Moving to put a kettle on, Mia tried to attach coherency to the jumbled thoughts that she could barely get a hold of herself.

“Do you know what I told Cash that first night at the bar?”

“Hmm?”

“That these types of cases, the kinds we solve”—Mia gestured between them—“they come down to people.”

“Yeah,” Izzy agreed.

It was rare these days. With DNA testing and new technology, solving crimes more often than not had to do with waiting for labs to process samples rather than the old ideal of gumshoeing together clues and piecing together mysteries.

“Okay, so wrong conclusions,” Izzy prodded when Mia didn’t continue.

Mia blinked and swayed, unfocused for a minute, exhaustion seizing on her distraction. “Right.” She pressed the heel of her palm against her eye until lights popped behind the lid. “So with Charles, okay? I always thought of him as adoring of Bix. Seemed like a good guy when I was growing up.”

Izzy nodded but didn’t say anything.

“But Jimmy thinks he was abusive. Or near abusive? If the girls were scared of him, that implies something at least,” Mia said, not sure if she was even making sense. “And after you came back from the bar, you had mentioned you got that impression, too?”

“Just a feeling,” Izzy shrugged. “Nothing concrete.”

“Exactly,” Mia said. “And Cash, too. Never would I have said he’d be violent.”

“Right up until he hauled you off your feet and almost slammed you against the house,” Izzy said. “Don’t think that’s a wrong conclusion.”

“But Mama was shocked,” Mia continued. “About his behavior. Which means it probably was unusual.”

“And wouldn’t you have said Monroe and Asher were all puppy love all the time?” Izzy asked.

Mia snapped her fingers. “Yes. I would have thought they had been pretty serious. Not that she was sleeping with some older guy.”

The kettle screamed, and they both jumped, wound too tight from their walk home. Mia reached for the mugs. “It’s like an alternate universe. Sliding past this one. One tiny change and everything about reality has shifted,” Mia said, wondering if she was toeing the line to delirious.

“So which timeline is the true one?” Izzy asked.

“Hell if I know,” Mia said, making Izzy honk out a big, unattractive, yet genuine laugh.

Izzy took the tea Mia poured her, blowing the steam off the surface. “Okay, come on. Say you hadn’t talked to anyone on this fucking island.”

Mia rolled her eyes at the obscenity, but she saw Izzy’s point. They were getting bogged down in everyone else’s point of view. They needed to scrape that back, look at the facts.