Harper lunged out of bed, scrambling around in the dark to put on her clothes. Alex kept talking outside, but she hadn’t really heard much of anything after he said that Gemma was gone. She was pulling on her sweater as she ran out the front door, and Alex was still standing below her now-empty bedroom, talking up to it.

“Alex, come on!” Harper ran around to the side of the house to flag him, then hurried over to her Sable parked in the driveway and got in. As soon as Alex hopped in the car, she asked, “You’re sure she went to the bay?”

“No,” he admitted. “She wouldn’t tell me where she was going. But knowing Gemma, where else would she go?”

Harper put the car in reverse and floored it, making it squeal out of the driveway. Alex didn’t say anything, but he put on his seat belt.

“What did she say to you? Are you sure she’s running away? Maybe she just went for a swim.”

“No, I tried to go with her because the killer’s on the loose.” He pressed his arm against the window glass, steadying himself as Harper flew around a corner. “But she wouldn’t let me go with her.”

“Dammit.” Harper hit the steering wheel. “I knew she was acting weird today. I knew it, and I didn’t…” She shook her head, remembering all the things Gemma had told her. “She was saying good-bye.”

“But why?” Alex asked, pulling her from her thoughts. “Why is she doing this?”

“I don’t know. It’s not like Gemma. She never runs from a fight. Whatever she’s running from has to be pretty terrible.”

Harper got to the bay in record time. She didn’t stop soon enough and actually skidded out onto the dock, making the wooden planks quake under the car. As soon as the car came to a complete halt, she leaped out and started yelling for Daniel.

“Who’s Daniel?” Alex asked, chasing after Harper.

“He has a boat,” she explained quickly.

The docks were dimly lit, and when she couldn’t see his boat, she had this horrible moment of panic, realizing he might be gone. It was a boat. He could leave at any time.

Then the lights flicked on inside the cabin of The Dirty Gull, and she ran toward it. He still wasn’t on the deck when she reached it, so she slapped her hands against the side of the hull, trying to hurry him.

“Daniel!” Harper yelled.

“First your car wakes me up, now you’re hitting my boat.” Daniel finally emerged from the cabin, rubbing his eyes. He’d managed to put his jeans on, but they were still unbuttoned. “What’s the emergency?”