Maggie had wanted to come in before she left to go back to her house, but Vanessa just couldn’t let her. She was appreciative of everything that she’d done for her family, but she just couldn’t. She did manage to thank her and when Maggie had thrown her arms around her, she returned the hug.

She touched Wren’s laptop. She didn’t even know the password to get into it. His phone was lying beside the laptop. She knew the pin to that one: Ty’s birthday. She smiled. A nice touch.

His phone had been returned along with his wallet. Could she do it? Could she actually go through Wren’s private messages and emails? She’d had no problem going through Olivia’s most private thoughts. But that was different.

The phone opened and a lovely photo of Wren and Olivia popped up. She felt a wave of sadness pass through her. The app for messages was on the front page. With a shaking finger, she touched Olivia’s name. There was nothing past that Saturday, just under two weeks before her death. He hadn’t spoken to her at all. Maybe they did break up after all. It was a mystery to her. She clicked on Justin’s name. The last message from Justin read:

I’m coming to get you.

It was dated the day that Wren died. There was nothing before that until around the same time as Olivia’s last message. Either they weren’t talking for a bit or they were doing it in person – after all, Wren was with them the day he died – and if they weren’t talking, what was Wren doing with them in that car? Justin said they were just driving around, but why were they out in the middle of nowhere? Out past Wren’s favorite spot at the river? Still so many unanswered questions, questions that she’d probably never find answers to.

Vanessa didn’t realize that she was crying until she felt the wetness on her cheeks. Gently she wiped them away, then wiped her wet hand on her jeans. She left Wren’s bedroom, clutching the phone and closing the door with her other hand.

These days it felt like home wasn’t home anymore, and the less time spent here the better. She gave her dad a quick call just to say hi. It was a short and awkward conversation. She didn’t talk much and he didn’t ask any questions. Again, she wished her mom was there and she’d bet a hundred bucks he was thinking the same thing.