Morgan nodded. Yes. What was this strange new world into which she’d tumbled? Walking into the Reynolds estate really was like wandering through a wardrobe. Everything was better here. Nicer. Even the people. Who just gave someone—a stranger, essentially—thousands of dollars’ worth of gifts?

“You really don’t know what this means to me.” A tear slipped down her cheek and she let it. She could help her parents catch up on bills. Buy a new car. Leave. “I don’t know how I can ever repay you.”

Don handed steaming mugs to both Cora and Eleanor. He returned to the espresso bar, pouring a shot of whiskey into his own.

“You could grace us with your presence again,” suggested Eleanor. When Morgan looked at Bennett, she added: “Come to the cabin with us. For New Year’s.”

“Cabin?” Morgan reached back in her memory for the last batch of photos she’d scanned, and thought she remembered catching glimpses of an A-frame structure in the woods.

“Aw, yes!” said Cora, as though speaking for Morgan. “That would be so fun. We go up every year. Well … we do now, again.”

“It’s a hike,” said Carlisle as she hopped up to sit on top of the breakfast bar. She took her hat off to reveal a head of short blond hair, shaved on one side. And when David wandered in through the sun porch smelling of aerosol and standing next to her, she knew where she’d seen the two of them before.

The Ruins.

Carlisle’s mouth twitched like she could read Morgan’s mind. The key burned the inside of her wrist. It was possible that they had been the ones to leave it for her, Morgan thought. That the black sheep of the family had lured her home.

Suddenly, she felt Bennett take her hand. “Well, what do you say?” he asked.

How long had Morgan sat there, staring silently at the pair of them? Their presence awakened something inside her. Fear. Dread. A homesickness for a place she no longer had. The smell of spray paint took her back to the night of the shooting. I found you. Her head swam.

“Yes,” she answered finally, only to appease the Reynoldses. She would cancel later. And as she gathered her things, she noticed how David’s and Carlisle’s eyes never left her. They weren’t sheep at all. They were wolves.

20 HUDSON

The knock at his front door sent Pip bounding off the couch. Her nails clacked against the hardwood floors as she scurried through the kitchen, Hudson at her heels. He squinted through his taped glasses to see who was at his doorstep.

Miserelli’s red hair looked like a firework, all kinked and shooting off in every direction, as it did when not tied in a low bun.

He drew in a deep breath and opened the door.