“It’s exactly how this works. Take it up with the cops, see what they make of your side hustle. We’re done here.”

As I turned and took a step in the direction of the shore, his fist connected with the side of my head, and the surprise attack sent me to the ground. Before I could get up, he shoved his foot onto the middle of my back, and when he struck me in the head again, I felt a blinding pain, white stars blurring my vision. I heard a dull thud, squinted at the rock that had landed a foot away. When I managed to focus enough, I saw the rock was smeared with blood. My blood.

“We’re not done, you asshole,” the man said, his voice and everything else fading around me. “Not until I get my money.”

“Ash?” Lily put a hand on my arm. “Ash? Are you all right?”

My heart continued to race and I opened my mouth to tell her, imagined saying I thought I’d remembered what had happened on the beach the night I’d gone missing. Some shady guy had struck me, possibly dragged my body into the water and left me to die. I couldn’t tell her that. Not when I didn’t know for sure if it was the truth or another montage my brain had made up. Besides, I didn’t like what any of it said about the kind of person I’d been.

“Did you just remember something?” Lily said, her hand still on my arm.

“I thought so,” I lied, “but no, nothing.”

“Are you sure, you look—”

“Hey, you two.” Neither of us had noticed Fiona approach. She now stood in front of us, an overstuffed yellow-and-white-striped beach bag in hand, a pair of large green sunglasses perched on her nose. With a wide smile dancing on her lips, she said, “Having fun?”

“Very much so,” Lily answered. “How are you?”

“Excellent, thanks,” Fiona said. “Enjoying my afternoon off. How’s your memory?”

“A little better. A lot, actually.”

“That’s good.” She hesitated. “Uh, I don’t want to intrude, but could I talk to you in private for a minute, Ash? It won’t take long.”

“Yeah, sure.” I got up, suddenly self-conscious of the fact I was wearing only a pair of boxer shorts. “I’ll be right back,” I said to Lily as I pulled on my jeans and followed Fiona, my mind buzzing with the memory of the man on the beach, and the possibilities about what else I was about to discover.

26

ASH

Fiona kept walking, and I presumed she wanted to get out of Lily’s earshot, which didn’t exactly fill me with confidence in what I was about to hear.

“What’s going on?” I said as I caught up to her. “If this has anything to do with Lily or Keenan—”