“That’s fine. I just wanted you to know.”

“Thanks. Get me the names of your neighbors. ASAP.”

I told him I would and hung up.

A cannon of thunder boomed outside. The thrashing ocean looked like a giant bathtub beneath the storm. It should have been a great time to hit the water.

Stupid rain.

FORTY-SIX

Ringing.

In the distance.

I forced my eyes open. I’d fallen asleep on the sofa. And the phone was ringing.

I scrambled around in the dark living room and found the phone on the dining room table. “Hello?”

“Well, I decided I’m not the patient type,” Landon Keene said.

The fogginess from sleep lifted immediately, and I gripped the phone tighter.

“Kid, you listening?” he said.

“Fuck you.”

“Good, good,” he said. “Like I said, I’m not good with patience. Decided I couldn’t leave it to you to make the right decision. Know what I mean?”

My fingers tingled. “No.”

“You seem a little stubborn. Just like your old man. Couldn’t risk that you’d do something dumb. Like repeating what he told you.”

“You better run, asshole,” I said. “I’ve already told the cops about your operation. They’re coming for you. And I hope they have to shoot you to catch you.”

“That right?” he asked.

“Yeah, that’s right.”

“Guess I made the right decision then.”

My skin went cold and I couldn’t find any words.

The line buzzed. The room lit up for a moment as lightning struck in the distance. He knew he had me.

“The look in her eyes,” he said, a soft laugh drifting through the phone. “She was so surprised to see me.”

The room hollowed out. My heart rate accelerated like someone had pushed a button. Spots started flashing between my eyes. I knew I shouldn’t have listened to Carolina and left her alone.

“If you—”

“I did. Maybe now you’ll get it.” He hung up.

FORTY-SEVEN

I dialed Carolina’s number twice as I sped from Mission Beach to Bay Park. No answer.

I called Carter. He answered on the first ring.

“Where are you?” I yelled.

“Driving around,” he said. “I’m showing—”

“Get to my mother’s! Now!”

“Ten minutes,” he said and hung up.

I threw the phone at the floor of the Jeep, so angry for listening to her and letting her convince me she could take care of herself. Not taking Keene seriously enough.

I’d fucked up.

The Jeep hydroplaned through the puddles on Morena, spraying water like giant rooster tails. People were honking and flashing their brights at me as I swerved around them.

I slammed on the brakes in front of Carolina’s house, sliding nearly twenty feet before coming to a crooked stop. Carter’s Ram Charger did the same on the opposite side of the street.

“What happened?” Carter yelled through the rain.

“Tell her to stay in the car,” I yelled back, gesturing at Miranda as I drew my gun.

He yelled something to her and produced his own gun.

I sprinted up the walk and saw a light on through the front window. I felt Carter right on my heels.

I hit the front door with my shoulder at full speed, and it collapsed like cardboard. I went down with it and somersaulted into the living room.

There was a clatter in the kitchen, and when I looked up, Carolina was aiming her own gun at us.

FORTY-EIGHT

“Noah?” Carolina said, lowering the gun and looking at us like we’d lost our minds. “Carter? What are you doing?”

I got to my feet, the blood pulsing in my ears, and scanned the room. Everything looked fine.

“I’m not sure, Ms. B.,” Carter said, his gun still up. “Noah told me to meet him here. I followed him in.”

I kept my gun level, moving it back and forth. “You didn’t answer your phone.”

“I ran to the store,” she said, bewildered. “Noah, what is going on?”

I moved into the back of the house and checked the other rooms.

Was Keene screwing with me?

“He wasn’t here?” I asked when I came back out.

“Who?” Carolina asked, still looking at me like I was crazy.

“Keene.”

She blinked several times. “No. I was home all day. I ran to the store to get eggs. I haven’t seen him.”

“Did he call you?” I said, hearing the frustration in my voice. “No. There was nothing on the machine.”

Keene had made a point of mentioning Carolina at the airport. He wanted me to know he was watching me. She was so surprised to see me. Keene didn’t strike me as the type to tease. “Noah,” Carter said. “What’s going on? You’re freaking us out.” The room hollowed out again. My stomach dropped. Keene wasn’t the type to tease. You should’ve seen her.

He knew every move I was making. Every place I’d been. Every person I’d talked to.

He’d used Carolina’s name. He hadn’t used Liz’s. But he knew.

FORTY-NINE

“Wellton!” I screamed into the phone as Carter and I flew down the freeway in his car. We’d left Miranda with my mother. “Tell me you know where she is.”

I’d called her home and her cell and the station. She was nowhere to be found. Wellton was my last shot.

“Braddock?” he said, confused. “What the hell—”

“Liz! Is she with you?”

“No, man. Haven’t seen her since this afternoon. She said—” “Get someone to her house! Now!”

“What’s going on?” he said, his tone sharper now, on alert.

“Just do it! Please.”

“I’m on it,” he said and clicked off.

I clutched the phone, feeling like it could shatter against the bones in my hand.

“Come on, come on,” I said, rocking back and forth in the passenger seat.

We were halfway over the bridge now, and Carter was doing ninety.

“She can handle herself, Noah,” he said, laying on the horn as we came up on the bumper of a truck. The truck moved over quickly, and Carter accelerated. “She’s a cop.”

“Why didn’t she answer?” I asked. “Why? Fuck!”

We came to the bottom of the bridge, and he swung the huge car to the right, the rear fishtailing behind us.

“Your mom was at the store,” he said, not sounding confident. “Maybe she’s out.”

His argument was rational. She could have been out anywhere without her phone. A five-minute trip to the store or the beach.

But it didn’t feel right.

He hit the brakes, and I was out of the car before it stopped in front of her place, tumbling to the wet street, the rain stinging my face. I jumped up and ran to the house.

No lights.

I hit her door the same way I’d hit Carolina’s and pain radiated through my shoulder. Liz’s much heavier door fought me a little more, but landed on the floor with a thud, and I stumbled in on top of it.

I stood still for a moment. The room was black and quiet. All I could hear was Carter’s and my breathing and the rain spanking the pavement outside.

“Liz?” I yelled.

Nothing.

“I got upstairs,” Carter said, moving past me, his gun up and ready. “You get the kitchen?”

I took a deep breath, bent my knees, and stepped quickly from the living room into the kitchen. I rotated my gun through the room. Dishes in the sink. A napkin on the table. Lightning flashed outside the window.

No one.

I stood up and took another deep breath, trying to gain control. Maybe Keene had just played me, messed with my head. Trying to show me he was in control. He’d gotten in my head at the airport. He’d seen it, and now he was seeing what he could do to me.

I walked out of the kitchen and Carter was at the top of the stairs. He took one step down, his entire body lethargic and heavy. When I saw the expression on his face, an expression I’d never seen before—disbelief, confusion—I knew.

FIFTY

She was on the bed and, in the dark, appeared to be sleeping. I moved closer and felt my gun slip out of my hand and fall to the floor.

Her eyes were open and her arms outstretched, like she’d been reaching for something. A deep, red circle on her chest half a foot in diameter had stained the T-shirt she was wearing and bled into the sheet.