Page 64 of Whispers of the Lake

She put down her sketchbook and pencil, uncrossed her legs, and climbed off the bed.

Her eyes expanded when she saw me. She yanked the blinds up by the string before lowering to a squat. “Rose?” she whispered after pushing the window open. She looked at me before her eyes traveled past my shoulder where the lake was in the distance. “What are you doing? You can’t be here.”

“I know. But this is important, Rory. Ireallyneed you to tell me everything you know about your brothers and Eve.” She blinked at me, panic seizing her features. “I—I can’t. I’ve already told you too much and now Alex is pissed. He said he’s glad you checked out ’cause you can leave us alone now.”

Yeah, I’m sure he is. “I know about Eve’s car. It’s in Sheriff Reed’s garage. Why is it there, Rory?”

She panicked even more, her eyes growing wet. “I—I don’t know. I think they agreed to put it there for now.”

“For now?”

“Yeah. Until they can get rid of it and make sure no one finds it.”

“But why? Why would they get rid of it? What did they do to her?”

“They didn’t do anything to her,” she retorted quickly. “Not in the way you’re thinking.”

“So, tell me what I should be thinking then, because right now, your brothers and the sheriff are the primary suspects in Eve’s disappearance.”

She made a throaty, nervous noise while glancing over her shoulder.

“I’m not letting this go until I know what happened to her, Rory.”

She blinked at me, a tear skating down her cheek.

“Just tell me if you think they’re guilty of something. Can you tell me that?” I asked.

“They aren’t guilty. They’re just . . . confused and didn’t know what to do.”

“About what?” I asked with a little less patience now.

“About the body,” she whispered.

My heartbeat slowed in rhythm. “Thebody?”

“Yes,” she said as my chest tightened. “Eve’sbody.”

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

“So, she’s . . .” My words failed me. My tongue felt heavier in my mouth, thick and swollen, like I could choke on it. “She’s dead?”

“Yes. But they didn’t kill her, Rose. I know they didn’t,” she pleaded. “My brothers would never do something like that.”

“Then why do they have her things? Why did they have her purse? Why is her laptop on your dining table right now?” I demanded, anger lacing my tone.

“I—I don’t know. Please,” she whimpered, throwing her hands up to calm me. “I really don’t know. But I’m telling you, theydidn’tkill her.”

Kill. It was such a strong word. SomeonekilledEve.

“How do you know they didn’t kill her?” I asked, eyes misting as I focused on her.

“Because I was up that night when she invited them over for dinner. I . . . snuck over and saw them through the window. They were all having a good time, and I was a little jealous because I don’t get invited to hang out or do anything. They had music playing. She even shared her ice cream with them, but they didn’t like it and laughed it off. Then they started doingstuff... you know? Stuff that I couldn’t really watch for long because it just felt wrong and nasty. But she was clearly liking what they were doing to her.”

The threesome. Right. I nodded, waiting for her to continue.

“I sat by the lake for a while with my feet in the water. I was on the dock near Twilight Oaks. It was getting late,” she went on, wringing her fingers together. “I heard Alex and Damian going home. I heard them laughing and had even heard Eve yell goodbye to them. It was quiet for a while and I knew they’d look for me soon, but I wasn’t ready to go home. I wanted to rinse that scene away, of what they were doing with her. Then I saw someone else pull up to Twilight Oaks. They were driving a red car.”

“Did you see what kind of car it was?” I asked.

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