“But they know it was you who called,” I said.

He shrugged. “I’m just a bystander,” he said.

I stared at him. “But you’re not.”

“There were lots of people in the park today,” he said. “Anyone might have called.”

“But they know it was your phone,” I said.

“It doesn’t matter,” he said.

“They can trace you to me.”

His mouth was tight, and he closed his eyes for a moment before he said anything. “I didn’t use my phone,” Bear said.

I felt in my pocket for mine, confused. “Whose phone did you use?” I asked.

“A burner,” he said. He shook his head a little. “I threw it out.”

“Why do you have a burner?” I asked. The whiskey was hitting me hard. I’d poured enough for him, which was too much for me.

“Look, it doesn’t matter,” he said. “Lay low. And I’ll take care of it.”

“I didn’t do it,” I said, full of confidence in that one second. “Did you?”

He looked at me hard, eyes blazing. “Oh my God, Shannon,” he shouted, and I ducked. “No,” he said.

“Why do you have a burner?” I hissed.

“Sometimes I need one,” he said, showing his teeth, the way he had with Meghan.

I tried to believe him.

“There’s nothing else for you to do right now,” he said.

TWENTY-FOUR: KATERI

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 1

At the station, Kateri makes another full pot of coffee and goes into her office alone. Hurt went home before he came in, to shower and change, and she won’t blame him if he’s taking a quick nap. She can’t believe he was up all night.

She logs in to the state database and does another search for Bear Miller. Again she finds nothing out of the ordinary. He attended the University of Vermont. Is still listed as legally married, though she’s never seen or heard anything about a wife. She doesn’t know why she thinks she’ll find something this time when she didn’t last time. But part of her feels certain there’s something not there, something redacted, something sealed.

She could press charges.

On what? she thinks. The threat? He’d say she pushed him down the stairs. And probably have the bruises to prove it.

She wants to walk down to Shannon’s cell and ask him outright, “Did Bear Miller kill your mother? Did Bear Miller kill the cop? Did he take your sister? What has he done to you?”

But she knows he’s tight-lipped and protective of Bear.

If she arrests Bear, who will pay for Shannon’s defense? It’s a sure bet that without it he’ll be convicted. Of something he probably didn’t do. Possibly something he was forced to watch someone else do.

Joel Hurt opens her door without knocking and she jumps, and he jumps. She spills coffee down her work pants and grabs a handful of tissues to mop it up.

“Someone spotted the girl,” he says, and hands her a report. “And your report came back. There’s blood that’s not a match for Pearl or Shannon or the girl.”