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Even when he hated me, he was trying to protect me.
Eli roped George in because he knows how good she is at uncovering secrets. George is the one who upended Eli’s family shame and sent his dad to prison. And now that we know Mackenzie is out there, George is working harder than ever to figure out what happened to the Malloys.
“More like a lead on a lead.” George frowns at the papers as she spreads them out. I see that most of them are newspaper stories about the trials of Walter Hart and Howard Malloy, as well as the Malloy disappearances. “It doesn’t tell us why Mackenzie is here or where to find her now, but it might tell us where she’s been.”
“I’m intrigued.” Anything we can piece together about my doppelgänger could help us.
Eli helps me to sit up and places a pillow behind me. George picks through the articles and papers on the table. Gizmo peeks over the edge and swipes a paw at a magazine clipping.
“The media stories and conspiracy theories online hold no clues on their own. So I’ve gone through the police report about the Malloy disappearances, and that’s enlightening.”
“How so?”
“The night before their disappearance, the Malloys went to a cocktail party. Witnesses at the party state Howard Malloy exchanged angry words with Walter Hart, which Eli tells me is normal since the two of them hated each other. The last person to see them alive was their driver, who dropped them back at Malloy Manor around 1AM on the twenty-sixth. Their personal chef had the Saturday off, and he checked in with the maid on Sunday see if he needed to come in for the usual Sunday meal. She told him she’d heard from Howard Malloy by text around 11AM on Sunday that neither she nor the cook would be needed that day.
“Now, a neighbor says she saw the Malloy’s car leave their house at around 5AM on Saturday. Their windows were tinted, so she couldn’t see who was inside. The Malloys weren’t reported missing until Tuesday, when Howard Malloy didn’t show up for several important meetings and his colleagues couldn’t reach him by phone.”
“Interesting. The Malloys left at 5AM but didn’t contact the maid until 11AM?”
George nods. “There are two leading theories about what happened to the Malloys. The first is that they were kidnapped or killed when they returned from the party. Most likely murdered, since no ransom was ever demanded. CCTV footage proves the car that drove off at 5AM was Howard’s, but we don’t have a clear shot of the driver. It could be the murderers.”
“Brentwood sneaking the bodies out of the house?”
“Exactly. This theory is backed up by some traces of blood found in the house. The ballroom showed signs of recently being cleaned with bleach, even though the maid swears she’d never dream of using bleach on a marble floor. If this is the case, the phone call made to the maid by Howard Malloy was a hoax designed to keep anyone from noticing their disappearance for a few days. Either that, or the maid was in on it and there was no text.”
I remember what Noah overheard Brentwood say, that Mackenzie Malloy is a murderer. After what she did to Brutus and tried to do to me, I know she’s capable of it. But did she kill her own parents? It’s too dangerous to assume, because if Howard Malloy’s still alive he could be a real pain in the ass.
“And what about Malloy’s CCTV footage? This place is wired up like a nuclear bunker. If someone drove up to the house to do the deed, we’d have them.”
“Nothing suspicious on the footage from the houses along the street, and Malloy’s recordings are missing from the time they left for the party. The entire system was offline, nothing recorded, and all the external gates and doors left unlocked. It’s not a malfunction – the system has failsafes to prevent this. It’s someone actually turning the whole thing off. This suggests either an inside job on the Malloy staff or our second theory.”
“Which is?”
“That the Malloys orchestrated their disappearance. They escaped in their vehicle at around 5AM. Howard Malloy spoke to the maid from the road to keep the authorities off their scent for as long as possible. This theory seems the least plausible. If you’re rich and connected like the Malloys and you want to fake your death, you go to the Philippines and buy some unclaimed bodies and fake death certificates and do it up right. You don’t create a completely implausible scenario in your own home that’s open to interpretation. There’s also no known reason why they might choose to fake their disappearance, although the internet is rife with bonkers scenarios.”
I raise an eyebrow. “I can imagine. But it doesn’t explain what Brentwood said about Mackenzie. What did he see in that house that had him so freaked out?”
“I got no clue, and we obviously can’t ask the guy now.” George’s fingers curl around the edges of the newspaper. “Theory two is obviously the least plausible, but it’s backed up by some sightings of the family over the years.”
“Sightings?”
“It’s possible these are just mistaken identities. After all,” her eyes glint as they sweep over my body before landing on a portrait of Mackenzie hanging on the wall behind us, “we all know how one person can closely resemble another. I’ve been down a rabbit hole of true crime internet forums trying to get reliable information. I’ve discounted all the sightings of the ghost of Malloy Manor, since we can now account for those.” She flashes one of her genuine George smiles. “Most of what’s left is just blurry photographs and uncorroborated stories, but… the highest concentration of sightings has been around a small village in Germany.”
“Germany?” Eli sounds surprised.
George nods again. “The village is called Rothenburg ob der Tauber. According to Dr. Google, it’s a beautiful medieval town with an intact fortification wall, and at least three backpackers have reported Mackenzie Malloy serving steins at a local pub.”
Claudia
“Germany?” Antony tosses the brochure George printed on the bed, his mouth cracking into a grin. “That’s perfect.”
“No, it’s not. It’s a fucking disaster. After she dumped your car we’ve lost all traces of her. Tiberius has turned up jack shit, and we can’t bring any more people into the secret to search for her. This is our only clue, and it’s taking us to the other side of the world for a cold trail.”
“So?”
“What do you mean, so? It’s fucking Saturnalia next month and we just killed the head of the August family.” I wring my hands. “We need to figure out our next move here, in Emerald Beach, not go traipsing off to Germany to hunt for Mackenzie’s ghost.”
Antony grabs my shoulders, trapping me under his vise-grip so I have no choice but to stare into his eyes. “What happens at Saturnalia isn’t your decision to make. You’re staying out of this, remember?”
