“It may not matter,” said Mac. “You did what you were supposed to and identified Brett’s killer. That should be enough to point us to Trey.” She tapped her toe on the rug. “You collected accounts from a lot of people. What do they have in common?”

“With the exception of Cheryl, all of our witnesses interacted with Brett the same night.”

“So what happened at the drive-in pretty much sealed Brett and Crissy’s fates,” said Mac.

“Totally. The conversations, the interactions—if it wasn’t for that movie, nothing would have played out the same way.” The truth is out there. “The drive-in is the common thread,” I said. “Maybe that’s the clue we’re missing.”

Tim sat up a little straighter. “You said his clues link the past to the present, right? There’s a drive-in in A-Bay. Right on Route 26.”

I felt my own spine go rigid. “All the key locations in this case have related to Swanton somehow. Swan Bay. Swan Hollow.” I turned to face Mac full on.

She said, “It’s worth a try. It’ll be closed for the season, though.”

“Let’s check it out,” I said. “Let’s go right now.”

I was ready to argue my case, but Tim and Mac were already setting down their mugs and crossing the room to retrieve their boots. They knew as well as I did it had taken too long to get to this point. Trey was four days gone, and that was four days too many.

At the door I said, “Hey, Mac. Happy birthday.”

Barely managing a smile, she said, “I know what I want to wish for.”

* * *

At first I couldn’t work out why I hadn’t thought of the drive-in myself. Carson had taken me all over A-Bay to familiarize me with my new home, and we’d traveled NY-26 many times, but drive-ins weren’t his scene, and with its long, high wall separating the field and parking lot from the road, the screen was barely visible over the barrier. I didn’t see it in its entirety until Mac turned onto a lane that cut a trail through a vast expanse of farmland. The chain that had been strung across the entrance by the star-spangled ticket booth lay coiled on the ground. It made a circular depression in the light layer of snow.

Though I saw no car, there were fresh tire tracks on the road, and they led to a low building that was part restaurant, part snack bar. Instead of turning into the parking lot, we drove past the property line. Once we were out of view of the canteen windows, we parked and stepped out into the cold. Above the trees the sunrise was orange and teal, a candy-colored smear across the sky. Tim and Mac checked their weapons, and we backtracked to the entrance on foot.

From the outside, the seasonal building looked as deserted as I’d expected. Its takeout counter had been boarded up for winter, and the windows on either side of the door were black. The handles themselves were wrapped in a chain and secured with a heavy lock. We jogged to the corner of the structure and tried to see inside, but the darkness was profound. When Tim reached for his flashlight, I put a hand on his arm. If Bram was in there, we didn’t want to alert him to our presence until we had him in our sights.