Page 45 of One Last Secret

You feel guilty…

“We argued, but it wasn’t—”

What you did…

“You are completely out of line! I would never have harmed my sister! I don’t need money. I would have been perfectly content without it!”

Reyes’s face remains as cold and hard as stone. “Then you asked the police to close the investigation into her disappearance.”

“I didnot!I begged them to keep it open!”

“Then you spend three months in a mental hospital alternating between catatonia and bouts of hysteria where among man other things, you scream, ‘It’s my fault. I’m so sorry, Annie.’”

An image flashes through my mind of pale walls and blurred faces in white gowns crowding me and whispering unintelligibly to themselves. I don’t remember anything she says, but I don’t remember anything about my time in the facility. Only these occasional flashes. “You had no right to obtain my medical records without a court order.”

“Okay. I’ll strike that from the record,” she says sardonically. “But I’m trying to find three innocent people who have now gone missing, and the only thing that’s changed in their lives in over a decade is the arrival of a formal mental patient whose associates drop like flies everywhere she goes and a private investigator who helps her break into one of our victims’ apartments. As you pointed out, it’s a lot of coincidence, but asIpointed out, it’s a hell of a coincidence. A lot of them. More than one. I have to try to figure out who is most likely to have committed these crimes, and from what I can see so far, the most likely culprit is staring me in the face in shocked guilt.”

It takes me a moment to gather my thoughts. I knew Reyes was considering me as a possible suspect, but I didn’t realize how hard she was looking at me. I certainly didn’t expect that she’d dive into my past so thoroughly.

I think of something else and frown. “Where is Sean right now?”

“Sean’s hanging out at the station for a little while. We’re going to follow up on his work visa.”

My eyes widen. “You’re going todeporthim?”

“That’s outside of my authority,” Reyes replies. “I just want to know why he’s here. If you think of another reason besides breaking into an innocent woman’s apartment and stealing home security footage, feel free to call me.”

“Perhaps instead of investigating my past and abusing your authority with my friend, you should try to find the three people who have gone missing.”

Reyes gives me an icy smile. “That’s exactly why I’m investigating the two of you.”

I return a stare as frosty as hers. “Am I being detained, Detective?”

She chuckles. “No.”

“Then this conversation is over.”

She lifts her hands slightly. “All right.” She heads inside, stopping at the door to say, “Get some rest, Mary. You look exhausted.”

I stand where I am as she closes the door behind her. My thoughts move to the picture of Annie in the basement and the mural of her in the hidden cove. If Reyes discovers those and compares them to pictures of Annie, then it will only reinforce her belief that I’m behind these kidnappings. I’m caught between a rock and a hard place. On one side, an innocent girl and two others are missing and perhaps dead. On the other side, my own freedom hangs by a thread.

I look out the window again. The tide has risen once more, and the calm waters of Fairy Cove are replaced by the raging might of the dark and cold ocean.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

I am terrified that the police will remove me from the property, but Reyes and her officers leave without saying anything to me. Evelyn tries to convince me to come home with her so she can care for me, but I assure her that my injuries aren't serious and I want to be here in case Celeste comes home. That last part convinces her, so after eliciting a promise from me to call her if she returns, or if I need anything, she heads to her place.

My body aches deeply, and from time to time, a stray spasm will cause me to wince. I’m more hurt than I let on to Evelyn, but I really do want to remain here. Celeste is an emotionally troubled girl, but she’s intelligent, and I believe she has enough of her wits about her to know that she can’t wander on her own forever. She’ll come home, and when she does, I want to be here. Maybe this is a foolish hope, but I’d rather cling to a foolish hope than no hope at all.

I make myself some tea and ruminate on the position in which I find myself. As Reyes points out, I use kidnapped and missing interchangeably in our conversation. The problem is that I don’t know myself what the truth is. Victor’s behavior makes it easy to believe that he finally broke from reality and ran off somewhere after trashing his studio. Celeste ran away, but while her own mental state is troublesome, I don’t believe she’s so far gone she would harm herself. I think she acts based on fear more than dissociation.

The complicating factor is Lisa. She strikes me as very well composed. Perhaps she’s not the most pleasant person, but she doesn’t seem remotely the sort to have a mental episode and run off. It’s far easier to believe that she was forcibly removed fromher home, and if she was, then it’s likely that Victor was also taken.

But by who? Marcus comes to mind, but I don’t believe he could have overpowered Victor, and I certainly don’t believe he could have done so without Evelyn hearing the struggle.

But Sean could have. Sean is younger than Victor and more powerfully built. He's also a private investigator with decades of experience sneaking into places unnoticed. He could have made his way into the house through a window or a back door without Evelyn realizing. He could have quickly overpowered Victor and moved him outside before Evelyn was able to reach the studio. It would be difficult but not impossible for him.

My lips turn down as I realize that Reyes's suspicion of me isn't entirely unreasonable from her point of view. Reyes doesn't know me or Sean. As far as she knows, we're strangers who appeared out of nowhere shortly before the master of the house went missing. Sean is my friend, and we've both been caught breaking and entering into Lisa's apartment. Of all the people in proximity to Victor recently, Sean is the one most capable of kidnapping him. Money isn't a motive for either of us, but if Reyes discovers that Annie once knew Victor, then that will be motive enough to convince her of my guilt.

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