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I nod enthusiastically as she agrees.
“Cool. See you in a few.”
* * *
The long pathway from the ship is white concrete and absolutely blinding in the afternoon sun. I squint my eyes, trying to search the crowd for Zach. When I spot him, he’s standing by himself, checking his phone.
“Hey,” Florence calls loudly, waving a hand over her head.
He looks up, shielding his eyes from the sun despite his dark sunglasses. “Hey.” He shoves his phone into his pocket. “So, what happened?”
We exchange a glance as we come to stand in front of him. “We know about your uncle,” Florence tells him, brushing my shoulder with hers as she takes a step closer.
“Okay…” He either has no idea what we’re talking about, or he’s damn good at pretending he doesn’t. “So, this isn’t about Mae? I thought—”
“We know he was arrested for sex trafficking.”
His smile disappears. “Oh. Yeah. Okay. Why are you telling me that?”
“Because we want to know what happened to Mae.”
He blanches. “Hold on, hold on, hold on… You think… I mean, whoa. Wait. He didn’t… He’s in prison. He didn’t have anything to do with Mae.”
Neither of us says anything. I once took a course on negotiation, where they taught us if you remain silent for long enough, the other person will just continue to walk themselves into trouble. They’ll say more and more until they’ve said too much. That’s exactly what I plan to do with Zach.
He shakes his head. “Unless you’re accusing me of somehow being involved with that. But… I mean, I didn’t…” He pins Florence with a glare. “I told you everything I know this morning. I don’t know where she is. I wish I did. Truly. I hope you find her. I care about her, believe it or not.” His eyes cut to me for just a second, but he returns his focus to her.
“You didn’t tell me about him,” she points out.
“Why would I? Look, I hardly knew my uncle. He’s my mom’s brother. I met him a few times, but we weren’t close. And now he’s in prison for something terrible. I don’t exactly use it as an icebreaker.”
“You’re telling us it’s just a coincidence?” I demand.
“Yes,” he says firmly. “It’sjusta coincidence.”
“I don’t buy it,” Florence says angrily. “How do we know you didn’t help take her? That you haven’t picked up where your uncle left off?”
“Because I wouldn’t do that!” he says, disgust lining his features. “Look, think what you want, but I told the police all I knew about my uncle back then. I want nothing to do with him.”
“Which was what? What did you tell them?” I ask, speaking up for the first time since we arrived.
He turns to face me completely. “I get it, man. I know how you must feel about me. I’d feel the same way. But I didn’t hurt Mae. I… I loved her.”
“What did you tell the police about your uncle?” I ask again, my words dry.
He groans, looking away. “I didn’t know what he was doing, okay? I was just a kid. I’d heard rumors, I guess. Overheard him talking to some of his friends… People I thought were his friends anyway.”
“Talking about what?”
His lips press together. “There’s this place they all talked about… An island.”
“An island? What island?”
“They called itIsla de los Robados, which translates to Island of the Stolen. There were rumors of…vodyanoy there.” He winces.
“Vodyanoy?” Florence asks the question on my mind before I can.
“It’s…they’re like mythical sea creatures. It’s stupid. When I was a kid, my uncle would tell me stories about vodyanoy, which were creatures that lured women to their death. Like I said, it was ridiculous. But when he came into town, he’d always take a boat out there. My parents would never let me go. They said it wasn’t safe.”
