I thanked her and quickly hung up. The walls of the shed were quaking. Through the back window I could see the river raging like an open ocean. If Jasper was unlucky enough to end up down there, then down there he would stay.

Tell Tim. I pressed my hands over my eyes. Where would I even begin? There was no way I could tell him, not now. Maybe not ever.

My conversation with McIntyre still fresh in my mind, I flipped open my notebook and started to map out the case. Back at the Ninth Precinct, I’d have an interactive whiteboard or touch screen to help me picture the connections I’d made. All I’d get in A-Bay was a communal bulletin board.

Out on the island, pen and paper would have to do.

There were links all over the place. Our witnesses all had ties to Jasper and to each other. They interacted in the city, on the island, at work. By the time I was done with my preliminary visualization, the notebook page was filled with scribbles and lines and I was staring at what looked like a distorted family tree.

When I stepped back outside I could swear my nose hairs frosted up. The house loomed tall before me as I struggled against the force of the wind. The rain was relentless, painful on my exposed skin. I was dying for a hot coffee and desperately needed to pee, and I wasn’t sure how to go about resolving either issue. Being at the Sinclairs was like visiting a great-aunt’s house when you’re a kid. You tiptoe around without touching anything, and deep down you just want to go home.

My gaze returned to the second-floor windows. Flynn and Ned’s bedroom was on the other side of the house, and Camilla’s was upstairs. Norton’s sleeping quarters were on the main floor, so the rooms on either side of Jasper’s must belong to Bebe and Miles, and Jade. In one of the windows a curtain twitched and a pale flash caught my eye. I squinted up at it. What on earth? Jade was in her bedroom, and damned if she wasn’t smoking a cigarette. Behind the pane she took a drag, looked down at me, and smiled.

I watched the teenager, and she watched me. Jade hadn’t factored into my investigation yet, but this wine-guzzling, cigarette-smoking child would need to be vetted just like everyone else. After a minute she broke eye contact. She’d grown bored with me, I guess. Funny how she didn’t seem bothered by my presence on the island, let alone the fact that she woke up this morning to find her fun-loving uncle was gone.

Jade disappeared behind the curtain, but I stayed put. What was it Tim said earlier? Jade spent a lot of time brooding in her room.

And from that room, she had a perfect view of the shed.

THIRTEEN

I was the kind of wet that wraps you in gooseflesh and blast-freezes your bones. Dripping all over the mudroom floor, I did my best to clean off my boots and shivered out of my jacket. Then I crouched down on the tiles.