Amelia yawned, her eyes glazed over as she stared down at the grave site. Lauren felt bad about having to wake Amelia up so early but she wanted to get a jumpstart on their trip. She was certain Whitney was searching for them. Possibly the police, as well.

“You ready?” Lauren asked.

Amelia nodded.

When they’d first come up with this road trip idea, Amelia had been much more excited. Today she was subdued. Almost regretful. Clearly, she was having second thoughts. And Lauren shouldn’t have been surprised. Not after the DNA results came back inconclusive yesterday. Amelia wanted to believe it meant something. She’d even said as much.

Maybe your theory isn’t correct, she’d said to Lauren, a hopeful lilt in her tone. Maybe the birthmarks are a coincidence.

But they weren’t. Lauren was right. She was sure of it. The DNA test was only inconclusive because she didn’t turn in a cheek swab from Whitney. She’d stolen some hair out of her brush, and taken a cup, hoping they could lift the saliva. But the company said they needed a cheek swab.

Lauren kicked herself for not leaving yesterday. She only waited for the DNA results because she wanted to give Amelia one last chance to decide if she wanted to turn her mom in or not. But she should’ve known waiting would be a mistake.

“Come on.” She nudged Amelia playfully in the side. “If we leave now, we can be at the beach by this afternoon.”

Amelia smiled. Lauren figured that would get her. Amelia had chosen Santa Cruz as their first stop. They’d already booked their motel.

“You know, my grandparents live in Santa Cruz,” Amelia said, a wistful grin on her face.

Lauren’s stomach tightened. “We can’t visit them. Not today.”

“Can I at least call my dad and let him know I’m okay?”

Lauren shook her head.

“Michael?”

“Don’t you mean Phil Lopez?” she joked, and Amelia laughed. “I still can’t believe your mom didn’t put that together. Hard Knocks is a pretty popular band.”

“If they weren’t around in the ’90s, my mom’s never heard of them,” Amelia said, smiling, as if she was proud of herself for keeping this secret from her mom.

Lauren thought about all the secrets she’d been forced to keep. Back when her dad was alive, she kept them to protect herself from his wrath. From his explosive temper and fast-flying fists. And then later on in foster care she had to hide things from the other kids, and some of the grubby-handed foster care parents.