She’d buried her baggie deep beneath Charlie Cactus on one of those trips, double-wrapped in plastic bags from Red’s. Sara had kept lookout. Sara hadn’t asked what was in the bag; she’d just helped Rainy get rid of it. That meant that after she left the compound for good, Sara could have gone back for it and dug it up.

She’d been so lost in thought thinking about Sara and her son that she’d forgotten about the texts on her phone. She read through the updates Grant had sent first. He didn’t mention anything about her staying in Vegas, which meant that the husbands were still out of the loop. She looked at the time, calculating the difference between her and Grant. It was three o’clock in the morning for him, so she’d text him when she got settled in the hotel and he had a chance to wake up for the day. There were four texts from Viola, asking what time she was getting back, detailing the snowfall the night before, and then another, sent an hour later, saying, Never mind, they told me you’re staying an extra day, party animal. In the group chat, Ursa had taken to updating their status through the check-in process like Rainy might change her mind at any minute and come after them. Braithe and Tara were strangely quiet. She decided to ask Viola if she knew anything more about Braithe staying behind. Viola sent a voice text.

“I texted her whatsup this morning and she told me she’d stayed. She seemed to be fine. She sounded elated actually. She mentioned getting a flight early tomorrow, said she’d be back before you all had time to unpack. That was before she knew about you staying, too, and—”

Viola’s voice cut off abruptly and Rainy frowned while she waited. When the text never came, she sent a question mark.

A few seconds later, a shorter voice text appeared. “Sorry... I totally forgot we’re late for a doctor’s appointment. Tata is pulling the car around, talk soon.”

Rainy sent a quick message wishing them good luck and leaned her head back against the seat.

19

Then

They weren’t allowed watches, so she had no way of knowing what time it was. Dawn and Frank came to get her, and just like Sara said, they took her to Ama and Tom’s room.

“Why do I have to stay here?”

Dawn pretended not to hear. Sara had told her she’d have to wait at least an hour before Sara could come and free her, but the wait already felt agonizing. She pounded the door with both fists in frustration. Sara would come. She had to. It was Summer’s only chance.