Page 73 of The Summer Guests

“Hospital security is on the alert,” said Jo. “The ICU has her monitored around the clock. There’s just one way in or out of the unit, and only her family is allowed to visit.”

“But what happens when she’s moved out of the ICU and into a regular room?” said Ingrid. “Now that Declan’s laid up, there’s only the four of us. That’s not enough.”

“Enough for what?”

“Surveillance,” said Lloyd.

“You people are running surveillance now?”

“Somebodyhas to. Although a twenty-four-hour guard would be preferable,” said Lloyd. “Seeing as our energy isn’t what it used to be.”

“The Conovers can well afford a private security guard. I’ve already spoken to Elizabeth about hiring one after the girl’s moved out of the ICU.”

“A police guard would be preferable. Someone who answers toyourauthority, not theirs.”

“And where do I find the budget for a twenty-four-hour police guard? We have only six full-time police officers, including me. We’re approaching the height of summer, the tourists are invading, and not all of them are well behaved. Which, by the way, is why I need to get back to work now. For mysecondshift of the day.” Jo stood up. “Anyway, whoever attacked her is probably long gone.”

“On what do you base that opinion?” asked Ingrid.

“The backpack on Route One. The perp probably tossed it there as he was headed out of town.”

“What if it wasn’t just discarded, but deliberatelyplantedthere?”

Jo looked at Maggie, then at Declan. It was starting to dawn on her that the Martini Club had already united behind a theory, and she had no choice but to hear it.

“Zoe’s abductor dumped the girl in a ravine that’s eight miles west of Maiden Pond,” said Ingrid. “Then he left the backpack sixteen milessouthof the pond.”

“On busy Route One,” added Maggie. “Where it was certain to be noticed.”

It took a moment for Jo to consider what Maggie had just said. To come to the same conclusion. “The backpack was meant to be found.”

“To throw us off the track,” said Maggie. “To make us believe the girl had been transported south.”

“You mean, to lead us away from the body,” Jo said, also using the collectiveus. That was encouraging.

“No, it wasn’t the body he was leading us away from. The girl was already well concealed in that ravine. It was only chance that those hikers and their dog found her.”

“Then what was he leading us awayfrom?”

“Maiden Pond.”

Jo frowned, trying to make sense of Maggie’s answer.

It was Ingrid who explained. “When a child disappears near a body of water, what’s the first thing people assume? That the child drowned. That would make authorities automatically search the water for the body. But you let two days go by before you did that.”

“Because of the backpack. Because I assumed ...” Jo groaned. “Oh,fuck. Excuse my French.”

“Oh, we know even better words in French,” said Lloyd.

“The abductor led us to believe Zoe was taken elsewhere,” said Maggie. “He left the backpack on Route One, making you think Zoe had been taken south. And then there was her phone, planted in Farley Wade’s truck. Yet another distraction, because Mr. Wade made a very good suspect.”

“And his fingerprintswereon that beer bottle you gave me,” Jo said, looking at Ingrid.

“We know he’s a thief. And we know he’s been loitering around Maiden Pond. His truck would have been parked there, making it a convenient place to plant Zoe’s phone. Then Farley Wade drives away with that phone—a phone he eventually turned on—again making itlook like Zoe was taken elsewhere. Another way to distract you from searching the pond. And keep you from finding what was down there.”

“The skeleton,” said Jo.

Maggie nodded. “We thinkshe’sthe key. The lady in the lake. We need to find out who she was.”

---