It was only for Kelly’s sake that Marshall answered. They would never find good news for her, but they could perhaps give her a measure of peace. Her husband’s question had stopped her underwater battling. She sagged in his hands, her chalky face turned toward them.

“Yes,” Marshall said, just as Bree said, “Of course we will.”

As they let themselves out, they could hear Kelly braying at her husband, ungainly and unsober. “What did you do? What did you do? What did you do?”

As soon as the front door closed, Bree sagged against it, her eyes welling. “God, Marshall. That question. ‘What did you do?’ It’s what I have to ask my husband. It’s what I have to ask Trey.”

“You drive,” Marshall told her, fishing out his keys. “It’s two hours. I’ll have the answer long before we’re home.”

15

I drove so Marshall could work on his phone and laptop, searching for Lexie Pine. We agreed to go forward as if she were the daughter. It was the only thing that made sense, we told each other. What we didn’t say, not out loud, was that she was also our only lead. If we were wrong, or if we couldn’t find her, then Robert was lost to me.

Once I had us on the highway, I asked Siri to read my messages. According to Trey’s texts, he’d gotten the hotel to ship his suitcase and gone to the airport to sit standby, hoping to get on an earlier flight. While we were in the Wilkerson house, he snagged the last seat on the four-o’clock. Spence had died less than twenty-four hours ago, but Trey was desperate to get home to support his parents and extended family and also check in with key clients, most of whom Spence had wooed. I glanced at my watch, then set the cruise control a little faster; he was already in the air.

In coach. Right by the toilet, but at least I’ll be home soon. Pour bleach on everything, please? Sorry, but I can’t get your flu. Mom is wrecked. She practically thought of Spence as a second son.

Siri read the messages with no inflection, but I could hear my husband in the phrasing. He also asked if I was feeling any better and if I’d talked to the girls. He told me he loved me and to kiss Robert for him, and he asked me to check in as soon as I could. My silence was beginning to worry him, I could tell.