Page 58 of The House Beyond the Dunes

“He had a reputation for smoothness.” His expression softens. “Lane, it’s not my intention to scare you. I’m just looking for Stevie and Nikki. Alive or dead, they need to be found.”

He sounds sad, slightly defeated. “Did you know Stevie well?”

“A friend told me about her. He says she’s brave and was looking for Nikki when she went missing. Stevie had no reason to stick her neck out for Nikki, but she did.”

And Stevie had had a counseling session on July 7 with Kyle before she disappeared. But Stevie didn’t send her diary to Detective Becker. She sent it to me. She hinted she didn’t trust cops. Maybe Detective Becker knows the Sully mentioned in Stevie’s diary. Or maybe Detective Becker is not what he seems.

The detective’s gaze lingers on me, and then he turns and strides toward the stairs. Slowly he climbs each step. He’s relaxed, as if he’s already scaled these stairs a dozen times before. I can picture himstriding into the bedroom where I’d been with Kyle, going through my weekend bag, touching my clothes and underwear. Someone deleted my pictures and took my pills.

He turns at the second-floor landing and looks down at me. “Reece heard you screaming. Said it sounded like you were in a rage.”

I dig inward, pressing through the blackness and trying to grab a thread of a memory that would reveal something about those last seconds. “I’ve asked him about that, and he has no idea what I allegedly said. I don’t agree with him. I wasn’t angry or upset.”

He shakes his head. “You admitted you don’t remember the last few minutes before the fall. Odd that such critical seconds are missing.”

“It’s trickling back.” But those last missing moments dance out of reach. Maybe, if I can reach a little further, dig a little deeper, I’ll grab on to them.

“Can you come up the stairs?” It’s a command, not a request.

“Why?”

“I want us to share the same view at the same time.” His feet are braced, and his hands are curled into loose fists.

The innocent have nothing to hide, and I’m innocent so I climb. He walks to Kyle’s bedroom and waits for me at the door. I reluctantly join him. “You two made it to this room, correct?”

I look past him to the rumpled coverlet. “Yes.”

“And?”

“I’m not sure.”

“How can you not be sure?”

“I ...”

“What?”

“I don’t remember.”

“Okay. And then?”

“I went to the stairs.”

“Were you upset?”

I draw in a breath. “I just wasn’t ready.”

He walks toward the stairs, and he turns his back to them. “Kyle was standing here, correct?”

My heartbeat kicks up. “How did you know that?”

“The medical examiner made the assumption based on Kyle’s skull fracture.” He taps his fist against the back of his head. “His occipital bone was caved in.”

His casual tone is off-putting. I clear my throat but say nothing.

Detective Becker waves me closer. I move to within a couple of feet of him. He raises his hands. “Where were your hands before the fall?”

I inhale. “You want to recreate the last few seconds?”

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