Josh continues to flip backward through the pages, studying the pictures with surprising intensity. When he gets to the N’s, I hold my breath. But Tim is right. They left Shane out of the yearbook.

I look over Josh’s shoulder, at all the old faces. Flipping pages backward, he passes Brandon Jensen and my chest tightens at the words “In Memoriam” under his name. That should never have happened.

“Wait,” I say. “Stop.”

Josh freezes on the page with the H names. I slide the book away from him and look down at the page on the right. I stare at the photograph in the bottom right-hand corner. The name underneath is written in bold capital letters.

Marcus Hunt.

Oh my God, it’s Officer Hunt.

I would never have recognized him if I didn’t know it was him. He had hair back then—fine and golden, like on a baby chick. I recognize him vaguely, remembering him as being a tall and gangly boy with thick glasses.

Why didn’t Hunt tell me we went to high school together?

I tap the photograph with my index finger. “Tim, do you remember this guy?”

“Yeah. Mark Hunt. I remember him.”

I shake my head. “I’m having a little trouble placing him.”

“He was kind of a weird kid.” Tim drops his voice a notch. “Some football players you might have known beat him up bad enough to put him in the hospital once.”

And suddenly, it all makes sense. Why Hunt hates Shane so much. Why he’s made it his mission to torture him.

That asshole lied to me. And I’m going to make sure he knows that I know what he’s doing.

Chapter 31

ELEVEN YEARS EARLIER

Kayla is dead.

It’s obvious—I know it right away. I know it before Tim goes to feel for her pulse with a shaking hand, the bat gripped in his other hand. I know it before Chelsea collapses onto the ground, kneeling with her face inches from the floor. I feel like doing the same thing.

Keep it together. You’ve got to keep it together, Brooke.

Tim backs away from Kayla’s body. He looks even more shaken than he did when we found Brandon. After all, he was kissing this girl only hours earlier. That’s got to be a shock.

And this is different. When Brandon was found dead outside the farmhouse, it seemed possible that some random psycho had been wandering by and maybe Brandon got in a fight with him because that’s what Brandon does. But this is different. Kayla was inside the house. Which means whoever did this to her was inside the house.

And they’re probably still here.

“You!” Shane’s pointing a finger at Tim. “You did this.”

“Me?” Tim clutches his chest. “Are you out of your mind?”