Page 25 of The Summer Guests

“No.”

“We just want to see the contents.”

“I can’t show you because the crime lab has it.”

“What about her phone?” said Lloyd, stirring sugar into his coffee. “Has that turned up yet?”

“No.”

“You have a geofence warrant?”

“Yes, but we don’t have any call data from the provider yet.”

“And Fog?” asked Ingrid. “Has her phone shown up there?”

“How do you know about Fog?”

“Doesn’t everyone?”

“No, Mrs. Slocum. Everyone doesnotknow about Fog.”

But Ingrid was not everyone. Of course she knew about the tracking tool used by law enforcement agencies to collect location data from mobile apps. If Zoe had used her phone to access any of hundreds of apps, her location would have popped up on Fog.

“So the girl’s phone hasn’t been active at all?” Maggie asked.

“No,” Jo said. “Either it’s turned off or it’s been destroyed. And that’s where we are.”

“Well, she hasn’t been active on social media either,” said Ingrid. “No new posts from her in the last thirty-six hours.”

Jo frowned at her. “You’ve been going through her accounts?”

Lloyd patted his wife on the shoulder. “She gets bored easily. It keeps her occupied.”

“I must say, the girl seems a perfectly wholesome sort,” Ingrid admitted. “No dark secrets that I could dig up. It’s all about school andher swim team and fantasy novels about mermaids. Not the sort of girl you’d think would get into trouble.”

Jo nodded. “That’s what her mother said.”

“I also checked into the girl’s stepfather, Ethan Conover.”

“Why?”

“A new stepfather in the picture? A teenage girl who suddenly runs away from home? It makes you think. But the man does seem like a straight arrow—on paper, anyway. Forty-five years old, no criminal history, not even an unpaid parking ticket. He’s a published author and a writing instructor at Boston College.”

“Has anyone here read his books?” Declan asked.

They all shook their heads.

Ingrid said, “He has only one published novel, and that came out five years ago.The Woman in Green, a murder mystery.”

“Oh, maybe that should be our next book club selection, don’t you think?” Lloyd suggested. “Maybe we could use green as the theme for dinner. I’ve been wanting to try my hand at making saag paneer.”

Jo gave an impatient sigh. “People, this is not one of your book club meetings, okay? If you could all just move along—”

“First, you might want to check your email,” said Maggie. “For the video file we sent you.”

“What video file?”

“From the Bluefin restaurant’s security camera. It’s four miles north of where the backpack was left, and it has a partial view of Route One traffic. You might find it useful.”

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