I shoved the phone into the pocket of the shorts I’d changed into and went upstairs to search the girls’ room.

After batting zero in the closet filled with pretty little dresses and too many matching shoes, I was backing out when my pocket vibrated.

I had the phone to my ear in seconds. The caller’s name was blocked, but who else could it be?

“Wendy, what the hell?”

“Don’t lecture, please. I see you got the phone.”

“Exactly what I’ve always wanted. Are you okay?”

Her sigh sounded like a gust of wind. “Okay? How can I be okay?”

“For a start, come home. We can work this out.”

“No, we can’t. I have to be here to do that. I’m sorry, but I’m stuck for now.” She sounded like she was about to burst into tears.

I plopped down on the nearest bed, trying to stay calm. “Are you safe where you are? Is someone trying to hurt you?”

“I’m safe.”

“You’re safe where?”

“Ryan, it’s just better you don’t know, okay? In case the cops show up.”

Frustrated, my voice grew louder. “Are they going to show up?”

“I honestly don’t know what they know. I don’t know what they think.”

“You weren’t calling from Phoenix, were you? Before, I mean. There’s not one murder on record there you could have been involved in.”

“Look, I can only tell you one thing today, okay? And please don’t say no. It’s important, and it’s something you can do. There’s a man involved in this. I won’t say how, but his name is Milton Kerns.” Her voice broke on the last word, as if it had taken everything to say that out loud.

“Who is he and how is he involved?”

“I think he may have had something to do with what happened. He grew up in Costa Rica. I know that much. But I need you to see what you can find out about him because you have better resources for that kind of thing. Because of the podcast, I mean. I can’t tell you what to look for, because I don’t know. Whatever you can find. Can you do that?”

“You have a name and the place he grew up but nothing else?”

“I’m sorry, but that’s it for now. I’m trying to keep everybody safe.”

For a moment I was touched that my goddess sister was turning to me for help, and everything else fell away. I had never believed the balance of power in our relationship could change this drastically. We were so far apart in age and experience that I had never expected to have an impact on Wendy’s life, and now she was turning to me for help.

Then the still, small voice of a journalist made itself heard. No matter what I felt, if I was really going to have an impact, I had to dig for more. Starting with a confrontation, whether Wendy liked it or not.

“You told me you were in Phoenix. But I don’t think you were even in Arizona, and I’m guessing you weren’t in California, either, which is what you told Mom.”