“Maybe later. It’s mainly for storage anyway, so it’ll be fine.” As she bent over to pick up another box, her phone rang, and when she pulled it from her pocket she sighed. “It’s Patrick. I hope he doesn’t need me to go in. There’s so much to do here... Hey, boss, what’s up?” Her face fell as she listened, shaking her head. “No way, I can’t believe it. It must be a mistake.”

“What’s going on?” I whispered, but she held up a hand to silence me.

“Are you absolutely sure...? A million percent?” She went quiet again before apologizing profusely and hanging up. “Cash has gone missing from the register,” she said. “Six hundred and eighty-three bucks.”

“He doesn’t think you took it, does he?”

“Me? No...”

“Then who?” My eyes went wide. “Lily? No way. She wouldn’t.”

“That’s what I thought. But she was the last one there yesterday except for Patrick.”

“Then he misplaced it. Lily wouldn’t steal. She’s not that kind of person.”

“Are you sure?” she said gently.

“Yes, I’m bloody well sure,” I said, the anger I hadn’t felt for days making a sudden and fierce reappearance. “Why the hell would you ask that?”

Maya hesitated. “How often have you heard her say she’s broke?”

I didn’t answer. Last night Lily told me she was concerned about money, and we’d talked about her giving up her flat and moving to Newdale on a permanent basis. I’d kissed her when she said it was what she wanted, too, and as we’d tried to figure out how we could best pick up our things in Brookmount, our excitement had grown. She had to return her car to the garage, and we couldn’t afford to buy another, so we’d planned on asking Maya if we could borrow hers for a couple of days while we made the trip.

“Brad’s watch. Did you really misplace it?” my sister said to me now, scrunching up her face as if she couldn’t believe she’d even thought it, let alone said the words out loud.

“Yes.” Except while I may have been exhausted and confused, I knew I’d taken my father’s watch off and set it on the dresser, as I did every night before I went to bed. I sighed. “Actually, no...not exactly.”

“I didn’t want to say anything.” Maya’s voice sounded increasingly uncomfortable, and she wrung her hands without meeting my eye. “A pair of my earrings has disappeared.”

“Are you serious? Did you lose them?”