Page 110 of Trust No One

“I’m not laughing.”

“How did he die?”

“No blood. No signs of trauma.”

“Maria was poisoned.”

Anger tightened his expression. “An autopsy will determine it.”

Ken slowed his pace as we moved down the path. I quickened mine. I wasn’t trying to match his stride. I wanted to find Molly.

At the car, Ken called in the find. He advised the dispatch that Gabe Durant was dead, and Molly remained missing.

“Where would he leave her?” I asked. “Now that news of Maria’s death is spreading, few will side with Gabe.”

“The motel is a few miles down the road. Let’s stop there.”

“Sure.”

The odds of finding a missing child diminished beyond the first hour—the golden hour. Our golden hour was slipping fast.

Chapter Forty-Two

Raine

Wednesday, October 21, 2026, 4:30 p.m.

Sinking into silence, I watched trees—blazing with oranges and yellows—flash past the window.

Ken’s vehicle wound down the mountain road and back toward a two-story motel. Outward-facing rooms lined the building, their windows standing beside solid metal doors. Half the curtains were drawn, half open. A vacancy sign buzzed over the cracked asphalt parking lot. Hikers and hunters favored this place in the fall.

Ken parked by the motel office. “Stay in the car. I’ll ask.”

“I should come.”

“No.” His tone cut off any argument. “This is what I do.”

“How am I hampering that?”

A crooked, charming smile touched his lips. “I’m more intimidating without you. Stay here. Let me do this. Please?”

That boyish, delightful expression shouldn’t still work—but it did. Old patterns resurfaced. “Okay.”

“That wasn’t so hard, was it?”

“Don’t push.”

As Ken tapped on the front desk bell, I studied rows of windows. The closed curtains hinted toward which rooms were occupied. If Gabe had hidden Molly in one of them, he would’ve drawn the curtains closed. The TV would be blaring. She’d be excited—Maria always hated too much screen time.

Maria.

She hadn’t been dead a day.

I hadn’t processed it, hadn’t accepted it. Anger hadn’t set in yet—but when it did, I wasn’t sure I could forgive Gabe.

Ken strode toward the car, a key dangling from his hand.

I got out of the car.