Page 37 of Between Two Strangers

That made sense, of course. I started to explain what my plan was, but she yelled for David, and I heard snippets of her frantically relating the situation to him.

The next thing I knew, my stepfather was on the line.

“When was the last time you actually saw or spoke to Chloe?” he demanded. I could pick up the fear pulsing through him in his voice.

“Friday night.”

He blew out a gust of air.

“And this couple you just went to see—are you sure she’s not with them and they’re telling you otherwise?”

“No, I’m sure. The girl I just spoke to looks a lot like Chloe, and it’s clear the guy who sent me here made a mistake. But I’m going to drive to Dover right now, back to the house where the party was, and see what I can find out from my friend Jamie.”

“Okay, good.” I sensed him working hard to stay in control—because he was a guy who always took the bull by the horns. “Your mother said this is some girl you go to school with. It’s her house?”

“No, her parents’ place.”

“Can you send me their number so I can speak with them?”

“They’re out of the country.”

“Jesus. Were there drugs involved in this shindig, Skyler?”

“Maybe some weed... but I didn’t see anything else.”

I couldn’t be sure whether different stuff might also have been available.Maybe Molly. And coke, too, I thought, remembering those hotshot-looking older guys whose arrival shifted the mood and brought an edge to the night.

“Okay, let me know when you get there,” he said. “I’m going to call college security and let them know. And... I’d better call 911 as well.”

My mother let out a wail in the background as he mentioned “911.” The situation seemed to be exploding in front of my eyes.

“Even if they say it’s too soon to do anything,” I said, remembering scenarios from television crime shows, “maybe they can at least check her phone data?”

David asked for the Dover address and Jamie’s last name and then muttered a quick goodbye. I felt another surge of nausea threatening to barrel upward, but I managed to fight it off, taking deep ragged breaths. I dug the key fob from my jeans pocket and watched it bounce in my hand as I aimed it toward the slot. I started the car and pulled into the street, gripping the steering wheel as tightly as I could to keep my hands from shaking.

Though traffic had picked up since I’d started out that morning, it was still light, and I made it to Dover in thirty minutes. I parked at the top of the long driveway, which was now empty of cars, and bolted toward the house.

Jamie answered my knock right away. She’d gotten dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, but she looked like shit. Her usually clear skin was blotchy, and though she’d pulled her long raven hair into a topknot, it didn’t disguise how greasy it was.

“Anything yet?” she asked, ushering me into the front hall.

I shook my head. “No, like I told you, no one’s seen or heard from Chloe.” I noted the peevishness in my tone, and I told myself to shut it down. I needed her on my side right now. “The last time I saw her myself was here, at around ten, and we have to figure out where she went from here.”

She nodded, biting her lip. “You think she left with someone? I mean, not the couple Ryan saw but someone else?”

That thought had crossed my mind, butwho? “Maybe, but why hasn’t she contacted me by now?”

“Oh god, you must be freaking out.”

I nodded. “I’m trying not to. Do you remember seeing her at all, later on in the evening?”

She shook her head, her expression glum. “No, but maybe Rob did.”

As if on cue, a male voice called out, “Yeah, I’m here,” and I spotted him over Jamie’s shoulder, standing barefoot on the landing of the large oak staircase. He raked a hand through his hair, which was the same dark shade as Jamie’s, and took his sweet time descending the last flight. He had on skinny jeans and a dark red T-shirt with MIT stamped on the front in white.

“Did Jamie tell you?” I said, not bothering with any pleasantries. “About my sister?”

“Yeah, she filled me in,” he said. “I think I met Chloe when you two first got here, but I don’t really remember. There were a lot of people I needed to talk to that night.”

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