The camera zoomed in on the reporter’s face. “Such a devastating story of this missing man, Jack Smith. We’ll, of course, bring you the latest developments, and...” Her voice trailed off as I stopped listening, because a picture of Ash appeared on the screen, the one that had made me gasp. I’d never seen this particular photo before, and while he looked the same—his grin, the way his hair fell to one side—he also appeared different. Relaxed and happy. Free.

Ash paused the video and looked up at me. “Lily’s telling the truth. I was living under the name Jack Smith in Maryland. And guess what? There’s a more recent update. Apparently, there was a boat out on the water around the time I went missing.” He gave his head a shake, tapped his temple with an index finger. “This whole amnesia thing might be because someone ran into me. Oh, and I’m presumed dead, by the way. Can you believe it?” He didn’t wait for my answer and continued, “You should’ve told me about her calling you—”

“I didn’t make the connection.”

“Fine, but I need to contact the police down there, tell them I’m okay.”

“What? You can’t.”

“I have to. They think I’m dead.”

“Have they arrested anyone?”

“Not that I’m aware of, but—”

“Then leave it.” I held up a hand as he opened his mouth to respond, and my mind sped up. “You were living there under a fake name. They’ll have figured that out by now. What if they want to bring you in for questioning? Or worse, get the local police involved? With your history surrounding Celine and Kate, what if they think it’s suspicious?”

“Why would anything be suspicious?” He raised his voice, the veins in his neck pulsating. “You said I was cleared. When I left Newdale, nobody suspected me of anything.”

“Officially, no,” I said, which was the truth. “But who knows what some idiot cop might be thinking, especially with Keenan shooting his mouth off. Him and Ricky—”

“Ricky?”

“The local cop. He’s good friends with Keenan.”

“For crying out loud,” Ash shouted, his face turning red. “What the hell am I supposed to do with all this? How am I supposed to live? And what about Lily? What if she told the cops about finding me already?”

“She’s coming over soon, we’ll ask her then.”

“Providing it’s not too late and they’re not on their way already.”

“We’ll figure it out.”

He let out a half laugh, his teeth clenched. “How can I if I don’t remember anything, and the little I do is mostly a pile of crap? Doesn’t it freak you out, sharing a house with me? I’m clearly a liar, Maya, and an angry one at that. Doesn’t that worry you, at all?”