“Literal thousands,” Dan says, without taking his attention off the game.
“Exactly,” Connor says.
Kabir glances over at me. “Ryan, backmeup. Real or fake?”
“Real,” I say without hesitation.
“Traitor.”
I grin at him. “Sorry.”
“I’m gonna let it slide because of that smile. You know you have a great smile? It’s a shame I can’t ask you out.”
Connor smacks him on the arm. “Dude.”
I raise an eyebrow, laughing a little. “Is there a reason you can’t? Not that I’m encouraging it. I would one hundred percent say no,” I assure him, and my uncle snickers from the recliner.
“You’d totally say yes. And I can’t ask because my quarterback already staked his claim,” he reveals with a smug, knowing look—which quickly fades into a stricken one. “Oh wait, and I also have a girlfriend.”
Connor doubles over in laughter. “I’m totally telling Layla you forgot she existed.”
Kabir shrugs, winking at me. “I know you’re disappointed, Ryan, but it’s only fair. Even if I was single, I don’t mess with the code.”
My cousin punches Kabir’s arm again. “There is no ‘code.’ Ryan can go out with whoever she wants.”
“Code,” his friend repeats. “She can only date Ev now.”
I stifle a sigh while also trying to ignore the way my pulse speeds up. Everett James is, apparently, incorrigible.
“Thanks, buddy,” I tell Kabir, “but I think I’ll make my own decisions.” Still grinning, I go back to clicking through my photos, trashing the ones that don’t make the cut.
“That’s a lot of trees,” Dan remarks at one point as he walks along behind the couch. He stops, peering at my screen. “Wait, go back. This one’s beautiful, kid. What kind of bird is that?”
I click on the previous photograph, which depicts a small bird with bright feathers perched on a low-hanging branch against the backdrop of the Smoky Mountains.
I zoom in and study it. “It’s a northern flicker,” I say. The bird’s reddish-brown body with speckled markings stands out in theshot. “They’re woodpeckers, actually. Pretty common around here, especially in the fall.”
He leans in a little closer, inspecting the picture. “Woodpeckers, huh? I didn’t know they came in so many colors.”
“Yup, and this breed is one of the only woodpeckers that actually feed on the ground a lot. They love ants, believe it or not.”
He chuckles. “How do you know all this?”
My smile falters. For a moment I don’t answer. I look at the photo, the brightness of the bird contrasting with the shadow creeping into my chest.
“Uh, I must’ve read it somewhere,” I lie.
Dan’s expression softens. His gaze darts toward the boys, who are focused on the game, before returning to me. He gets it. Everyone in Starling knows about Gabriel Thorn’s birdhouses.
I close my computer. “I’m going to see what Jasmine is up to.”
My decision to flee backfires, because when I walk into Jasmine’s bedroom, I don’t like what she’s up to. Not one bit. She’s sprawled across her bed with her laptop open, the light from the screen casting a slight glow over her face. She doesn’t even acknowledge me, too absorbed in whatever article she’s reading. Her fingers tap against the keyboard as she scrolls.
“What are you doing?” I ask, even though I already know the answer. It’s the same thing she’s been obsessing over since the press conference—the missing bodies. Every time we’re alone in our room, she’s on her laptop Googling things.
Jasmine finally spares me a glance, eyes glinting with excitement. “Okay, so, the police dredged the lake years ago and found nothing, right? But people online still think that’s where UnclePsycho dumped the bodies. There’s speculation that the reason the police didn’t discover anything is because the water level was—”
She stops talking. Maggie has just appeared in the open doorway.
