As I scrolled I found images of Jasper on his own, including a large collection that, according to the dates on the camera roll, were from July 4. Some were close-ups, but others had a creepy stalker quality. I felt sure Jasper didn’t know Jade was taking them.

The most recent photos had been snapped the previous day, and they were the only pictures of Jasper with Abella. Given the angle, I figured Jade took them from the house’s winding staircase. The couple stood face-to-face in the hall, between the library and the parlor. The first photo showed Norton in the background, moments after he passed by. I zoomed in to the second. By then Jasper and Abella were alone, and it was obvious from their expressions they were arguing.

When I asked Abella if she and Jasper had fought last night, she’d denied it. So what the hell was this? And why was Jade spying on them through the spindles of the stairs?

Jade and Jasper were twelve years apart, but Jasper was the youngest of the Sinclairs, and I could see them being friends. Flynn said the family didn’t get together much anymore, but Jade had been on Camilla’s island with Jasper for the Fourth of July weekend. Who else would she hang out with here if not him?

Back in the kitchen, when I demanded Jade’s phone, she insisted she hadn’t contacted anyone—and sure enough no e-mails, text messages, or calls had been made since our arrival. She’d been honest, but in a way that bothered me more than finding out she had lied. What kind of fourteen-year-old who finds herself in a situation like this doesn’t text her friends for sympathy and some attention? The kind who’s got a crush on an older guy, I thought grimly. Jade didn’t text her friends or spend time with them in the city because she was preoccupied with our missing man.

I looked down at my bandaged right hand. If Jade had intentionally burned me—and that was still a big if—the kid was seriously messed up. Did the photos mean she was obsessed with Jasper? Was Jade just a girl with a crush, or were she and Jasper having some kind of twisted affair?

“Detective Merchant?”

Abella approached the library’s open door. Right away I noticed her perfect manicure had taken a hit. The polish was flaking and her cuticles were red from where she’d nervously gnawed the skin. “Can I talk to you?”

I motioned for her to come in. “Jade’s phone,” I said when I caught her staring. “She and Jasper spend a lot of time together, huh?”

Her pillowy lips turned downward. “What do you mean?”

“Jade has pictures with him. Lots of Jasper alone, too.”

“Well yeah, he’s, like, her uncle.” Abella drew in a breath. “Oh my God. You’re not saying you think she and Jas . . .”

Jasper’s girlfriend looked shocked, but I couldn’t be sure the reaction was authentic. She’d omitted a key event from her account of the previous day. I pondered the possibility she and Jasper had argued about pretty little Jade. Was Jade trying to split them up? She knew Jasper planned to propose. Jade was the one who divulged it to Ned.