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Knox sets his phone on the counter, face up. His palms press against the edge of the curved tile and his forearms flex. One thick vein bulges.
“What is it? Where’s Sloane?” I ask, staring at the phone like it’s a Magic 8 Ball with all the world’s answers.
“He doesn’t have more information on Sloane. It’s you,” Knox answers.
“Me?”
“Your house burned down three nights ago. I take it you haven’t turned on your phone?”
“No, I was…” I blink, processing what this would mean. “Oh, my god. Jinx.”
Knox’s warm hand covers my shoulder. “Jinx?”
“My cat.” My fingers cover my mouth. My home.
“You left your cat?” Max asks with an abundance of skepticism. I can’t blame him. Who leaves behind their cat?
“He’s an indoor-outdoor cat. He hates being indoors. My house backs up to a preserve. Really, the grade is too steep to be buildable much past my house. It’s in the mountains. He roams those woods like, ah… He’s a Maine Coon. He’s huge. Oh, my god. He must be…” He’d be in the woods, scared. But he’s a hunter. He’d find food. He’d… but Jimmy.
“I’ve got to call home.” Frantically, I pull away. “I’ve got to get my phone. It’s probably dead. I’ve got to?—”
“Stop.” Max halts me with his body. “Turning your phone off was smart. You can’t turn it back on. Your hunch someone is tracking it could be correct.”
“But I have to let my friends know I’m alive.”
“Did you tell anyone you were going away?” Knox asks.
“No…I…I didn’t. I was so scared, and I just wanted to get away and?—”
“Hey, I get it.” Knox caresses my shoulder. The movement soothes and warms…but my house. “No one knows you’re out of town?”
“I texted Jimmy. Told him I had to go and not to worry…” I chew on a nail, as realization Jimmy has probably been frantic dawns. He’d be the one to call me, to tell me about the fire.
“Why would someone want to burn your house down?” The voice from the phone breaks into my thoughts, bringing me back to the kitchen.
Someone showed up at my house with a handgun with a silencer attached. And something has happened to Sloane. “I have no idea.” I pace the middle of the floor, willing my heartrate to slow down and for my brain to kick into gear. “That man who broke in. He didn’t look through anything. It was like…he was looking for me. Only me.”
“He didn’t look at your computer?”
“I threw a blanket over it. It’s an old laptop. But he never lifted the blanket. I watched him through the crack in the cabinet I hid in. I don’t know what he did downstairs, but I have a home office. Well, it’s more of a craft room. But when I left, everything looked like it was in place.” Shit. Jimmy must be freaking out. He’s probably called a million times. “I’ve got to get my phone.”
“Wait. You’re listed as missing. You are safer with whoever is after you thinking?—”
“Are they searching for my body?”
“There isn’t an update in the local paper,” the voice on the speakerphone says.
Max’s stony stare is completely unreadable. I turn to Knox, pleading. “I have to call Jimmy. He’s going to be worried sick.”
“Who have you contacted about your sister?” the speakerphone asks. “I read your emails. But did you visit anyone? Go to the police?”
“You read my emails?”
“You have a Gmail account and use the same password on every website.” Is he annoyed with me? “We need you to think about this. Your emails get more frantic?—”
“She never responded to me. Something is wrong.”
“I understand that. But we need to know everyone you spoke to. Did you drive to the police station and talk to someone there? Did you contact the US Embassy?”
