“Look!” cried Dylan. He pressed the chisel forward so that his brother might inspect it. The chisel’s blade was caked with bluish wax. “This is what they used to sculpt it! And look down there!” Dylan pointed to the concrete floor, which had been stained barn-red. The paint was bubbled and peeling. Moving nearer, Will smelled flowers and something like old potatoes. There was a drain grill set into the floor. “I’ll bet you they just lifted this grate and sent that thing downstream toward our house. Listen! You can hear the current through the grate. I watched this house all night from the banks, just waiting for them to leave for work. I knew it must have come from them. I knew it!”

“From who?” Will managed. “Dylan, whose house is this?” He lifted his hand. “Up there. Up there I saw…” He swallowed. “Dylan…what happened to Julie?”

Dylan was already crouching down to pry the grill from its nest. He looked up at his brother. His expression was one of shock. “There is no Julie,” he said, as though it was the dullest of facts. “I made her up.”

“But her pictures…upstairs there are…”

“I know. I copied all her photos from her social media account. Her real name is Chantal. She and her husband have lived in Baintree for a few years now. I’ve never met her, I just like the way she looks, so I made her my wife.”

Will shook his head. “But there are all those photos of the two of you on your profile,” he protested. “And with other people as well.”

Dylan shrugged. “Photoshop. None of those people exist. The names of all my friends on social media? They’re all fake accounts that I created. In fact, you’re the only real person out of any of my online friends. The others are just stolen pictures and fabricated names.”

Will bent over. It was as if his brother’s revelation had struck him in the solar plexus. “Why?” he whispered. “Why, Dylan?”

“It wasn’t supposed to go this far. I never thought you’d actually come, even if I did post news about my wife leaving me. You shouldn’t have come back here.”

“Neither of us should be here, not this house. This is crazy! Now let’s go. Let’s go home. We’ll talk about it there, not here.”

“Not until I see if this is how they sent it downriver. Help me lift this grate up.”

Will was stock-still. A revelation had caused him to seize up. It took a great deal of willpower just to bring his hand to his pocket and free his brother’s cell phone.

“What is it?” Dylan spat.

“She called you. Julie called you. You heard her voice. Let me hear her message. Dylan? I want to hear that message.”