“So what do we do now?” Hope asked. “Call the police? Give ourselves up?”

The Hatchers spoke over each other, Jess saying he knew this was a mistake as Ellie blurted, “You can’t be that stupid.”

Hope rose to her feet. “Are you fucking kidding me—”

Lindsay held her hands up in a T. “Stop. Everyone stop. No one’s going to the police. Hope, please, sit down. They’re right. You’d be giving yourself up for nothing and could face felony murder charges. What about this woman, TC? Do we need to worry about her?”

“She passed away several years ago,” Jess said.

“I’m sorry to hear that,” she mustered. “But that means you’re really the only one alive who can definitively place yourself, Hope, and Alex at that house the night of the shooting.”

“And I assure you I have absolutely no plans to do that.” Jess Hatcher’s tone was softer than his sister’s. “I came to terms with what happened a long time ago. I still feel guilty sometimes that the case never got solved, but we were practically kids at the time. A life sentence for being in the wrong place at the wrong time? What kind of system is that?”

Hope turned to Lindsay. “I think we should tell them,” she said softly.

“Tell us what?” Ellie insisted. “I thought we were on the same page here. My brother did not have to help you. We’re either all in, or I’m going to find a way to make life very difficult for both of you.”

Lindsay had no doubt the detective would be true to her word. It was a good thing they were on the same side now. “I located Alex Lopez’s older sister,” she said. “Her name’s Emilia. She told me Richard Mullaney assaulted her when she was fourteen years old—at that camp we talked about. Alex recognized Mullaney’s pictures at the house. That’s why he flew into a rage.”

“Oh shit.” Jess Hatcher gave her an anguished look. “If I had known, I might have joined in.”

“So if Lopez was the one who killed Mullaney,” Ellie said, “his sister’s abuse would be a powerful motive.”

Lindsay felt Hope’s eyes on her again. She nodded for her to pick up the narrative.

“It’s not a matter of if,” Hope said. “Alex admitted to his sister that he was the one who pulled the trigger—an accident, he said, after the two of them got into a struggle in the driveway. He called her two weeks ago, saying he had decided to confess. No one saw him again until they pulled his body from the water.”

“And that”—Lindsay held up an index finger for emphasis—“is another reason why neither of you should tell anyone what you know about that night. Someone obviously doesn’t want the truth about Mullaney’s murder to come out.”