“I think Dad being the lead suspect in a murder investigation is more important than school or lacrosse.”

“Lead suspect? Oh, god—is that what the new stories are saying?”

“Not exactly, but it’s heavily implied. Allegedly this, allegedly that. There was a whole group of friends, travelling together, and one of them went missing. Dad was the one who brought her there.” I could tell Paige was upset by her quick intakes of breath, and the way the words tumbled out of her. “People—people I thought were friends—have actually asked me outright if my dad is going to be arrested for murder!”

“Paige, listen to me.” I forced my voice to go into Mom Mode. Calm, neutral, assured. “Dad did not do anything wrong. He is not going to be arrested. And you are certainly not going to leave school because of this.”

“But do you know what really happened? To that girl? The model?”

“No, I don’t,” I admitted. “And neither does your dad. All I know is that when she first disappeared, it was assumed that she’d had too much to drink and drowned, and that’s why her body was never found. Everyone thought it was an accident. A terrible accident.”

“But it wasn’t an accident.”

“It doesn’t look that way, no.”

But even as I said the words, an alternate—and unwanted—scenario suddenly popped into my thoughts. What if Hannah had died accidentally? What if she’d overdosed on drugs, and rather than report her death to the police, the others had panicked, carried her away from the campsite, and buried her body? It was possible, I realized. James and Nico were both surgical residents at the time. Getting charged with drug possession could have derailed their careers. I’d never known James to take drugs of any kind, even if he did drink more back in those days. He didn’t even like taking ibuprofen when his back hurt. But Parker had always been wild. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if he’d done some heavy partying.

But I kept running into the same problem: I simply couldn’t see James going along with anything like that. I knew my husband. James was a good person, the sort of person who always tried to do the right thing. It was deeply, intrinsically important to him, to his view of who he was in the world. Even when he made a mistake—like not telling me about his engagement to Hannah—there was some altruistic reason, like not wanting to cause me pain. If Hannah had died accidentally, he would have called for help, damn the consequences to his career.

“Mom? Why aren’t you saying anything?” Paige’s voice had grown anxious again. “This is ridiculous, something’s obviously going on, and you’re not telling me. I should be there.”

“No,” I said firmly. “Everything is going to be fine. Don’t worry.”