Dad muttered something under his breath that I couldn’t make out, “— the guy we tracked down took the full brunt, claimed he threatened a random citizen to help him and then let him go again. The warehouse on the outskirts of town is leased in his name too, unfortunately for us, it all stacks up and doesn’t give the police force any legal footing to stand on for an ongoing investigation. He handed the girl over and has now been charged, he’s being held whilst awaiting trial.”

Mum hesitated before asking,“But, you think there is more to all of this?”

“Dammit Laura, of course there is more to it!”

As I heard Dad raise his voice I hurried back towards my bed with tears stinging my eyes. Dad never yelled. My door creaked open slightly and Kyle tiptoed into my room.

“Hey Meadow — shhh it’s okay.” He soothed before he lay down beside me and wrapped me in his arms.

The next morning I awoke to voices, lots of them. Voices I didn’t recognise. Peeking down the hallway I saw the house buzzing with police. Mum was sitting at the dining table and Kyle was on the couch in the lounge room. But Dad, Dad was gone.

Chapter Eight

Jesse

I run my hand through my hair, and pick up my towel off the weight rack beside me. I’m distracted. It’s been a little over a week since Kinsley’s birthday, since she got a call that could give her answers to the past fourteen years.

I’ve been trying to give her space, waiting for her to confide in me, but by doing so, our message thread now only consists of random memes and videos captioned ‘this is so you’. She’s avoiding me.

What she seems to forget is that I’ve known her since she was six years old. She can’t pull the wool over my eyes. It doesn’t stop her trying though.

I grab my gym bag and head out, I’ll shower at home.

* * *

Cold water runs over my back, shit, how long have I been standing in here? I still can’t get Kinsley out of my head and I start work in an hour. I need to get it together. Damn Jesse, just call her dude.