Page 23 of The Sleeping Girls

“She had big dreams,” Ellie said. “All that fits with the way her parents described her. Not a girl who’d run away.”

Landrum continued, “There’s something else. On her phone, I also found a photo of Kelsey with her girlfriends, their hands joined as if in a show of solidarity. It was labeledThe Virgin Pact. It was also posted on social media.”

Ellie exhaled. “Interesting.”

The deputy made a low sound in his throat. “There’s another post on social media. I’m forwarding it to you now.”

The doorbell rang and Ellie heard footsteps before Mr. Drummond answered the door. A hefty man in a three-piece suit entered, his bald head shiny beneath the crystal chandelier. Mitch’s father steered him into his study.

A ding indicated the text from the deputy had come through, and Ellie’s stomach plummeted as she realized what she was looking at.

#ChallengeWhoCanBreaktheVirginPact?#Only8weeksuntilChristmas!

Below the hashtags were avatars of three girls labeled Kelsey, Ruby and June. A string of comic-book type balloons below the girls’ names held the phrasing:HoHoHo.

TWENTY-THREE

Anger churned through Ellie. Kids could be so cruel. If the girls were being bullied and this post had something to do with Kelsey’s disappearance, why hadn’t Ruby mentioned it?

“Find out who posted this. It could be connected to Kelsey’s disappearance.”

“On it,” Landrum agreed.

“I’ll text Agent Fox and tell him to coordinate with you and to get warrants for the friends’ phones. Maybe we can recover any deleted texts from them.”

She ended the call, then sent Derrick the text. A minute later Mitch returned with his parents and the attorney.

Mr. Drummond introduced him as Walton Jenner and gestured for everyone to sit.

“Detective Reeves, I understand you want to question my client, Mitch Drummond.”

Ellie raised a brow. “If you think he needs an attorney, then he must know more than he told me earlier.”

Mitch’s eyes shifted warily to the lawyer, but he refrained from speaking.

“My client has done nothing wrong,” Mr. Jenner said firmly. “But in an effort to find the girl, we are cooperating.”

Ellie detested the man’s arrogance. “Then he needs to tell the truth. He claims he didn’t know Kelsey well, but we have reason to believe he might have snuck into Kelsey’s bedroom window at night.”

Mrs. Drummond pressed her fingers to her lips as if she wanted to say something, but her husband placed his hand over hers, silently signaling her to remain quiet.

The attorney cleared his throat. “Mitch does not know where the girl is.”

Ellie directed her question to Mitch. “Then whatcanyou tell us?”

Mitch’s eyes jerked to hers for a split second; something there indicated he did want to help, and the attorney gestured for him to speak.

“Okay, I did see her a couple of times. At first… it was kind of a dare. A bet. To see if I could get her to like me.”

Ellie gritted her teeth. “Go on.”

He shrugged. “But then… I got to know her and she was different. You know…”

“What do you mean?” Ellie asked.

“Well, she was… nice. Like to everybody.”

“Did she have trouble with anyone at school?”

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