’t lie to myself anymore. My coffee was cold by the time I looked up how many hours it’d take to drive to Sage Hill along with more information on the small town. Then I booked a stay for Alex Reed’s next available date, two days from now.

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