Page 74 of See How They Hide

“Who?”

“Riley.”

“You are mistaken.” She couldn’t have misheard him. Therefore, he was wrong.

“Riley didn’t drown,” Anton said. “She tricked us. I was there, I saw her go under, she never came up. Garrett was there. I mourned her, we all did. But Evan took pictures. I just sent them to you.”

Her daughter was dead. She’d been dead for three and a half years. She didn’t leave Havenwood, she wasdead. Riley didn’t leaveher.Riley wouldneverleave her on purpose.

“Calliope,” Anton said quietly. “Look at the email.”

She sat at the computer and launched her email. It was slow, but eventually a picture began to load.

It was a parking lot. There were a lot of people in the photo, but her eyes immediately went to the young woman with long dark auburn hair.

A second picture loaded. It was the same woman, zoomed in.

Riley.

“My baby,” she whispered.

“She was with Andrew at the hacker’s house. She’s now with the police.”

“They arrested her?”

“We don’t believe so. Evan followed them to a hotel. There are a lot of federal agents around.”

“It’s really her?” Calliope whispered.

“Yes, it’s Riley. Evan and I are positive.”

“How did this happen?” Calliope didn’t want to believe that her daughter, the most important person in the world to her, had...pretended to die? Why would she have let her own mother think she was gone? She’dcried. For days. Weeks.

“You want her home?”

“Of course I want her home!”

“It might be difficult,” Anton said. “But I will bring her to you.”

She trusted him. Anton had been with her longer than any of her partners and never let her down. “What about Andrew? Is he with the police, too?”

“He tried to kill himself. He’s in the hospital on suicide watch. They have a cop on him, but they won’t be on him forever.”

“Andrew knows far more that can damage us than Riley. He must die. If you can’t get to Riley—I don’t want to lose you, Anton. You or Evan or anyone else. So if she stays hiding behind the police, I may have another plan. I need to think about it, weigh our options. Call in twelve hours with a status report.”

“Yes, Calliope, love.”

“Thank you,” she said. “You are my rock, Anton.”

She hung up. Sitting on the couch, she leaned over to pet Banjo. She’d forgotten how much she’d missed having a pet until Anton brought the dog to her last month. He was a beautiful animal. Petting his thick, lush fur calmed her like nothing else, and the last thing she wanted to do was lose her temper. Her plan was still rough around the edges, but she would figure it out.

She always did.

“Banjo, come,” she said and left the Office. The dog walked at her side, loyal to her now. Reminded her how easy loyalties shifted, changed. Feed him, care for him, and he was hers.

People needed a bit more work.

She walked to the jail where Carl was on duty and asked, “Has my prisoner talked?”

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