“I’ve been thinking,” she said. “I was a bit shocked when Lily turned up. I don’t trust people at the best of times, and certainly not someone you don’t recall. A person I’ve never met, and who claims she’s your girlfriend, but to whom you gave a fake name.” She sighed. “I don’t like it. Maybe you lied because you never trusted her to begin with. We invited her to our home. What if she’s a psycho?”

I threw my hands in the air. “I’ve no idea, but it seems unlikely, doesn’t it? Going to all that effort to find me? Coming all this way? I need to see her. She has information about me, information I badly need. It’s a huge breakthrough.”

Maya stared at me. “Did Dr. Adler say anything else about her being here?”

I knew she wouldn’t approve of him suggesting I spend time with Lily, so I said, “He was too busy playing vampire, the bloodthirsty bastard.” When Maya didn’t laugh, I added, “I’m going to do some research online before Lily comes over. And before you say I shouldn’t be on a screen—”

“I won’t.”

I frowned. “I thought you were adamant about me staying off them?”

She shrugged and grabbed a pen and piece of paper, writing down a sequence of letters and numbers. “Here’s my password. Want me to help you?”

I shook my head. “This is something I need to do alone.”

Maya looked at me for a second before giving me a nod. After she’d left the kitchen and headed upstairs, I reached for the laptop. Taking a deep breath, I took my time as I opened the lid and typed in Maya’s password, all the while trying to convince myself I was ready to find out the truth about who Jack Smith really was.

19

LILY

I’m not entirely sure how I made it back to my car, or when I realized I had to find a place to stay for the night. It was as if the logical part of my brain was still functioning somehow, and it took over, forcing me to drive through town. The choice of accommodation was between a hotel, which looked way out of my price range, and two more budget-friendly motels. After I’d gone past both twice, I pulled up in front of the Harbor Inn, which wasn’t anywhere close to the harbor, but was the only place with a vacancy sign. I parked the car and sat in the lot for a while, trying to come to terms with what had happened.