“You have a son?” I exclaimed.

Violeta had told me she had a son, but in the chaos after she’d died, I’d failed to connect the dots to Ben.

I had a nephew.

Ben blinked at me, tugging on his eyebrows, but didn’t reply.

I broke eye contact and looked down, righteous anger flaring in me. He’d raised a child in a drug ring, with a mother who was clearly a psychopath. And he hadn’t even bothered to tell me, his own sister, about him.

“What’d the cops say?” Gabe asked.

“Her body was found downriver from Skamania Falls,” Ben said. “They think she went over the waterfall.”

Gabe and I both murmured condolences.

“How did she end up in the falls?” I asked.

“Autopsy said she overdosed. They think she shot up and then fell in the water.” Ben inhaled another mouthful of smoke, letting it seep deep into his lungs as his eyes darted around. “I told them Violeta doesn’t do drugs. Not drugs that take needles, anyway.”

His gaze landed on Gabe, hazy and dull. “Where did you last see her?” he asked.

“I told you, man—I dropped her off back at her car in the Target parking lot after we met Emma at the mill,” Gabe replied.

Ben smoked some more while plucking at his eyebrows. My skin prickled with sweat, the lie vibrating in the air. Could he see it written like ink across our faces?

Ben blinked hard. “That isn’t anywhere near the river.”

Fear crouched on my chest, like a pillow over my mouth and nose. Gabe’s eyes flicked to mine, waiting for me to answer. When I stayed silent, he spoke up.

“She’d, uh, done a few lines of coke. She said it was ‘mom’s night out’ so she was celebrating.”

“That’s true,” I pitched in, finally finding my voice. “Her eyes were dilated. She had a nosebleed.”

“Violeta was scared of water. She almost drowned when she was a kid. She wouldn’t have gone in voluntarily.” Ben shook his head. “I think something happened to her.”

“Maybe those guys in the truck that was here?” I suggested. “They looked dangerous. Who were they?”

Ben shook his head. “Nah. That was just the boyfriend of one of my girls.”

I started, horrified. “But, Ben, he looked like he was going to beat her!”

Ben shrugged and flicked a long strand of ash onto the ground. “Bad people get away with doing bad things all the time. It’s not my problem. Or yours.” He glanced at his watch. “I gotta go. Thanks for dropping that stuff off.” He clapped Gabe on the back and turned to get in the van. “See ya round, Em.”

“Wait.” I held out a hand. “I want in. Violeta said we had a deal.”

Ben side-eyed me.

“No.”