Page 36 of Whispers of the Lake

She’s kept what I’ve done a secret. Rose refuses to let me suffer, even though I deserve that and more. It frustrates me to no end because sometimes I want her to just spaz the fuck out on me. I want her to blow up and lose it. At least then I’d know she still cares. At least I’d know there’s still hope. But that’ll never happen again. I have a feeling she’s cut me off for good.

It’s time to swallow the truth.

Time for me to accept that I’ve lost my best friend forever.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

“Hey, Herbert. Have you spoken to Nico today?”

“Not at the moment,” Herbert answered. “Why?”

I held my phone to my ear as I sat in my car. I was parked next to Flip Stack. This place had the best cell service in all of Sage Hill that I could find so far. It’s too bad that I had to drive six minutes just to use it.

I glanced at Eve’s purse and her belongings on the passenger seat. “I need him to look into something for me but he isn’t answering. It’s important.”

“Okay, don’t worry, Rose. He’s probably sleeping or something. You know he’s a night owl.”

That was true. Nico had once been in the military. After a bad accident that he doesn’t like talking about, he was honorably discharged but left with a minor case of PTSD. He stayed home most of the time. He hardly ever left his chair or all those monitors in his room unless he needed food or some other human necessity.

I hadn’t heard from him since he gave me the update on Eve’s stalker-ish superfan. That was a dead end. Turns out that fan of hers moved to New Mexico shortly after Eve filed the restraining order. From what Nico could find, the woman was married and currently seven months’ pregnant. I seriously doubted a pregnant woman was behind this. I relaxed a bit, knowing Herbert was right about Nico. I needed to get a grip.

“Is everything okay?” Herbert asked.

“Honestly . . . no.” I closed my eyes when I felt the burn behind them. “It’s Eve.”

“What about Eve? What happened?”

“I think she’s in trouble. Like, deep trouble, Herbert. I—I found her purse with some of her stuff in it. Zoey said she saw an email that indicated Eve booked a flight to Thailand, but her passport is still in the purse. No one has seen her for the past four days. She’s missing and I think someone kidnapped her.”Or killed her, a voice whispered in the back of my mind.

The nightmare I had before waking up on the couch came to mind. The sunken eyes. Stitched, bloody lips. The hand grabbing my ankle and dragging me into the water with it.

“Whoa, are you sure?” Herbert asked. “You know how Eve is. How do you know she’s not justbeing Eve?”

“This time is different. I canfeelit. Something is off about all of this.” I drew in a breath to combat my tears. “I booked the cottage she stayed in last and there’s a weird vibe in this town.” I glanced at the diner, spotting a waitress moving through the aisle holding plates in both hands. “And about an hour and a half ago, someone knocked on the door, then ran away. That’s how I found Eve’s purse. They left it there.”

“What?” Herbert shrieked. “Why haven’t you called the police?”

“I was going to, but when I thought about it, it struck me that this person isn’t trying to hurt me. I think they’re trying to help orwarnme. Why else would they give me her purse? This is evidence.”

“Well, why wouldn’t they just speak to you like a normal person?”

“Probably because they don’t want to be involved.”

My mind reverted to Rory. The absent stare she gave when she saw the picture of Eve on my phone. The way her face grew pale. The fact that she was so clearly lying. Was she covering for Alex and Damian? Had they been holding on to Eve’s belongings all this time? If so, why would she sneak it to me? What did she want me to know?

“This is a mess, Rose.” Herbert’s voice pulled me back to the present. “You can’t possibly think something happened to Eve. I swear she’s always stressing you out.”

“I don’t know.” I bit my bottom lip. “I looked through her camera. She took pictures. One showed her withLincoln.”

“The guy who gave her about five black eyes? Is she fucking crazy?”

“If anyone is behind it, it’s probably him. That’s why I need Nico. I need to know where Lincoln is now. I know he does all our searching stuff, but he can do . . .otherstuff too.”

“Yeah, but he hasn’t done thatother stuffin a while,” Herbert countered.

“I need him for this.”

He sighed. “Okay. I guess. If I hear from him before you do, I’ll let him know. So, what are you going to do now? You don’t plan on staying there, do you? Need I remind you about your deadline? Twyla needs that article on Cowan soon. She’s been sniffing around my desk all day.”

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