“Uncle Psycho said in his confession that he didn’t have anaccomplice, but people still think John Ellerbee could’ve been working with him. Ellerbee owned the lumberyard.”
“If there was any truth to that, the cops would have found a solid connection.”
“Ellerbee was basically run out of town,” she says.
I feel another pang of guilt. Just another person whose life was ruined by Gabriel Thorn. If Ellerbee is innocent—which I assume he is, because my father wasn’t a team player—then his reputation was destroyed because of this case. His only crime was being nice to my dad.
“He sold the yard and eventually it closed down. It’s been abandoned for the past few years. Honestly, I think it makes more sense than the lake—Uncle Psycho would’ve had to anticipate that they would drag it, send divers there. Or the woods, because animals are always digging things up. They would’ve dug up any fresh graves. But the lumberyard…” Her eyes gleam. “It’s secluded, no one really goes there anymore, and yes, there was totally a wood chipper. If you were trying to get rid of a body, that’d be theperfectplace.”
My stomach churns. Did he really do that? Could he have?
“There had to besomethingleft behind, right? I don’t care how powerful that machine is. Bones don’t just disappear. And if not bones, then maybe jewelry or something. Personal belongings. Something the cops missed when they searched Ellerbee’s house.”
I swallow hard, my throat dry. “You really think he would’ve done that?”
Jasmine doesn’t hear the fear in my voice, or if she does, she doesn’t care. She’s too caught up in her theory.
“Oh, for sure. Whoever did this had to be smart enough to hide the bodies where no one would look. Or where they wouldn’t think to check again. The lumberyard’s perfect.” She snaps her laptop shut. “I think we should go there. Saturday. After curfew.”
“What?” The word comes out sharper than I intended. “That’s a terrible idea.”
She waves me off, completely unfazed. “Oh, come on. No one’s gonna be there. It’s abandoned. We sneak in, look around, and see if we can find anything. What’s the worst that could happen?”
I stare at her. “You seriously can’t be considering this. What if we get caught trespassing? What if—”
I cut myself off before I can say anything about the danger that feels far more personal.What if we find something? What if we find exactly what you’re looking for?
Jasmine’s eyes narrow. “Wedeservethat reward money. That psycho destroyed our family’s reputation. For a while people even thought my mom or dad had something to do with it. Some peoplestillthink it. I see it online all the time. People saying that the Shipleys were connected to those murders. Well, like it or not, you’re a Shipley too.”
Worse. I’m a Thorn.
“Just because you’re new here doesn’t make you less of a Shipley. They’ve ruined us. And we deserve to get something out of this.”
The guilt slams into me like a wave, crashing and relentless. Jasmine doesn’t know the truth.I’mthe one who ruined her. My father did this to her. He’s the reason those families don’t haveclosure. The reason we’re even having this conversation. But I can’t say that. I can’t tell her.
Instead, I do the only thing I can think of. I shake my head, trying to sound like the voice of reason. “Jaz, I get that you want the money, but this is dangerous. We don’t know what we’re walking into.”
She scoffs. “Dangerous? Please. It’s an old lumberyard, not a haunted house. You’re being paranoid. And if we don’t do it now, someone else is gonna beat us to it. Ty and Kab are on the case now. Kab, yeah, he’s dumb as a bag of rocks. But Ty is smart. What if he figures this out? Or these new true-crime losers who are showing up for the ten-year anniversary next week? Everyone’s desperate for that reward.”
She’s not going to let this go. That much is obvious. And if I refuse to help her, she’ll go alone. Jasmine’s reckless. She’ll walk into the middle of a storm and never realize it’s raining.
I can’t let her do this by herself.
“Fine,” I relent. “I’ll go with you. But only to keep an eye on things. If anything looks off, we’re leaving. Got it?”
Jasmine flashes a triumphant grin. “Deal.”
I sink onto my bed, wanting to kick myself for agreeing to this. We’re walking into a nightmare, and I’m the only one who knows just how dark it really is.
Connor wanders in. “Yo. Ryan.”
Jasmine gives me a look that saysDon’t tell him. Her twin, thanks to his association with the dastardly Kab, has now been cut out of the loop.
“What’s up?” I ask him.
“You heard from Everett?”
“No, why?”
