Foster:I’ll leave the suit at the motel.
Me:Fine. Whatever. I’m about to grab breakfast at the diner. If you want to come now, then come. But I’m not waiting for you. Once I’m done eating, I’m gone.
Foster:On my way.
I’m just entering the diner when Zed exits, bumping into me. Awesome. He must’ve parked that obnoxious yellow Jeep down the street, because if I’d seen it out front, I would’ve run in the other direction.
I utter a quick “Sorry,” but he doesn’t let me escape.
“Ryan, hey,” he says, blocking my path.
The last time we interacted outside of school, Mar was cutting him down to size at the railroad tracks, but he doesn’t seem to be holding on to any hostility about it.
“Hey,” I answer. “How’s it going, Zed?”
“Shitty,” he whines. “I swear, this ten-year-anniversary crowd is a pain in my ass. I used to have the Thorn property all to myself.Got a couple tickets for loitering, sure, but the cops weren’t checking the place every day. Now they’reconstantlypatrolling to make sure people aren’t camping out there. Just keep showing up and clearing everyone out.”
That’s good to know. Hopefully by tonight the cops will have rid me of all the stragglers.
I find myself relaxing slightly. “Are people actually digging out there?”
“Yup. This one group from Nevada dug up the entire northwest corner of the property. That’s a solid guess, actually. Since it’s the farthest point from the main house. He probably didn’t want his family knowing what he was up to.”
When Zed hesitates for a beat, I frown. “What?”
“You really havezerointel you can give me about the Shipleys? Because—”
“Goodbye, Zed.”
I try to bypass him, but he steps into my path again. “C’mon, don’t go. You know you can’t fault me for asking. Your family is the only remaining link to Gabriel Thorn. The wife’s dead. The daughter was adopted out and the records are sealed. I’m not sayingyouknow anything about the case, but you gotta admit—your aunt and uncle probably do.”
“My aunt and uncle don’t know anything.”
“Fine, maybe not your aunt,” he concedes. “But Dan Shipley is definitely hiding something.”
“Like what?”
“I dunno. Something. Why else were his lie detector test results inconclusive?”
I stiffen. “What?”
“It’s true. Both the Shipleys took a lie detector after Thorn’s arrest. Maggie passed. Dan didn’t.”
“Inconclusive doesn’t mean he failed. Sometimes it just means the person was too nervous to provide a baseline.” But my heart is pounding, because I had no idea about this. It looks…bad.
“Maybe, but he’s the only one who didn’t pass. Even John Ellerbee passed the lie detector. That’s why I think the lumberman theory is bunk. The bodies were never there.”
I almost shiver at the memory. I don’t want to think about that lumberyard ever again.
Before I can speak, another familiar figure exits the diner. “Sorry that took so long,” she tells Zed.
Every muscle in my body locks up. It’s Natalie Singh, the daughter of my dad’s first victim.
twenty-eight
Keep Your Secrets, Ryan
Panic spikes as I try to edge away, but Zed glances at me, cutting off any escape.
