And then there’s another photo I don’t understand. It’s Bella, looking just as I remember her, smiling and happy, her camera strap hanging off her shoulder. But standing next to her, standing too close to her, is Sean, and they look…they look together. Both seventeen, arms around each other, they stand together looking like boyfriend and girlfriend. I don’t remember this. Sean’s words about Bella and Jack, about their connection—was it just a smoke screen?

I stroke Bella’s smiling face in the photo. Was it after this weekend that she stopped sleeping, started sneaking out at night? I don’t remember it being a sudden thing. Wasn’t it gradual, the change in my sister? Gradual enough for me not to notice anything strange. She just changed. But doesn’t everyone at seventeen?

“Surprising, huh?” Lena says. “I always thought it was Jack she had the hots for. But looking at these—well, it could be Greg and Sean, right?” She reaches for the photos but I pull them out of reach.

“It’s okay. You can keep them,” she says. “But you might want to show them to the police.”

Chapter 29

Chapter 29

I close the door to my room and sit on the bed, spreading out the photos Lena gave me on the quilt. I bite my lip. Am I imagining it? The closeness I see between Bella and Sean? Does it even matter? I hesitate and take photos of them on my phone and send them to Sophie. She’s got the distance from this that I lack—she’ll be able to tell me if I’m being paranoid. I wait a few moments, then FaceTime her, closing my eyes as I wait for her to answer. It’s only been a few days since I’ve seen Sophie, but with all that’s been going on, it feels more like months, like Jack’s stopped clocks have done their trick and locked me in a never-ending time loop where I bounce from Julia’s deathbed to questions from the police and back again, over and over. I’m wrung out, exhausted, and, right now, all I want in the world is to be sprawled on the sofa of my city flat with Sophie, sharing a bottle of wine and watching crap on Netflix.

“Tess?” I feel a wave of relief as Sophie’s face fills the screen.

“Hey, Soph. Did you see the photos I sent?” I ask.

“Why? What’s going on?”

“I’m sorry, Soph. I know I’ve been a bit…It’s Jack. Jack’s messing with me, he’s been messing with me for weeks. That text—I never sent it, I swear. It was Jack. He thinks I had something to do with Greg and he…he’s trying to…I don’t know what he’s trying to do, but he’s manipulative. He’s dangerous.”