“This is kid gloves compared to what the police will do.” Lindsay crossed her arms in front of her. “What happened to the rug?”

“I went back to the Stansfields’ the next morning—like, really early in the morning. Five a.m. I knew Evan had the open house, and I didn’t want him to walk in and see a bunch of blood.”

“Or a dead body?”

“God, no, Lindsay. You have to believe me. Alex Lopez was definitely alive when I left. When I got back the next morning, I drove around the neighborhood looking for his pickup before I parked. The lights at the house were still on, and the front door was unlocked. I saw the bloodstain on the rug, so I rolled it up, tossed it in my trunk, and got the hell out of there. I dropped it at the dump as soon as it opened and went straight back to the rental house.”

“Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?”

“Because you started talking about me turning myself in, and then ran off the second you got that phone call. What’s up with all this grilling? Did you find that woman who called? What did she say?”

“It was the woman who cut your hair at the Lock Box.”

Hope tilted her head. “Why would she call you?”

“She saw the flyers I posted.”

“She did my hair a couple of weeks ago. It makes sense she’d recognize me.”

“No, it’s more than that. You gave her my name?”

Hope scoffed. “No, I didn’t. I told her my name was Linda.”

“Why? Why would you do that?”

“My whole reason for coming here was to blend in for once. Not to be the town weirdo. When I was talking to the stylist, she seemed pretty fun, and I thought maybe I could make a new friend. Then when she asked me my name, I just sort of froze. I already told her I moved here from Hopewell. If you google Hope Miller and Hopewell, it turns up those early stories from when we were still trying to find someone who might know me. So I reached for a name, and out popped Linda.”

“She said you were asking her a million questions, especially about her boyfriend.”

Hope pressed her palms against her cheeks. “This is just cringeworthy, hearing about myself through someone else’s eyes. Look, I was obviously trying too hard. A little thirsty to make a new friend, okay? I really missed you.”

Lindsay felt heat in her chest, knowing that she should have listened to her instincts and driven to Long Island when she first thought something was wrong. “Then why did you keep icing me out?”