Lila had said nothing then.
But the name had been sitting under her skin ever since.
For a moment, she wasn’t in a climate-controlled studio. She was back in the Charleston courthouse hallway, floor wax and rain in the air, the metallic scent of wet pavement drifting in every time the doors opened. The crush of reporters. The girl’s mother crying. Cameras. The verdict.
Eleanor Harper—the woman Charleston had either worshipped or hated, depending on which side of the verdict you stood on.
And Eleanor Harper on the courthouse steps in a cream suit, calm and beautiful and untouched, as flashes popped and microphones crowded in. The case that had changed everything for Lila had ended with Eleanor walking down those steps like she had won.
“You know her?” Micah asked quietly.
Lila stared at the screen.
“Oh, I know her.” More than she ever wanted to.
Her pulse kicked once.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
Because if Eleanor Harper was in Sylva, then this hadn’t started with a missing deputy or an SBI agent. It had started years ago—with a Charleston case Lila had never really left behind.
Lila leaned toward the microphone one last time.
“Next month, Vanished in the Valley will broadcast live from Sylva during Mountain Mystery Week.”
Micah’s head snapped up.
“Lila—”
For a heartbeat, she hesitated. She thought of the girl’s mother in Charleston, the way her sobs had echoed off marble and cameras, and did nothing to change the outcome.
Then she saw the audience surge again, the live count rolling upward so fast it barely seemed real.
She was already there.
She could see the satellite trucks lining Main Street. The podcasters and YouTubers crowding the sidewalks. The courthouse steps. The tourists. The true-crime fans in matching T-shirts. The town dividing into sides.
Lila stared into the camera.
“Next month, we’re going to Sylva. And maybe, together, we’ll finally learn what happened to Caroline Simms.”
The live comments exploded.
I’m in.
Road trip.
#JusticeForCaroline
finally someone is paying attention.
I knew there was more going on up there.
“We’re going to ask why women keep disappearing in Sylva,”Lila continued.“Why no one has been held accountable. And whether the truth has been buried in those mountains for years.”
The hashtag appeared on the monitor.
