“I don’t know. You’ve got some big confession going on here. That’s the first thing that came to mind.”

“No, that’s not it at all. Cody, I was the last person to see Vera alive…and I know this because I dropped her off at her boyfriend’s house the night she went missing.”

Cody gaped at me. I couldn’t read what he was thinking or feeling. Confusion? Disgust? Hatred? Blame?

“Are you saying you know where Vera is and haven’t told anyone?” All I heard was anger.

“I couldn’t, Cody. Your family would have blamed me if they ever found out! I was terrified of losing you all. You know how Felicity is—she would have never forgiven me.” Felicity held grudges like she held her secrets—with a tight fist.

“But we could have already brought Vera home.” Cody didn’t understand the bigger picture. There was so much more to the story, things I could never tell him. “I don’t understand why you would keep this from the family. Or from the police.”

“Vera begged me not to tell anyone about Austin, Cody. She swore me to secrecy. I wanted to go speak to him myself before I told anyone else. He’s been in some trouble in the past, from what I understand, which is why Vera hid him from everyone. This boy has enough problems without tying him to a missing person’s case. No dad. A drunkard mom. But he’s finally getting his life together. And he really is a sweet kid and adored Vera. If he got dragged into Vera’s disappearance, his life would be over. You know Felicity—you know what she’s capable of.”

“Why do you care so much about this kid when your niece is missing?”

“Because putting him at risk isn’t going to save Vera. I’m not going to throw an innocent kid under the bus until I have a reason to.”

Cody’s hands flipped up in the air. “Come on, Marin. Having the police look into him isn’t throwing him under the bus. Let them weed out the details. It’s not your job to assume his innocence in all this.”