We start to walk again, toward his front door. He’s nodding to himself, still processing what I’m asking of him. To do this right, he’ll have to dive back into all sorts of painful feelings. Stepping up will hurt, maybe a lot.

“Who was her best friend before you?”

“Caitlyn Muncy, in sixth and seventh grade. But she’s sort of a bitch.”

“She might be, but I’ll bet she’ll help anyway. She holds a piece of Cameron. Get her to show it to you.”

“How do I do that?” He stops in place, pulling on the straps of his backpack as if it’s just grown heavier. All of this has been too hard already. “What if I screw it up?”

I recognize the signs of panic whirling through him. He reminds me of myself at so many moments. Whenever the stakes have been high, and I’ve cared too much. Like right now.

“You won’t,” I tell him gently. “You love her. All of this is about love.”

—

My next stop is the Curtises’, to get them on board somehow. Troy happens to be away for the day, an emergency meeting at Paramount, Emily explains after she’s buzzed me in and offered tea. I feel irritated with him but not surprised. The greater emergency in his own home is probably too much to take without some sort of escape hatch. Plus his life has been exploding for some time. His doing, yes, but it makes sense that he wants to be somewhere else as the pieces continue to fall.

“Do you have anything new to share?” she asks from one side of the pale marble island in her kitchen, chrome and glass gleaming all around.

“Another girl has been reported missing, down in Gualala. We don’t know yet if this has anything to do with Cameron. No one’s seen her since June.”

Without moving, Emily seems to falter. “All this waiting and not knowing. I don’t know how I can keep doing it.”

“Just try to take it one day at a time if you can. Sometimes it helps to find an outlet. You can talk to Cameron, or write notes to her. Let her hear you.”

When she looks up, Emily’s eyes have filmed over. “Okay.”

“We went over to Napa to talk to Drew and Lydia.”

Her breath catches audibly. “You did?”

“We polygraphed them both. It’s standard to interview any family members,” I say without tipping my hand. “I also spoke with Steve Gonzales. We don’t believe he’s involved in any wrongdoing, but he did share a little about Cameron’s writing. It seems she showed him work that was pretty dark. He wonders if it might have been autobiographical.”

“Was she really so unhappy here?” Emily’s voice sounds small and wounded. “I should have been paying more attention.”