“I’ll be right back,” Amelia said to her friend.

Lauren nodded as if giving her permission. “Okay, Millie.”

Heat rose to the surface of Whitney’s skin. “What did you call her?”

“Millie,” she said slowly, as if Whitney was hard of hearing.

“It’s a nickname,” Amelia said.

“I know that,” Whitney snapped. It had just taken her by surprise. She’d never heard anyone call Amelia that before.

Whitney smoothed down her hair. Then she beckoned Amelia to follow her as she made her way down the hallway. Amelia’s shoulders were slumped, and her footsteps so slow it was like she was trekking across a sandy beach.

When they made it into Whitney’s bedroom, she put a hand on her hip and cocked her head to the side. “What’s really going on?” she whispered to her daughter.

“Lauren told you. She didn’t want to be alone, so she came over,” Amelia deadpanned. “What’s the big deal, anyway? It’s not like I threw a party or something. It’s one friend.”

“I know, but you didn’t ask,” Whitney said. “And you both were acting kinda suspicious when I got home.”

“God, Mom, I’m not you, okay?” Amelia groaned. “I’m not gonna make the same dumb mistakes you did. Why can’t you see that?”

The words stung. But she was right. Sometimes Whitney forgot how different they were. Just because Whitney had taken a bad path at Amelia’s age, didn’t mean she would.

“Sorry. I guess I was just disappointed. I came home early, hoping we could spend some time together.”

“C’mon, Mom, we spend all our time together.”

It wasn’t true. At least not lately. But that wasn’t all Amelia’s fault, so Whitney kept her mouth shut. She was too tired to keep arguing. It seemed like all they did was talk in circles lately, anyway.

After Amelia left the room, Whitney closed the door and started taking off her jewelry. When she went to drop the earrings on top of her dresser, a chill brushed down her back. Her stuff had been moved, rearranged. Nothing was exactly as she’d left it.

The girls giggled through the adjoining wall.

Had they been in here?

She scoured the top of her dresser again. Nothing had been taken, that she could see. But things had definitely been moved.

Why?

She tried Jay again, but this time when he didn’t answer, she called McAvoy. After telling him about the missing money and her suspicions about Jay, she hung up and flung her body back down on the bed.

SATURDAY, 11:45 P.M.

She was floating in water, her body weightless. Warm. Bobbing up and down, swaying back and forth in a rhythmic pattern. Black nothingness surrounded her. Mind blank. Fuzzy.