Inside the shed, she found a pair of wire cutters. Then she ran to the fence, straight back like before, though it was harder to navigate with the sun so high in the sky.

Nic was out of breath when she reached the place where the hole had been cut. Nerves, exhaustion—all of it was crashing down.

She’d forgotten about the barbed wire and she didn’t have gloves. She took off one sneaker and put her hand inside it. She pushed the fence to see where it needed to be cut. The wire cutters were strong and they cut through it in seconds.

When she was on the other side, she put her sneaker back on, caught her breath.

She had just one thought now—Reyes knew where her mother was. He’d known the entire time. And he knew she was in a place that she wouldn’t leave. That was why he risked waiting to get the reward money. He knew he had the time.

And the reason he wanted the time? It was absurd, this thought, but his behavior, his obsession with her had to go back to Daisy Hollander. Nic and Daisy—that had to be why he waited. He wanted Nic to come back to Hastings. And come back alone.

Be smart now, she told herself. She took out her phone and pulled up the photo she’d taken of the satellite image. The one showing the house and the fence, and the inn. She took her best guess at the direction and she started to walk, through the woods, along a path that was most likely to get her to the house.

Be smart.

Reyes was a con man. He used his position as a cop to extort people. No chance it was just Kurt Kent who’d been on the receiving end.

Through the trees, over the wet brush of dead leaves and soil, the extent of his lies, his planning ran through her mind. Edith Bickman. The truck story. How he pretended not to know her, not to trust her, giving her a string of facts that he could then punch holes through—giving Nic a reason to stay. He knew she would find out about Watkins with his gray truck. And when he couldn’t figure out where Watkins had gone to get the broken light repaired, he created a fake invoice. Framing Watkins—but why? When he finally led Nic to her mother, she would tell them the truth—that Watkins wasn’t involved. And that would prove Edith Bickman was a liar, keep her from getting the money—and Reyes his share. Did he do all of this in the hope that Nic would fall for him? That he could have her as a replacement for Daisy Hollander?