When he went back inside he locked the slider and went in search of coffee. He found a box of tea bags in the cabinet, but no sign of coffee. Letty’s room key was on the end table. He let himself out of the unit, saw that the lights were on in the office, and smiled. If the lights were on at his mother’s place, he knew the coffee would be hot. He locked the door behind him and went in search of caffeine.

“You’re up early,” Ava observed. She was standing behind the reception desk, rummaging through a pile of room keys. They were the old-school variety, with large diamond-shaped plastic tags bearing the Murmuring Surf logo and room numbers.

“You too.”

He went to the coffee maker and poured himself a mug, dumping in two packets of sugar. “What are you looking for?”

“The master key. Chuck had one, but I made him give it back when I kicked him out. Or, I thought I did.”

Joe scowled at the memory of Ava’s relationship with the late Chuck Sheppard. “He could have easily had another key made, you know. Doesn’t matter now. He’s dead. Anyway…”

The office door flew open. Letty was barefoot and wild-eyed. “Is Maya here with you? Is she upstairs?”

“No,” Ava said. “She’s not here. I haven’t seen her this morning.”

“She’s gone!” Letty wailed. “I just woke up, and she wasn’t in her bed or the pillow fort, and she wasn’t anywhere in the apartment.…”

“The sliding glass door was ajar when I got up,” Joe said, setting his coffee mug down. “I assumed we’d left it open last night.”

“No, I locked it,” Letty insisted. “And I double-checked last night. She must have gotten up while we were still sleeping.”

“What’s going on?” Vikki Hill emerged from the stairwell. “What’s this about Maya?”

“She’s gone!” Letty cried. “Oh my God. The pool. What if she wandered over there and fell in?”

“I’ll check the pool,” Joe said quickly.

“I’ll go down to the beach to look,” the FBI agent volunteered. “Maybe she’s playing mermaid in the sand.”

“Mom, can you and Letty check the rec room and the rest of the property? You might have to start knocking on doors. Maybe one of the guests spotted her.”

“Rooney. What if Rooney took her?” Letty clamped both hands over her mouth to keep herself from screaming.

Joe touched her shoulder. “We’re gonna find her. Okay? We’ll find her. If I have to tear this place apart, if I have to tear him apart, we’ll find her.”

Letty nodded. “I believe you.”

Letty’s heart pounded in her chest as she ran toward the rec room, and she repeated the only prayer she knew, the one she’d learned during a brief foray to a long-ago Sunday school class.