She wished she could talk to her dad. She used to be so close to him, up until her parents’ divorce. It was like he was a completely different person. Dating a lot of women, buying an expensive car, working too much to make money to buy stuff he didn’t need. He’d never yelled at her or hurt her, but sometimes she wished she had told him he’d become a jerk. It was like he had to prove to her mom that he wasn’t the loser she thought he was. And her mom was no better. She remarried and raised a second family, her new husband’s three kids, and it felt too much like she and Chrissy were being replaced. Candace knew that wasn’t true, but nine times out of ten her mom opted to spend time with the younger kids over her and Chrissy. “They need me more,” was her excuse.

No way was Candace going to share anything with her parents.

She looked at her phone. A prepaid phone she’d bought last week because she thought someone had been spying on her. It seemed ridiculous, but she couldn’t shake the feeling, and after the party on Friday, she was pretty certain someone had been looking through her phone. Hard to prove, but she didn’t bring it with her to Kingman. Couldn’t risk getting Alexa in trouble if someone was tracking her.

It seemed unlikely when she thought about it, but so many odd things had happened she couldn’t shake this uneasy feeling.

It was after eleven. She’d been sitting in her car for an hour feeling sorry for herself. She needed to sleep, she needed to think. Maybe in the morning she’d have answers.

She walked into the dorm. Since it was late, most everyone was in their room. She didn’t see anyone as she went up to the third floor where she and Annie shared a room. She hoped Annie was there—she had the most level head of anyone she knew. Annie could talk sense into Taylor. Or tell Candace that she was wrong.

You’re not wrong. Stop letting Taylor get into your head!

The room was dark; Candace flipped on the lights. Annie wasn’t there. She hadn’t come back yet. Her grandmother had early-stage Alzheimer’s, and Annie went home almost every weekend to spend time with her. Candace understood that: if Chrissy had a serious medical issue, Candace would do everything she could to spend as much time with her sister as possible.

She hoped Annie got back soon.

Candace put her small overnight bag on the floor next to her bed and was about to change into her pajamas when something caught her eye.

Something out of place on her desk.

Her notebooks were in disarray, and the blue one that she knew she’d left on top was now on the bottom.