Chapter 6: The Vigil

Rowan went down through the hatch so fast I didn't see him move.

The ladder shook, and then I heard his voice, level and bored.

"Loft's mine, Bailey. Tools, a wasp nest and no floor on the north side. I'll find your scarf."

"Rowan! You scared me half to death."

"Sorry."

"Where were you?" Santino asked. "I yelled for ten minutes."

"On the roof."

"Have you seen Tegan?"

I put my hand over my own mouth this time.

"Why would I see Tegan?" Rowan said.

"Because she's missing," Bailey said, and her voice wobbled. "Nobody's seen her since Sunday. Her phone's off. We're sick about it."

"I'll keep an eye out."

"Call me if she turns up. Anytime."

"Sure," Rowan said.

The boathouse door banged.

I listened to the Honda's tires on the gravel until I couldn't hear them anymore.

Rowan came back up the ladder and sat on the top rung with his forearms on his knees.

"I lied to a guest on your property," he said. "I want that noted."

"New rule," I said. "No touching."

"That wasn't touching. That was hiding."

"You had your hand on my mouth."

"You had your hair in mine."

He wasn't smiling.

I was almost sure he wasn't.

My phone lit up on the cot, and I picked it up.

It was Dee.

"Tegan. DON'T be mad. Santino posted this."

Under it was a picture of me from last year's birthday dinner, laughing at something, with a paper crown on my head.

Above it, in big letters: MISSING. TEGAN MCGOVERN, 22. LAST SEEN SUNDAY. PLEASE CALL.

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