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ISBN 978-0-316-46998-2

E3-20170510-NF-DA

Contents

1. Cover

2. Letter from James Patterson

3. Title Page

4. Copyright

5. Chapter 1

6. Chapter 2

7. Chapter 3

8. Chapter 4

9. Chapter 5

10. Chapter 6

11. Chapter 7

12. Chapter 8

13. Chapter 9

14. Chapter 10

15. Chapter 11

16. Chapter 12

17. Chapter 13

18. Chapter 14

19. Chapter 15

20. Chapter 16

21. Chapter 17

22. Chapter 18

23. Chapter 19

24. Chapter 20

25. Chapter 21

26. Chapter 22

27. Chapter 23

28. Chapter 24

29. Chapter 25

30. Chapter 26

31. Chapter 27

32. Chapter 28

33. Chapter 29

34. Chapter 30

35. Chapter 31

36. Chapter 32

37. Chapter 33

38. Chapter 34

39. Chapter 35

40. Chapter 36

41. About the Authors

42. BookShots.com

43. Newsletters

Chapter 1

THE GIRL

Imagine she’s your sister.

Smart, shy, six feet tall—and she has absolutely no idea how beautiful she really is. Her fellow students at St. Paul’s Prep gravitate toward her. They like her sweet nature and silly sense of humor. Her closest friends have the twin impulses to protect her and maybe corrupt her a little, because it’s just too much fun. Come on, have a smoke. Let’s shotgun a beer!

Now, your sister’s never had a drink before—not even a secret sip of Mom’s wine at the Thanksgiving dinner table. So she almost always says no, thank you. Or takes the faintest puff or smallest sip, just to appease her friends.

Your sister’s a good kid.

But when her two best friends invite her to a very private beach party on Turks and Caicos during spring break—all expenses covered—she can’t help herself. She feels like a kid who was denied sweets growing up and one day stumbled into Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.

Of course she grew up hearing the usual advice about partying smart, pacing yourself, and keeping your hand over the top of your drink so nobody slips a roofie into it. And she believes in that advice. But she’s also never been invited to a party like this before. Someone has spent a lot of money to lay out an array of culinary delights, yet everybody seems to ignore the food. Instead they drink and dance to throbbing electronic music under strings of lights and palm fronds. Or steal away to a quiet corner for a more intimate conversation.

Your sister’s best friends from school, an adorable pair of twins, press a cocktail the color of a bruised sunset into her hand and encourage her to take just a sip. C’mon, just one! So she does.

And it tastes…amazing. Nothing like the cheap beer they’d sneak on campus. Before she knows it, she’s finished her first and the twins are handing her another. And she downs that, too. Easily, and it’s as refreshing as a glass of orange juice.

And after the second drink the twins manage to drag their normally shy friend onto the dance floor and begin to twirl under skies so beautiful she can hardly believe this is real. Any of it.

Of course, the men notice her because there’s no one else at this party quite like her. In a sea of bodies trying too hard, she is an effortless beauty, full of laughter and light.

First comes the handsome Italian lifeguard, just a few years older than your sister, but much more experienced in the ways of the islands. So he’s not entirely surprised when he’s nudged aside by a trust fund kid with a yacht—and this kid mentions the yacht a lot. Soon your sister and her twin friends are tipsy enough to agree to go see the yacht, a Squadron 60 (whatever that is—your sister doesn’t know), anchored just off the beach.

Once they’re on board, however, the yacht’s captain cozies up to your sister. He’s in his forties, but the captain is charming enough to make your sister fall for him just a little, even though a voice in the back of her mind screams, He’s twice your age! But he pours her shots of clear, sweet rum between dances, and she kind of loves how she feels in his muscular arms.…

Sometime after midnight, the party is broken up by local cops. It’s not so much a raid as a gentle shakedown, in which the trust fund kid is expected to fork over a tiny sliver of said fund. When your sister looks around, she realizes the twins have already left the yacht, pretty much abandoning her.

One of the cops is kind enough to offer her a ride back. He’s very friendly. So friendly, he insists on a good-night kiss before she goes home. She offers him one. He pushes things further. She pushes back. He gently insists with the manner of someone who is used to hearing no, but also used to completely ignoring it.…

Now imagine your sister coming to her senses a little. Those old warnings from Mom and Dad are nagging at her, so she parts ways with the cop and decides to go for a walk to clear her head. Sand beneath her feet, ocean spray on her face, and all that. This was a nice diversion to fantasyland, but now it’s time to return to reality.

But it’s darker on the beach than she realized. And before she can make it back to the party—hands reach out from the darkness and grab her.

She fights back. With everything she’s got. Deep down, at the animal instinct level, she knows: this person means to do her harm.

But the stranger’s hands, they’re too powerful, and she’s had too much to drink. They pull on her wrists and she’s brought down to her knees, then tumbles down onto the sand.

Still, she refuses to give up. Whatever those hands want with her, it can’t be good. She punches, she kicks, she scrambles up to her feet, and she thinks she’s just about to make it when…

She’s tackled, hard—her face smashing into the beach. She inhales to scream and sucks coarse sand down her throat.

Her attacker does not care. The hands, so incredibly powerful, drag her choking body down to the water’s edge. She tries to hold on. Struggles to undo the mistakes she thinks she’s made tonight. If she can only hold on a little longer…

But the tracks from her fingers, as they claw at the beach, will be erased by the tide the next morning.

Chapter 2

THE STINGRAYS

“Paige Ryerson’s body was never found,” Matthew Quinn says, continuing his tale as he sprays the inside of a Teflon pan with coconut oil.

The five of them, as usual, gather in the oversized kitchen where Quinn is cooking breakfast. His $7,000-a-month Cambridge loft has plenty of other places where they can gather, but they prefer to talk about their cases over a hot meal. In this instance: the Sunday morning omelet station.

The other four take in the details of Quinn’s story as the pan heats up.

“That last bit is your theory, of course,” says Theo Selznick, who is standing at Quinn’s immediate right. The stocky, clean-cut man has known Quinn the longest, and he expects to be served first.

“My theory?” Quinn asks, as he cracks an egg over the side of a silver bowl.

“You know, the part about the hands grabbing her out of the darkness and all that. The last person to see her alive was the cop with the sweet lips, right? As far as we know, Paige Ryerson is still alive and well somewhere in paradise. Oh, and no cheese in mine, please.”

“It’s not an omelet without cheese,” Quinn says.

“You’ve known me since college,” Theo replies. “When have you ever known me to give a damn about the rules?”

Quinn cracks another egg. “Kate? How about you?”

Kate Weber, standing to Quinn’s left, has a stormy look on her thin face. “If she were my sister, I’d be rounding up the lifeguard, the rich kid, the captain, and the cop and work them over hard until I learned the truth. Maybe twice, just to be sure.”

“No,” Quinn says. “On your omelet, I mean.”

“Oh,” Kate says. “Just egg whites, please.”

“That’s also not an omelet, either,” Theo says. “You know, according to the rules.”

Quinn expertly cracks three eggs and separates the yolks from the white by using the two halves of the shell. His movements are fluid, relaxed—almost sleight-of-hand.  He admires Kate’s Spartan tastes. She was the same way in the US Army, when they briefly served together. No muss, no fuss. Just get the job done.

“Believe me, Kate,” Quinn says as he works. “There’s nothing I’d like better than to gather those men in a room and squeeze them until they pop. But you know how we work. We never let—”

“—our targets know they’re in our crosshairs,” says Jana Rose, who has positioned herself directly opposite Quinn. “We know, Matthew, honey. Maybe you could have that embroidered on a quilt.”

Quinn smiles at Jana, who has the classic beauty of a stage actor from another era. She’s the only one who dares to tease him like this. Even Theo—whom Quinn has known since they were roommates at Harvard—knows there are limits. But Jana knows Quinn more intimately than anyone else in this room. Or the planet, for that matter.

“And what would you like, Jana?” Quinn asks.

“Now, you know I don’t like eggs,” she says.

“Which is why you’ll find Greek yogurt and a small fruit salad in the fridge at knee-level.”

Jana’s face lights up. “Wonderful.”

From the other side of the kitchen comes a sigh. “I guess it’s up to me, then.”

The fifth member of the team, Otto Hazard, is perched on the kitchen counter, apart from the group. As usual. Otto met Theo in “finishing school”—the US Penitentiary at Leavenworth—making him the only member of the team without a direct connection to Quinn. So he constantly tries to earn his place, with a curious combination of bravado and laid-back disinterest.

“What are you thinking, Otto?” Quinn asks.

“That I’m gonna be the only one who will order a real omelet. Six eggs, plenty of cheese, mushrooms, onions, ham, and the hottest peppers you have. You’ve got habanero sauce somewhere in this place, right?”

“Check the pantry behind you.”

As Quinn cooks and Otto searches, Kate shifts impatiently. “I don’t know what we’re waiting for. Let’s vote and get moving on this one.”

“Hold on a sec,” Theo says. “We need to know a little more. For starters, which agency is interested? The feebs? The CIA?”

“Nope,” Quinn says. “Private party.”

Which is unusual for the group. Their particular set of skills—creating elaborate stings to entrap those who believe they’re above the law—are usually in demand by various government agencies. Not ordinary civilians.

“Huh, that’s weird,” Theo says. “The girl’s parents?”

“I don’t want that to cloud our judgment,” Quinn says. “We always evaluate cases on their intrinsic merits alone.”

“What’s our objective?” Jana asks.

“We’ve been asked to find Paige alive—or catch her killer.”

“And she disappeared…?” Kate asks.

“Two nights ago. Friday evening.”

“So the trail is going cold fast,” Theo says.

The others consider this. Even Otto stops searching for the habanero sauce and turns to face the group. Meanwhile, Quinn finishes the three omelets cooking in three separate pans, then glides them onto waiting plates.

“What do you think, boss?” Kate asks.

Quinn says, “I think that Paige Ryerson is probably dead. I believe that I may know who did it, and I believe I know how the girl died. But right now I have no idea how to prove it.”

“So who did it?”

“No shortcuts,” Quinn said. “You find the evidence and bring it to me…then I’ll tell you. Shall we put it to a vote?”

“I’m in,” says Kate. “We either bring her home safe or give her a proper burial.”

“Sure,” says Theo. “I could stand a little island action.”

“Absolutely,” adds Otto through a mouthful of omelet.

“You wouldn’t have brought this case to us without good reason,” Jana says. “Let’s do it.”

“Actually, I don’t think we should take this one,” Quinn says. “But it’s four to one, so consider us officially engaged.”

The rest of them stare at Quinn, trying hard not to express their surprise. Their boss can be mercurial, but they’ve all learned it’s better to just roll with it. You don’t play chess with Matthew Quinn. You play five games of chess simultaneously, and you just have to accept that you won’t be able to see all of the pieces (or the boards, for that matter).

Instead of ruminating further, they simply eat the breakfast he prepared for them.

“What about your omelet?” Jana asks.

“I ate earlier,” Quinn says, pulling a file folder from the side of the omelet station. “Now here’s the plan.…”

Chapter 3

THEO (THE TRADER)

The flight down to Turks and Caicos is smooth as can be expected, and within minutes of clearing the gate I have a drink in my hand. (Which is kind of awesome, actually.) The sun is shining, the freezing snows of Boston are just a memory, and I’m carrying a bag full of bait that will hopefully catch a killer. What better way to spend a Sunday evening?

My target is the lifeguard—one Paolo Salese. The first one to dance with Paige Ryerson.

I’m looking forward to a spin around the dance floor with him, too.

A private car takes me to one of those sprawling resorts north of Grace Bay Road. This is where Paige Ryerson and her girlfriends stayed, and this is where Paolo works during the day, guarding the Olympic-sized pool. Usually, I’d expect him to be on the prowl at one of the five bars on the property. Most likely, the watering hole with the greatest percentage of underage ladies.

But not tonight.

Tonight there’s some serious global heat on Paolo the Playboy, so he’s probably going to fade into the background like a local. Takes me a few drives (and a few fat tips), but somewhere around 9:00 p.m., I find his location: a glorified shack bar not far from the beach, but far from the path that tourists care to wander. It’s the kind of place where the bar top can be lifted off its moorings and hidden away come daylight. The kind of place where guys like me (in a suit) aren’t usually welcome.

Like I give a damn.

Paolo’s hunkered over a shot of something brown and a cheap island beer. Guessing by the sticky rings on the wood beneath his arms, he’s had more than a few.

“Hey there, Paolo.”

Paolo spins, takes one glance at me, and tags me immediately. I’m wearing a suit and carrying an expensive leather valise, which means I’m one of Them. The Establishment.

“No comment,” he says, waving me away. As if he’d been harassed by Anderson Cooper all day. Then again, maybe he has. Paolo Salese is the prime suspect in the murder of Paige Ryerson, featured in media reports all around the world.

“Look, buddy, I’m not a journalist. It’s even worse—I’m a lawyer! Let me buy you a drink.”

Paolo shakes his head. “Piss off.”

I sit down next to him anyway and give him my best lawyerly pitch. (I actually am a lawyer, so I’m pretty good at this.)

“I’ve got a client who will pay half a million dollars for closure in the disappearance of Paige Ryerson.”

The look on Paolo’s face tells me that he may not know the definition of the word “closure.” So I try again.

“My client wants to know what happened. No strings attached. No blame, no fault…and certainly no cops or courthouses, you understand? Completely off the books.”

Paolo says nothing. Takes another shot of whatever amber fluid is in those glasses. I gesture to the bartender to give him another round.

“All I need,” I say, leaning in close, “is a body.”

The playboy lifeguard freezes in his tracks momentarily, then quickly recovers. Ah, body, that magical word. Makes everybody feel uncomfortable. I love deploying it at just the right moment.

“I don’t even need that much,” I continue. “Point me in the right direction, and it ends here. You walk away from this bar half a millionaire.”

Finally, he turns to look me in the eyes.

“Not interested. Now seriously…piss off.”

He almost spits the last two words in my face. Classy.

Paolo goes skulking away from the bar-shack (don’t get me wrong, I’m sure it’s Zagat-rated), and I take my bag and follow him. He walks faster. I match his pace. If this is going to escalate into a chase sequence, it’ll be one of the more absurd ones I’ve been involved in. Lawyer in a Suit vs. Tanned Lifeguard Dude, kicking up sand all the way to the ocean.

“Forgive me, Paolo, but I find it hard to believe you’d turn down this offer. How many friends have you got on your side? I’m willing to bet you don’t have five hundred thousand of them.”

The lifeguard continues walking, but his pace slows a little. Maybe my words are sinking in to that handsome skull of his.

“I’m telling you, Paolo—I don’t give a damn what you did, or didn’t do, or any of that. I’m not a priest. I’m just a guy hired to ascertain a simple answer to a simple question. No matter what it takes.”

Paolo stops, turns in his tracks, then sneers at me. “You’re not a priest. But you’re definitely a cop or a reporter.”

“Oh, yeah?”

I smile, then gently toss my valise at Paolo’s feet. “Go ahead. Open it.”

Chapter 4

THEO (continued)

Paolo glances down at the leather case as if there might be a metal bear trap inside.

“Geez, Paolo,” I say. “You pull kids out of shark-infested waters for a living. You can’t possibly be afraid of my carry-on.”

But Paolo doesn’t trust me. Not. One. Bit. He’s made it this far by keeping his head down and not talking to anyone. The media has given him the usual promises about “protecting his identity” and “being on his side.” But what they haven’t given him is what’s in my leather case.

“Go on.”

Paolo opens it. His eyes widen when he sees what’s inside.

“Take it,” I tell him. “It’s yours.”

He reaches in and pulls out the modest stack of crisp hundred-dollar bills bound with a paper wrapper.

“That’s twenty-five grand,” I say. “Consider it good faith money.”

Paolo looks at the stack in his hand, feeling the weight of it. “You said half a million, Mr. Lawyer.”

“What part of good faith don’t you get? You point me in the direction of Ms. Ryerson’s body, and the next time you’ll need a bag to carry all of your money away. Unless you prefer a check?”

“No, cash is good.”

Of course it’s good. Money is an abstract thing until the moment it’s sitting in your hand.

“So we have a deal, Paolo?”

Finally, the spell of the greenbacks dissipates. Paolo looks at me as if he’s still trying to figure me out.

“You can’t be a cop, because giving me this money would be entrapment or something like that, right?”

I squelch my inner lawyer, who wants to shout, You idiot, that’s not how it works! But I’m here to find the truth—not give this playboy free legal advice.

“You know how little cops make in a year? They aren’t usually in the habit of bribing their way to a murder confession, Paolo.”

“I’m not confessing to anything,” he says, suddenly defensive.

“I told you, all I want to buy is some information. Do you have anything you want to share right now?”

“I know what good faith means, Mr. Lawyer Man. It means you have to give me some time to think it over.”

This is wonderful. I can practically see him doing the mental calculations as he speaks.

“You’re absolutely right, Paolo.” I hand him a fake business card (eggshell, Romalian type) with a real cell phone number on it. “Call me when you’re ready. But my client would like closure as quickly as possible.”

Again, Paolo looks down at the stack of cash in his hand, already lost in his plans for the next few hours. “Yeah, I get it.”

And so do I. A few minutes later I’m calling Quinn in Boston. “I’m really liking Paolo for this.”

“That’s promising to hear. But can you prove it?”

“It’s only a matter of time, my friend.”

“Then…have at it.”

“Of course, but what do you think? You suspected him all along, right?”

“I think you should go with your gut, and I’ll go with mine.”

I’ve known Quinn for two decades now and he hasn’t gotten any easier to read.

Chapter 5

JANA (THE ACTOR)

Oh, my dear Matthew.

You send other Stingrays to the sunny tropics, yet somehow I end up here, in snowy New Hampshire. Sometimes I think you have it in for me.

(Or is it that you wanted to keep me close at hand?)

Even worse: I’m at an elite New England prep school. I didn’t much enjoy school back when I was required to attend, and I’m certainly not in the mood to be here now.

But the two young ladies who invited Paige Ryerson to spring break have returned to St. Paul’s Prep, home to the high-school-age children of the international elite. Hannah and Brooke Clee have resumed their classes and are presumably showing off their tans and resuming their ordinary lives.

Unlike Paige Ryerson.

Today I’m playing the role of a midlevel federal agent pulling down $68,933 a year, so I have to dress the part. I want the Clee girls to feel superior to me but also fear me, because I could be one of those idealistic, low-paid FBI agents who can’t be bought. All of which means I have to pull a slightly hideous pantsuit out of my wardrobe—one I last wore in an off-Broadway production of Catch Me If You Can.

The things I do for this team!

After the usual bureaucratic nonsense (ID checks, phone calls), I make my way to the dorms, where I’m told the girls will be studying. The Clee girls share a room in Brewster, a girls’ dormitory known for the rooster perched over the entrance. This fowl theme is carried into the hallways, where each door is marked with paper roosters—made from the handprints of the students—that are adorned with the names of the residents. It doesn’t take long to find Hannah and Brooke’s door birds.

I knock, but there is no reply.

So much for studying, eh?

Five minutes later, I find the Clee girls perched on a short stone wall behind their dormitory, smoking pungent clove cigarettes that they quickly begin to hide when I approach.

“Feel free to keep them out, ladies,” I tell them. “I’m not ATF.”

One of the twins, whom I recognize as Brooke from her many social media accounts, smiles at me.

“You want one?” she says, offering up a square, elegant package of some hipster brand. Brooke Clee is shorter and stockier than her sister, and she’s far more social, based on her thousands of followers, friends, and fans. She is fond of late-night confessions and revealing selfies.

Hannah, meanwhile, eyes me warily. She holds up her cell phone like it’s a stun gun. “So where are you from? Who let you onto school grounds?”

I tell them my fake name, show them my fake credentials. “The bureau sent me here for some follow-up questions. We’re all very concerned about Paige, and would like to find her as quickly as possible.”

“We spent hours with you guys already,” Brooke says. “What more is there to ask?”

“You should be going through our father’s attorney,” Hannah adds.

“Relax, ladies,” I say. “This isn’t formal. I came up here to get a better sense of Paige’s school life. Who her friends are, the kinds of things she enjoys…”

Brooke loosens up, but it’s clear her sister isn’t having any of this. “You should be down on the island looking for her, not up here,” Hannah says. “I’d still be down there if my father didn’t insist I return for classes.”

“And where would you be looking?”

Brooke leans forward, wispy smoke curling out of her petite nostrils. “Think about it. She didn’t fly home, and she didn’t walk. The only other way off that island is by boat.”

Hannah turns to shush her sister, but Brooke flashes eye daggers in return. “What? Are we supposed to protect that trust fund jerk? For what?”

“Does this jerk have a name?” I ask.

“Brooke, stop being a moron. This is what they do—ask the same questions over and over again and hope you say something different. I’m calling Daddy’s lawyer.”

Of course we know the trust fund jerk’s name already. And, my dear Matthew, I know you didn’t send me here to squeeze information out of these two. You sent me trekking up here in the cold snow to push their buttons and see what happens.

So I push.

“Before you call your father’s attorney,” I say, “you guys should know something.”

Hannah’s eyes narrow. “What’s that?”

“We’re fairly certain Paige is dead. And there’s been a huge reward offered for closure on the case.”

The look on their entitled little faces tells me that indeed I’ve pushed the right buttons.

“How…” Brooke stammers, “How can you say that?”

Chapter 6

JANA (continued)

Now here’s where I get to turn my “friendly FBI agent” persona into something more sinister. It’s not as much fun playing the good girl, the straight woman, the high-cheekboned representative of law and order.

I much prefer the role of the woman who wears a professional face for all the world to see…until the mask slips slightly, and what’s underneath is someone you’d never want to meet.

“The only way she left that island on a boat,” I tell them, “is if someone wrapped her body in a tarp and gave her a burial at sea. No…I think she’s buried in the sand somewhere. Close your eyes and picture it, ladies. Your best friend, at the bottom of some dank hole, while somebody shovels sand over her body. Her arms. Her legs. Her face. Until there’s no trace of her.”

“Stop saying she’s dead!” Brooke cries.

But I’m more interested in Hannah’s reaction to my little rant. She’s not a bad actor herself, and she looks like she’s trying really hard to keep a firm grip on the wild thoughts running through her mind.

“Fine,” I say. “Maybe she’s not dead. Maybe she’s alive and well. Maybe you two know her disappearance is a hoax. Maybe you’re even in on it. Maybe the whole trip to the island was just a convenient way to help your friend disappear.”

And then there it is…the tell.

You know how when you cut yourself deeply there’s a thrill of panic throughout your body, even before the pain begins or the first drop of blood is spilled?

I see that thrill on their faces now. They know something. They quickly recover and do their best to hide it from me, but it’s too late.

So I build on it.

“Closure will happen, ladies. When the reward is large enough, nothing is kept secret for long. So I’d like you to think about that. For all I know, your time is already up.”

Hannah now holds the phone to her ear. “You’re not FBI. I’m calling campus security.”

Chapter 7

SECURITY

The guard appears within seconds—which is what they’re paid to do. When you have a campus full of the offspring of the world’s elite, you’d better be sure that your security is top-notch and ready for action at a millisecond’s notice.

Hannah and Brooke Clee relax the moment they see the familiar uniform round the corner of the dormitory. To most students, the guards here at St. Paul’s are like glorified babysitters with badges whom you can easily bribe to do your bidding. Did your car break down when you’re trying to sneak beer on campus? Heck, they’ll have it towed to a garage and store the cans in your minifridge for you. The guards aren’t here to tell the students what to do; they’re here to keep the scumbags out.

Like this fake scumbag FBI agent, who Hannah probably assumes is just another tabloid reporter looking for a scoop. Absolutely shameless.

“My daddy is going to destroy you,” she hisses at Jana. “There won’t be anything of you left.”

Jana Rose, meanwhile, says nothing. She simply slips the bland professional mask back over her face as the burly guard approaches.

“You’re going to have to come with me, ma’am,” the guard says.

Jana blinks. “Ma’am? Do I look like a ma’am to you?”

“Please, you’re not welcome here.”

“Clearly,” Jana says. Then, to the girls: “This isn’t over. You’ll be seeing me again very soon.”

“No,” Hannah says, with the certainty of an umpire calling a strike, “we won’t.”

Jana doesn’t reply. Instead she allows the guard to guide her by the arm back around the dormitory building. Once they’re out of eyesight and earshot, Jana and the guard relax.

“They definitely know something,” Jana says. “I could see it on their faces.”

The guard, who is actually Otto Hazard dressed in a stolen uniform, shakes his head and smiles. “You think everybody knows something. You’re suspicious of the whole damn world.”

“That’s because almost everyone is guilty of something,” Jana says.

“Oh yeah? What am I guilty of?”

“Calling me ma’am.”

“To these kids, we all look ancient.”

“Maybe you do. My lifestyle choices ensure that I will always look younger than the age that can be ascertained from my birth certificate.”

“Yeah, and that’s why mine is forged,” Otto says, as he leads her back past the entrance of Brewster. “Anyway, what makes you so certain the Clee girls are hiding something?”

“I floated all possibilities by them, one by one, to see which would strike a nerve. They were good actresses when it came to Paige’s possible death. They were shaken a bit when I told them about the huge reward offered for information about their friend, explaining that it would drive out the truth soon enough. But the mention of the possibility of a conspiracy—one that would point a finger directly at them? Well, that pushed the Clee girls right over the edge. So much so that they called you.”

“Speaking of, I need to dump this uniform somewhere.”

“Not yet,” Jana says, stopping in her tracks and forcing Otto to stop, too. “I want to push one more button.”

“What’s that?”

“You stole a pair of keys along with that uniform, right?”

Chapter 8

JANA (THE ACTOR)

Oh, the look on their faces, my dear Matthew.

I’m not sure what shocked them more—the fact that I was sitting in their dorm room, their precious inner sanctum, or that a campus security guard was lounging on Hannah’s bed, feet up, lazily thumbing through a copy of Vogue.

“You…” Hannah shouts, as if she’s about to have a seizure, “you can’t be in here!”

Poor Brooke, meanwhile, has turned as pale as nonfat milk. She stands behind her sister, hoping that her sibling’s sheer rage will act as a force field.

“I know what you both did,” I tell them calmly, “and I want you to know that you’re not going to get away with it.”

This is a lie, of course—I don’t know their role in this conspiracy quite yet. But perhaps pushing this final button will reveal something.

It’s just like improv. If you sense an opening, you take it and see where it leads.

But like any decent actor, I know when to stop pushing and make my exit. I’m sensing Hannah is headed toward a total meltdown and will do something rash once she gets there. I nod at Otto, who grumbles a bit about climbing back out of bed—I think he would have kept reading there all afternoon if I’d let him.

This time, Hannah knows better than to summon another security guard…because they might be in on it, too! The cell phone in her hand—which she ordinarily uses to overcome any small impediment to her otherwise perfect life—can’t help her now. Daddy’s too far away, and there was a security guard lying in her bed!

“Cock-a-doodle-doo,” I whisper as we pass by.

Suddenly, this trip to snowy Concord isn’t so unpleasant after all.

Chapter 9

THEO (THE TRADER)

I can smell Paolo’s room even before I pick the lock and slip inside. Damn, this kid uses a lot of cologne. It’s so thick in the air, I practically have to wave my hand around so I can see.

For a guy in hiding, he’s already made a mess of this squalid little dump. Skinny jeans and shiny shirts and oversized grooming products and sticky beer bottles and, weirdly, random pieces from board games are scattered all over the place. Guess he likes to lure his underage prey back to his place for drinking and a few rounds of Sorry! (And, boy, will they be.)

With all of this chaos, I have my work cut out for me. I only have a few minutes before Paolo returns, and the sting will be over if he catches me in here.

There are two items on my must-find list.

I trailed Paolo (and our money) back from the beach bar to this room. I knew he didn’t need time to “think things over.” No, Paolo wanted to take the good faith money and book passage off this island immediately. Rio would be my guess.

But he wouldn’t book a flight online (too easily traced). He’d need to book something in person. And if he’s doing that, he wouldn’t be foolish enough to bring the $25,000 in cash with him. He’d stash it somewhere in this dump for safekeeping.

So I’m standing here now thinking: I’m a playboy lifeguard about to go on the run. Where do I hide my windfall?

Now, I knew a lot of guys back at Harvard who did some small-time dealing from their dorm rooms. They needed places to hide their product and their cash. As a work-study/scholarship kid who occasionally found himself a little short, I got to know those dealers and their hiding places very well. (Hey, I only stole from criminals. It didn’t make me a criminal; it made me friggin’ Robin Hood.)

The usual places—inside an envelope taped to the back of the toilet, inside an aspirin bottle, taped to the bottom of a dresser drawer—wouldn’t work with twenty-five large. Paolo needed to hide those thick stacks somewhere clever in a hurry.

The fridge—no. Freezer—no. Drawers—no. Luggage—no. Beneath a pile of clothes that reek of cheap cologne—no.

Come on, where, where, Paolo?

The best hiding places are often in plain sight. And when I step over a dented and scuffed board game box, I realize that Paolo knew this, too.

I check one game—nothing. Another—nothing. But the third box feels heavy. I lift the lid and check under the little cardboard insert that keeps the cards and tokens and whatnot in place. And yep, there it is.

Our “good faith” money.

You’ve got some brains after all, Mr. Playboy Lifeguard.

I shove the money into my jacket pockets, knowing that without it, Paolo will be staying put for the foreseeable future. Now, the other thing on my must-find list.

The clothes he was wearing the night Paige Ryerson disappeared.

From the looks of this place, our man’s not much for the Laundromat or dry cleaners. So they must be here somewhere.

My reference is a photo posted on social media from the night of the party. The light wasn’t very good, so I can’t tell if I’m looking for an off-white or a light-blue button-down shirt. But the swimming trunks are unmistakable: pink, with silver tarpons all over them. As if to subliminally tell the ladies that he’s a real catch?

After a few minutes of methodical searching, I start to wonder if Paolo has been as clever about his garments as he was with the good faith money. Maybe he thought ahead and threw them away or had them destroyed.…

I hear footsteps in the hall. Time’s up.

Chapter 10

QUINN

Matthew Quinn approaches the reception desk, where he finds a bored security guard who’s making $13.50 an hour to protect a billion-dollar skyscraper.

The guard glances at Quinn’s forged ID card, then up at Quinn’s face. He sees exactly what Quinn wants him to see—a white guy in his early forties, tired eyes, not exactly looking forward to a long day of hanging from a harness while he squeegees the grime off a pane of glass thirty stories above the pavement.

The guard nods. Quinn walks through.

He heads to the service elevators, because right now he’s dressed like one of the service people nobody notices. A few hours ago Quinn scoped out a blind spot not covered by security cameras and studied its dimensions until he could imagine them as clearly as his own living room.

He slips into that blind spot and begins to shed his khaki skin, walking as he transforms, swiftly and expertly. The khaki uniform goes into a black satchel that’s already strapped across his torso. It’s a Montblanc—most businessmen around here carry them or something just like them. The messy hair beneath his work cap is smoothed and parted neatly into a fashionable rakish look. Quinn’s posture changes from that of a slight, exhausted workingman to a confident, broad-shouldered businessman.

This takes all of seven seconds, tops. Quinn’s moves are as polished as a stage magician’s. Truth is, Quinn doesn’t even think about any of it very much at this point. His movements are hardwired into his nervous system.

On the other side of the blind spot, Quinn emerges as a completely different man—a handsome up-and-comer who’s got a very nice suit and even nicer bag and probably a spectacular dinner reservation somewhere this evening. He also looks nothing like the real Matthew Quinn.

Up on the thirty-sixth floor, the office suites of Paul Clee & Partners are modern and hip. There’s a falling-water display in the lobby, which is both pleasing to the eye and the source of a comforting white noise that practically forces visitors to keep their voices hushed and respectful, as if they were in church.

Somewhere down the hall Paul Clee himself is expecting Quinn, but Quinn is not going to see him.

Not yet.

He glides past the receptionist, who’s actually not a receptionist but a college intern filling in during the lunch break, which is why he chose this particular time to meet. The intern has only been here a week, so employee faces are still a little fuzzy. Quinn nods confidently and waves as if he works here; the intern nods and thinks, Crap, I should know that guy’s name, but I can’t remember.…

Quinn places himself in the conference room and dials Paul Clee’s extension.

“Mr. Clee? This is Matthew Quinn.”

“Where are you…wait—are you calling from our conference room?”

Quinn hangs up and waits. He learned a long time ago to keep his movements secret. To disguise his true identity. A person like Paul Clee may present himself as a potential client only to lure Quinn into a death trap. Better to keep them guessing at all times.

Clee appears in the doorway a few seconds later. “How did you get in here?”

“Good afternoon, Mr. Clee. Have a seat.”

Mr. Clee, to his credit, does. “I wasn’t sure you would ever respond to my message. Friends told me you and your team were…picky.”

“Why reach out to us in the first place?”

“I was worried for Hannah and Brooke—they’re still in shock over the whole thing. And I was extremely fond of Paige. We just want to know what happened to her.”

“So does the FBI,” Quinn says.

“And they seem to be dragging their feet. Look, I’m not a man who’s used to waiting. If you want something done, you hire the best and get it done.”

Quinn stares at Clee. No visible emotion on his face, no reaction to the ham-handed attempt at flattery.

“Well?” Clee asks after a few uncomfortable seconds. “Are you going to take the case or not?”

“Yes. My team is already engaged.”

“Hey, that’s great!” he says, clapping his manicured hands together. “But, uh, we haven’t discussed terms or anything. How does this work?”

“We’ll take care of the details later. If you couldn’t afford our services, you would have never heard from me. But I am curious about one thing, Mr. Clee.”

“What’s that?”

“Why were you so fond of Paige? I mean, you’ve never actually met her.”

Clee stiffens. “She is a close friend of my girls, Mr. Quinn. They’re absolutely heartbroken. What father wouldn’t want to do everything possible to get to the bottom of this tragedy?”

Chapter 11

KATE (THE SOLDIER)

Matt, things are moving fast and I’m 95 percent certain that Jamie Halsey, the trust fund kid with the yacht, killed Paige Ryerson. And if that 5 percent chance is right and he didn’t do it—I’ll bet anything he knows who did.

I caught up with Halsey’s Squadron 60 yacht (named Hostile Wake-Over) at the El Conquistador Marina in Puerto Rico. Halsey thought he was being clever by altering his itinerary at the last minute, slipping down to PR instead of following the reservations his corporation had filed with various marinas in the Bahamas.

But I don’t track marina reservations. I track boats directly by GPS transponder. Easy enough to do when you pick up the right piece of software on the dark web.

As we discussed, my forged State Department credentials were enough to gain me complete access to the hotel and its marina. When I arrived, Halsey’s yacht was in the middle of the docking process, and his suite was still being prepared. So I headed in to the 35-slip marina to welcome him personally.

“Hey, I’m looking for Jamie,” I said, with the brightest smile I could muster. As if I was just a girl, looking for a cute boy I’d met. “I thought I’d surprise him.”

But the crew wasn’t having any of it. Clearly, they were used to “girls” stopping by for their boss.

“He in the Bahamas,” one of them mumbled.

I laughed. “Bahamas, huh? Well, then he’s going to miss one hell of a time in room 223, where I’ll be waiting for him. In bed.”

The crew glanced at each other, for a moment wondering if I was telling the truth. Room 223 was indeed where Halsey would be checking in—the front desk confirmed it for me five minutes ago. And the boss…well, this probably sounded like something the boss would do.

I was about to take advantage of the confusion and push my way past the crew to look for the little punk when I saw a blurry flutter out of the corner of my eye. Damnit! Fifty feet away, Jamie Halsey was leaping from the boat to the dock and running like hell. The pedigree of my credentials didn’t matter; somebody at the El Conquistador must have tipped him off.

A thick hand grabbed my upper arm at the same moment I started to bolt down the dock. I turned to look at the crew member who’d dared to touch me.

“You really don’t want to do that,” I said, by way of fair warning.

“You leave Mr. Halsey alone, he’s got enough lady trouble.”

Lady trouble, huh? I thought.

I’ll admit it, and I apologize in advance—but the crew really ticked me off.

So maybe I twisted their arms a little harder than I should have, hit those nerve bundles with a little more force than necessary. Once they saw that I was not some silly girl, they started attacking back with serious intent. Hands tried to crush my windpipe. Fists tried hard to shatter the bones in my face.

Within thirty seconds, however, all three of them were writhing around on the deck of the yacht and I was in full pursuit of Halsey.

The kid had hopped on one of the funiculars, which was carrying him up the side of the steep hill to the main hotel. There was a second funicular, but it was still crawling down the side of the hill and wouldn’t reach me for another two and a half years.

So I did the only thing I could—chased after the funicular on foot.

Hell, Matt, you and I have both hauled ass through more treacherous terrain in the army. So after a minute of huffing it I had caught up with the tram. You should have seen the look on the kid’s face when I pried open the door and leaped into the car with him.

But that was nothing compared to the way his features shifted when I slammed him to the floor, hard enough to make his teeth chatter.

“Hi, Jamie,” I said, catching my breath. “Got a minute to talk?”

Chapter 12

KATE (continued)

“I want a lawyer,” the kid said.

They always say that, don’t they, Matt?

“Good for you,” I told him. “But I’m not a cop. And a lawyer wouldn’t do anything other than burn through that fat trust fund one billable hour at a time.”

I think I used too many words for one sentence, because the brat looked up at me with big, blue, uncomprehending eyes. I’m sure his father told him from the time he was a little boy: If you’re ever in trouble, Daddy will send the best lawyers in the world to help you.

“You…you can’t do this!”

I had Halsey right where I wanted him, of course. Trapped, with no way out. Which was the right moment to throw him a little lifeline.

“Come on, get up,” I said. “I’m not here to arrest you. I’m just here with some information you might find useful.”

The brat relaxed a little, now that I was taking handcuffs and a perp walk off the table. “What kind of information?”

The funicular came to a stop. We disembarked and Halsey tottered along next to me like a reluctant puppy. We found two cushioned chairs in an empty cabana. I told him where to sit. He sat. I took the opposite chair and stared at him.

“So…what is it?”

I continued to stare at him.

“You said, uh, that you had some, uh, information for me.”

As you know, most people can’t stand a long silence. They are very eager to fill the void. And the brat did not disappoint.

“Look, I know you’re here about that girl.”

“What girl would that be?”

“What’s her name, Paige something. I’m telling you, I barely even talked to her. She came with a couple of chicks—and I didn’t know them, either. Somehow word spreads about a boat, and suddenly the whole friggin’ island shows up, you know? But anyway, I definitely saw her leave with her friends. So whatever happened to her didn’t happen on my boat. It’s not my problem.”

I asked Halsey, “Are you familiar with the term bouquet of death?”

He blinked. “What?”

“It refers to the chemical by-products of decomposition that only cadaver dogs can detect. Did you know that the nose of a German shepherd, for instance, contains 200 million receptor cells, while human beings have barely a tenth of that?”

“Lady, I don’t know why the hell you’re telling me this.”

“There’s also ground-penetrating radar, and chemical analyses of soil and air samples. There’s even this cutting-edge method involving tubes and air pockets that can detect a corpse under a concrete slab. Isn’t that incredible?”

Halsey stood up to leave. “I don’t have to listen to this.”

I grabbed his wrist and squeezed. He winced at the sudden pain radiating up his arm.

“Ow!”

“What I’m saying is that it’s only a matter of a day, maybe even a few hours, before they find Paige Ryerson’s body.”

“So what? I told you, that has nothing to do with me.”

“I’m also hearing that there is concrete evidence linking you to her death.”

“Evidence? Of what?”

My eyes bored into his. “I want you to think about this carefully, Jamie, and answer me honestly. Your freedom may depend on it. Are you sure there’s nothing that would link you to this girl?”

Halsey’s eyes went up and to the right. Which—as you know, Matt—is a surefire tell that he’s accessing visual memories. Something he saw.

“Yeah,” he said. “I’m sure. Now let me go.”

I released my grip on his wrist. As Halsey rubbed it, some of the arrogance returned to his face. He was thinking he was back in charge again. A brat like him couldn’t stand the idea of being bossed around by a “chick” like me.

“When I tell my father what just happened, he’s going to go nuclear on you.”

I smiled. “Who do you think sent me, dumbass?”

Halsey’s jaw popped open. I just blew his mind. “Wh-what?”

“Listen to me, Jamie. For your own good. I know that what happened was probably an accident, and it would be very smart if you told the truth now. Things will go a lot easier on you. If you don’t, and they pull that poor girl’s body out of the sand…well, there’s nothing even I can do for you. And let me tell you, if they sent me, it means your daddy pulled strings at the highest of levels.”

Matt, the look on his face at that very moment is what convinced me. This little brat did it. Or at the very least, knows what happened to Paige.

Chapter 13

KATE (continued)

After leaving Halsey quivering in his Armani boxer briefs, I went looking for his head employee—Captain Jacob Kurtz. Maybe he’d spill a detail or two that would cement the case against his employer.

Didn’t take long to track him down. I selected the most ridiculous bar in the vicinity and listened for the sound of a man bragging. I elbowed my way through a force field of drunk women until I finally reached the bar, where Kurtz was sipping fruit juice and rum cocktails and holding court.

What is it about women and certain uniforms, Quinn? Put somebody from our old army unit in that same bar and I guarantee you he’d be drinking alone, unless there were other soldiers present.

But Kurtz? I had to fight to get anywhere near him. Yet all I saw was some overtanned blowhard in a yacht captain’s uniform—complete with his white cap tilted to one side, like he was going to be performing with Toni Tennille later that evening.

He noticed me right away, though. At first I thought it was because he sensed I wasn’t like the other women looking for a little vacation fling.

“You, young lady, embarrassed the hell out of my crew,” he said. “I think we ran out of ice tending to their bumps and bruises.”

“Where were you, Mr. Kurtz?” I asked. “Kind of wish you’d been part of the action.”

“Belowdecks. I’m a lover, not a fighter. A seafarer, not a war-wager.”

Oh, boy. I decided to get to the point or we could be here all night.

“But are you a killer, Mr. Kurtz?”

The captain smiled. Genuine amusement lighting up his eyes. “Oh, I like you. I had no idea government agents could be so much fun. Come, let’s go somewhere a little more private.”

As Kurtz led me to a half-circle booth in the corner of the bar, I thought about the half-dozen ways I could incapacitate him if he tried anything. Kurtz offered me a drink. I got to the point.

“I’m here to give you a heads-up. Paige Ryerson’s body is only a few hours away from being discovered. If you want to jump off your boss’s sinking ship, now’s the time to do it.”

“But the yacht is completely fine, Miss…? Or is that Mrs.? I’ll be honest, it doesn’t matter to me either way. Marriage is just a piece of paper.”

“If that body comes up, and it has your forensics anywhere near it, it’ll be too late to help you.”

Kurtz smiled. “I can think of some ways you can help me, Kate. Some very creative ways.”

“So you know my name. Your boss called you.”

The flirtation drained from his face quickly, as if I was suddenly boring him. “Yeah, I know all about your supposed string-pulling on behalf of the kid’s old man. Junior may have believed you, but you can’t kid a world-class kidder, kiddo.”

As I slid closer to Kurtz in the booth he flinched slightly. He probably thought he covered it up quick enough, but I saw it. Perhaps he was worried I was about to dish out some of the same punishment his crew had received.

Instead, I touched Kurtz’s face lightly and looked up into his eyes. Taking a page right out of the Jana Rose playbook.

“How did it feel to dance with someone one minute,” I said softly, “then help bury her dead body the next?”

“I wouldn’t know,” Kurtz said, refusing to break eye contact. “From what I heard around the island before we left, the girl is still alive.”

Chapter 14

OTTO (THE CON ARTIST)

The first thing Otto does when he lands at Providenciales International Airport is look for a place to eat.

The in-flight meal was garbage. So he stops at a place called Gilley’s Cafe and wolfs down a double order of conch fritters and a lobster salad sandwich, then washes all of that down with two bottles of Turk’s Head Amber.

The second thing Otto does is hop a free resort shuttle to the beach, even though he hasn’t booked a room at the resort painted on the side of the vehicle. Matthew Quinn gives all of his operatives a generous expense account, but old habits die hard. Back in his grifter days, Otto took special pride in never paying for transportation. Someone’s always looking to give you a lift. And just as often, a place to crash. Only suckers paid for cabs or Uber—and on top of that paid a tip. Are people crazy?

The third thing Otto does is get into character.

He stares at the photo of Paige Ryerson. No; not just Paige Ryerson. This is his little sister. Paige. Only eighteen years old. Sweetest girl in the world. Big Brother Otto would always look out for her. But that would change when she went off to private school in New Hampshire. Big Brother wasn’t around to protect her anymore. And now look what happened.

Otto stares at the photo for so long that he begins to believe Paige is his baby sister. He actually feels the grief as his eyes water and his cheeks burn with rage.

I’m not leaving this island until I know what happened to her.

Only then does he consider himself ready to mix among the locals, photo in hand.

“Have you seen my sister? Her name is Paige Ryerson, and she’s gone missing. Please help me find my sister!”

Otto focuses his efforts on the areas Paige visited during her short time here last week. Her hotel, the site of the beach party, the marina. Some people blow him off without looking at his face or the photo in his trembling hand. That’s fine; they’re not potential witnesses anyway. By now everybody on these islands has surely heard or read about the Case of the Missing American Girl. Those who don’t give the photo or name a second glance are either self-absorbed or new arrivals.

“Please help me find my sister!”

The ones who do pause fall into two groups. The vast majority are people who have heard about the case and see the tearful anguish in Otto’s eyes but truly know nothing beyond what they’ve seen on TV or read online. Some try to chat him up a little for some inside dirt.

“No, I haven’t seen her…but is it true that she didn’t drink at all before coming here to the island?”

“I’m sorry, I have no idea where she might be. How are your poor parents dealing with this nightmare?”

At which point Otto takes his grief into overdrive and suddenly becomes too choked up to possibly continue this conversation.

But a small group—a very small group—claim to have seen the girl the day of her disappearance. For these individuals, Otto gives his complete and rapt attention, gently pressing them for more details. A few are clearly lying, reciting details they saw in the media. Others, however, sound like they’re telling the truth.

“She looked like she was having so much fun. I still can’t believe what happened!”

“I was on that boat, too. There was a lot of heavy drinking going on. I was so hungover the next day, it’s not even funny.…”

“I saw her and that cop making out. My first thought was, uh, totally gross. But later I started to think about it, and wonder if he had something to do with it. What am I supposed to do, though? Report a cop to the cops? No way.”

And then come three eyewitness reports that rock Otto to his core. (And he’s about as jaded as they come.) Otto can write off the first instance as a case of mistaken identity. Maybe even the second, because false sightings happen all the time. But a third?

“I’m telling you, man, those reporters have been going down the wrong path. Your sister is still alive! I saw her yesterday! I was over in this little town about twenty minutes away, and I swear, it was her. I even called the cops, but they didn’t believe me.”

Could it be possible? Matthew Quinn is a genius and all—probably the most impressive mind Otto has ever encountered. But maybe Quinn had it wrong. Maybe the girl wasn’t buried in the sand somewhere.

Maybe she was hiding.

Chapter 15

THEO (THE TRADER)

With Paolo stuck on the island (since he lost his getaway dough), I turn my attention to the next creep on the list: Nigel James, the islander cop.

Now, you have to understand something about me: I love messing with police. I consider it a form of karmic payback. The uniforms who arrested me all those years back took a little too much pleasure in snapping the metal cuffs around my wrists and slamming me into the nearest wall.

I was arrested on suspicion of insider trading, for Pete’s sake (not that I’m admitting any wrongdoing). It’s not like I was the Zodiac Killer. The violence and condescension were uncalled for.

So, yeah, I admit…I’ve been looking for excuses to return the favor ever since.

“Detective James! I’ve been looking all over for you.”

Nigel James looks at me through narrowed eyes. “Who are you?”

“Ted Selznick, special investigator with the New Hampshire State Police. While I’m sad to be down here, given the circumstances, I’ve gotta say it’s nice to be away from all that snow for a while.”

But Detective James does not want to take part in a conversation about the lousy weather in New Hampshire, or beautiful sun down here on the islands. He’s all business in his lightweight suitcoat, jeans, white Oxford, loafers, and very expensive tie. Hard to believe he’s here alone. The man is a dark-skinned god, impossibly handsome, and has the muscles of a man who spends more time in a gym than he does sleeping.

“What can I do for you, Mr. Selznick?”

“That’s Trooper Specialist Selznick, technically, but let’s not get bogged down over titles. Is there somewhere quiet we can talk?”

Mind you, James and I were standing on a fairly empty stretch of beach. Before I approached him, he was sitting on a wicker lounge chair, staring at the ocean, eating seafood salad out of a plastic container. We had all the privacy you could want. But I wanted to see if James was spending his lunch hour here for a specific reason.

“We can talk here. May I see some identification, Special Trooper Selznick?”

Eh, close enough. But I have the feeling James is mangling it on purpose. He seems like the type who pays close attention to the details.

I flip open the leather badge holder with the state ID. I’m sure James has been interviewed by more than a few federal agents over the past few days. I want to present myself as someone from an agency he wouldn’t be familiar with.

“I understand you were the last person to see Paige Ryerson alive.”

“As I’ve told countless others, Trooper Selznick, I don’t know if that’s true. I did meet Ms. Ryerson late Friday evening, but when we parted she was headed back to the party to join her friends. I offered to escort her, but she refused my assistance.”

“And you’re not the type to force yourself on a lady,” I say.

James just stares up at me. I was throwing a left jab, and he took it like a pro. No reaction whatsoever.

So I pull up another wicker lounge chair and sit down. I’m facing the ocean, just like James, and pretending to admire the view.

“Damn, this is pretty spectacular,” I say. “I can understand why you’d want to take your lunch breaks here.”

“And I’m afraid I must return to duty,” he says, then licks his fork clean.

“Hold on, Detective. I need to clear up a few minor details, and I was hoping you could help me.”

James snaps the lid shut over his half-eaten salad. “Go on.”

I look around, pretending like I’m a tourist getting his bearings. “Okay, so the infamous yacht party was over that way,” I say, pointing to the right.

James nods. “Our marina is in that direction, correct.”

“And,” I say, turning my head back and forth, “if I’m not mistaken, the girls were at a beach party over there.” I point to the left.

“Correct.”

“So…when Paige left your company, she must have wandered down this very same stretch of beach, am I right? And if someone were to have murdered her, this would have been a very convenient place to bury her body.”

James stares at me with eyes that have transformed into red-hot daggers. “Good afternoon, Mr. Selznick,” he says, standing up.

Ooh, we’re back to mister now. I have upset the poor detective.

“I think I know what happened, Detective. And I don’t blame you. She was drunk and things got out of hand. You were just trying to calm her down, but the more you tried, the more she freaked out, and…well, you’re the kind of guy who doesn’t know his own strength.”

Now James was walking away. But upon hearing that last bit, he turns around to face me. I get the distinct feeling he’d like to bury me in the sand.

“We are both policemen, Mr. Selznick, trained in the same techniques. Do you really think your wild conjectures will spark some sort of reaction out of me?”

“No,” I say. “But I do think you’re nervous about the idea of men with shovels down on this beach, which is why you camp out here every chance you get. And let me tell you, as a fellow comrade in law enforcement—they’re coming. Somebody very important would like closure, and they’re willing to pay as much as it takes to get it.”

Chapter 16

THEO (continued)

“Are you formally accusing me of a crime, Mr. Selznick?” James asks.

“No, no, of course not,” I say, backing off like I’m a pipsqueak who’s just taken a cheap shot at the heavyweight champion of the world and needs to retreat to the safety of his own corner.

That seems to satisfy him. Until I follow up with a right hook.

“But, Detective, I know you were involved in Paige Ryerson’s murder. Either you did it yourself, or you covered up evidence to protect the real killer. And the evidence is going to surface very soon. You’re going to want to hire a top-drawer criminal defense lawyer or start running.”

Finally…finally…that cool, finely muscled exterior begins to crack. Exactly what I’ve been waiting for.

“I could have you arrested,” James snarls. “You’re out of line, and way out of your jurisdiction, Selznick.”

I hold out my wrists. “Oh, that would be great. Do it! I could use a vacation. Better a nice, warm jail cell than a cold and bitter trooper station, believe me.”

“Are you mocking me?”

“No! I want you to arrest me, Detective. Even better, should I try and resist? Would that make it more fun for you? Or do you only get your jollies when it’s a young girl struggling for her life?”

Now James’s thoughts are as clear as a two-story neon sign: I VERY MUCH WANT TO RIP OFF YOUR HEAD AND PLACEKICK IT INTO THE SEA.

And for a minute, I think he’s actually going to do it. I sit there mentally plotting some countermoves in case this cop decides to pounce on me. I would never forgive myself if the grand adventure that is my life were to come to a sudden end in a stupid wicker chair.

But James recovers his senses, takes a deep breath, and then turns his back on me. He walks away—away from the surf. I stay seated but turn around and watch him carefully. You’re going to do it, aren’t you? You’re not going to be able to resist. The weight of it is too much.

And then he does—he glances back one last time.

Not at me.

But at the sandy beach, where I’m now certain we’re going to find Paige Ryerson’s body very soon.

When James is gone, I call Quinn to update him on everything.

“Mark my words,” I say, “it’s the cop.”

“Just last night you were convinced it was the lifeguard,” Quinn replies.

“Well, now I’m telling you it’s Nigel the cop. Maybe the lifeguard was involved. Maybe they’re partnered up on it. But the cop is definitely guilty. Not only was he the last person to see Paige alive, but he was staring at the sand like he expected her to come crawling up out of her own grave to point an accusing finger at him. He’s gonna crack, Quinn. And I want to be there when he does.”

“I’m glad you’re so certain.”

I listen for a few more seconds, waiting for something. Anything. Praise? A complaint? Something I missed, maybe? Quinn likes to watch you weave a beautiful tapestry and then yank it out from under your feet with a single question.

But then I hear something weird. Like an echo. Crashing surf behind me, but also crashing surf coming from over the cell phone connection.

“Quinn…uh, where are you?”

Chapter 17

QUINN

As Matthew Quinn raises his hand, a waiter, clad in shorts, approaches. Quinn wordlessly gestures down to a pair of empty glasses with moisture beaded on the sides. Then he makes a peace sign. The waiter nods and whisks away the empties.

“I’ll see you this evening, Theo,” Quinn says, then disconnects the call and turns to face Jana. “I presumed you wanted another cocktail?”

“As if you read my mind.”

“Good.”

“This is much better than New Hampshire,” she says with a slight purr in her voice. “Apology accepted.”

“I missed the part where I said I was sorry.”

“Don’t worry, Matthew, dear. It’s understood.”

They’re sprawled out on reclining chairs right on the beach, mere yards from the crashing surf. Quinn and Jana flew down to Turks and Caicos separately. They booked rooms in hotels a mile apart. They weren’t supposed to see each other, in fact, until this evening at six, when all of the Stingrays were gathering in person to discuss strategy.

But then Jana texted: Meet me for a quick drink?

Ordinarily, Quinn prefers to spend his time in a dimly lit climate-controlled room with white noise or classical music playing in the background as he considers the clues, eyewitness accounts, and narrative elements of the case at hand.

But then Quinn read those six words again and thought about Jana’s playful smile as she thumbed them into her cell. So he replied: Cocktails on the beach? Because why not combine some relaxed case meditation with a little daytime drinking?

Drinking for Jana, that is. Quinn never imbibes when he’s in the middle of a case. She doesn’t know that Quinn pulled the bartender aside when they first arrived at the beachfront cafe and instructed him to mix proper cocktails for the lady, virgins for himself. She was the type who could only relax when she thought everyone else around her was relaxing, too.

“Let’s go for a swim,” she says suddenly, gently nudging him in the ribs.

“But we have drinks on the way.”

“You mean you’d rather sit around and sip juice than jump waves with me? I know you never drink on a case. Which is why I asked the bartender to serve us both virgins.”

“Hmmm. So we’re paying full price for fruit juice.”

“Appears that way. I knew that if you thought I was relaxing you’d take it easy, too, for a change. So come on, my love. Last one to the beach pays for the wildly expensive fruit juice!”

Naturally, Jana beats him to the crashing waves. Quinn dives in after her, but she’s a fraction of a second ahead of him. He sucks down foaming surf as he falls, then comes up laughing, despite himself. She leaps over a wave. The same wave smashes into Quinn, nearly knocking him off his feet. She laughs. Only she can do this to him. Take him back to the giddiness of being twelve years old. Even though twelve was a particularly rough year for Quinn.

In carefree moments like these, Quinn can be fooled into thinking that he and Jana could have a life together. What more do you need than sand, water, laughter, and expensive fruit juice? She soothes the turmoil in his soul like no one else alive.

But the effect is temporary. Jana is a brilliant actor, but she can only keep up the facade for so long. They tried it once. Living together. It was destined for failure, because whenever Quinn’s obsessed with a case, he has one default setting: brood. At first Jana played the role of the supportive partner, letting Quinn have his space. But she quickly tired of it, because it turned out that Quinn needed his space almost all of the time. Actors, like most people, need someone else in the scene.

Dripping wet, Quinn and Jana make their way across the hot sand to their chairs. Part of Quinn wishes he could remain in the playful state, but it never lasts longer than a few minutes. Something always taps him on the shoulder and reminds him of the people who need him. Like the schoolgirl who may be somewhere along this beach, buried under the sand.

Crying out to him.

“Look at this, our fruit juice is waiting for us,” Jana says.

“We’d better drink up,” Quinn says. “We have a lot of work to do this evening.”

Jana reaches over, takes his hand. “Not quite yet. We have some time.”

At first Quinn tenses at her touch, but then he remembers her sweet laughter in the water. She’s right. There’s some time. He squeezes her fingers gently.

Chapter 18

THE STINGRAYS

“Let’s get to work.”

There’s no omelet bar this time, even though Quinn has rented a penthouse suite with a well-stocked kitchen. He believes in feeding his operatives at the beginning of a case, then celebrating with them at the closing. But now, in the thick of things, it’s all about take-out food (jerk pork tenderloin and curried shrimp from Coco Bistro), along with coffee and adrenaline.

“Theo, you’re up,” Quinn continues. “Tell us what you’ve got.”

Theo Selznick stirs his heaping bowl of shrimp and rice. “I’m thinking Paolo Salese and Nigel James are working together to cover this up.”

“The playboy lifeguard and the suave cop?” Jana asks.

“Both clearly know something. Paolo took our bait money with a promise to lead me to the burial site. And as for Nigel James, I’m pretty sure he’s our doer. We had a little talk earlier today and I started pushing buttons. I really thought he was going to try and do me.”

Through a mouthful of jerk pork, Otto mutters, “We’re not that lucky.”

“Why would James suddenly snap and kill a tourist?” Kate asks. “I’m sure Paige isn’t the first pretty schoolgirl he’s encountered on this island.”

“This cop is extremely vain. I could see him playing the role of the good guy, offering a ride home, and then putting the moves on her. Only when Paige doesn’t play along, Nigel gets rough.”

“And you think Paolo the lifeguard saw it?” Jana asks. At the same time, her cell phone vibrates. She looks down at the screen and grins.

“No doubt,” Theo replies. “Maybe the lifeguard was lovestruck and followed her around all night. Saw something he wasn’t supposed to see.”

Kate finishes her mouthful of curried shrimp. “I don’t know. I’m liking Jamie Halsey for this. At first he denied everything, no doubt thinking that Daddy’s lawyers would make everything all right.  But when I convinced him that Daddy had in fact sent me to help him, he got very worried.”

“Yeah, but witnesses saw Paige leave the boat and then meet up with Nigel James on the beach,” Theo says. “What, did Halsey and Kurtz wait an hour, then sneak around and ambush her right there on the surf?”

“Then again, the Clee girls thought Halsey was to blame,” Jana says.  “Brooke Clee said something about protecting a trust fund jerk. She also seemed to think that Paige was still alive and island-hopping with her new, rich friend.”

There’s a sudden muffled sound that startles the others. They turn to see Otto, his mouth chewing on a sizable piece of jerk pork. He holds up a finger, hang on a sec. The group waits, resisting the urge to roll their eyes.

After a small eternity, Otto swallows his food and then speaks. “Paige Ryerson is still alive. I have proof.”

Chapter 19

THE STINGRAYS (continued)

“So you just let us go on and on?” Kate asks. “Why didn’t you say something earlier?”

“I was hungry,” Otto says.

Kate’s eyes narrow to a kind of laser-beam focus. Are you jerking us around or what? Otto is the one team member she knows the least, and that worries her. Theo looks angry, too—and those two shared a jail cell for a while. Jana, meanwhile, shakes her head and smiles softly, which is what she always does when she’s frustrated and doesn’t want it to show. She types something on her cell phone.

“Hey,” Otto says when he sees the look on his teammates’ faces, “you guys seemed so excited about all of the hard work you’ve been doing. I didn’t want to interrupt.”

Quinn says, “Let’s hear your proof, Otto.”

“Okay. So I spent most of the day impersonating Paige’s older brother. She doesn’t have one, but whatever. Most people don’t know that. I wanted to see if anybody else had eyes on her while she was here. And I found three people who saw Paige Ryerson on three different occasions on three different parts of the island. And this was over the weekend, after the Clee girl first reported her as a missing person.”

“Why didn’t they call the police?” Kate asks.

“They told me they did but never heard anything in response,” Otto says.

Theo frowns. “Who are these witnesses, anyway?”

Otto points at Quinn’s laptop. “I did some quick background checks on all three, and they’re solid citizens. I uploaded it to your secure folder, Matthew. You can do your deep web magic from there, but I’d be shocked if they were anything but legit.”

They all knew that Matthew Quinn was an expert at surfing the so-called deep web, the murky underbelly of the internet that lies beyond search engines and passwords. It is the kind of digital underworld that takes a skilled navigator to operate.

“I’ll check them out,” Quinn says. “What did the witnesses say Paige was doing?”

“They all said she looked like she was feeling no pain—either tipsy or maybe even a little stoned. This is, after all, the tropics, man.”

“And somehow this drunk or possibly stoned girl was able to evade an island-wide search for her?” Kate asks. “Sorry, I’m not buying it.”

“Why would these people lie?” Otto asks. “It’s not as if they came forward with this information on their own. If I hadn’t gone digging, chances are they wouldn’t have told another soul.”

Theo hurls his fork into the sink like a petulant child. “So what I’m hearing is that everybody’s guilty, or nobody’s guilty, because our so-called victim might be off on a bender somewhere.”

“So where does this leave us?” Jana asks. “And what do we do next?”

“For one thing, we don’t take our frustrations out on innocent cutlery,” Quinn says, cocking an eye at Theo. “This also means that the next phase of our investigation will require great care. Whether Paige is dead or alive, I believe we’re dealing with a conspiracy—not the passionate mistake of a single perpetrator. And if they’re smart enough to form a conspiracy that’s eluded the feds, they’re smart enough not to get caught. The clock is ticking. Our ruses may have kept the suspects close at hand, but that won’t last forever.”

“I guess this means no dessert,” Otto says.

Jana is the first to rise, straightening her cocktail dress with a few tidy, precise movements. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I’m dying for a drink.”

Chapter 20

JANA (THE ACTOR)

I promise you, my dear Matthew, my desire for a cocktail has nothing to do with our wonderful afternoon at the beach sipping overpriced kiddie juice.

But like you said, the clock is ticking, and I don’t want to let certain opportunities slip away.

As predicted, Jamie Halsey decided to return to Turks and Caicos along with Captain Kurtz. Before our 6:00 p.m. meeting with the rest of the group, I paid a visit to the marina and recruited a couple of confidential informants who were more than happy to text me when the Hostile Wake-Over made an appearance. Amazing, the information you can glean with nothing more than a crisp hundred-dollar bill and a knowing smile.

One of my informants texted in the middle of our group meeting with a bonus piece of news: Jamie Halsey was apparently headed straight to his favorite watering hole, the Infiniti Bar at the Grace Bay Club.

The name is not misleading. The main feature of this bar is a ninety-foot stretch of black granite that runs all the way out to the water. Not quite infinity but close enough, I suppose. I weave around the well-heeled travelers snacking on ceviche and sipping $18 cocktails until I find Halsey. He’s doing shots of Grey Goose and flirting—badly—with a pair of glistening young women who are either twins or friends who aspire to look exactly alike.

I hate to see a young man flirting badly. I decide to show him how it’s done.

You know how I flirt, my dear Matthew. I’m irresistible.

Especially when I do nothing except order a drink and look like I have the kinds of problems that only a rich young man can solve.

“Hey, what’s going on?”

This is his opening gambit. Snooze.

I say nothing but give him the tiniest of openings—a brief glance, followed by a facial expression that’s somewhere between You’re Going to Disappoint Me, Dear Boy and I Might Be Bored Enough to Let You Try.

“This your first time here at the Infiniti? Crazy, right? I just love the ocean breeze you get out here. Best bar on the island.”

“It is nice,” I allow.

“I’m going to buy you a drink,” he says, emboldened.

Notice there’s not even a question. It’s a bald statement of fact. He’s going to buy me a drink. And presumably this is going to mean I owe him something.

The glitter twins long forgotten, Halsey lowers himself into the seat next to me as he signals to the bartender. I’ve barely had the time to sip my first drink, but now I have a backup coming. I understand the strategy: he’s trapped me here for at least two drinks. After which…well, I’m sure he’ll suggest something.

We do the usual What’s your name? and Wow, such a lovely name and You’re an actress? I would have guessed model and so on until he finally builds up to his bold suggestion: You know where you can catch the best ocean breezes? On a boat.

“You’re right,” I say. “I love the open seas.”

“Then you’re in luck, because I happen to own a boat. A yacht, in fact. Squadron 60. You ever been on one of those? It lives in that sweet spot where bad-ass meets luxury.”

Pretty sure he’s quoting the man who sold him the yacht right now.

“I’m not sure I’m dressed for a boat ride, Jamie.”

“That’s the beauty of a yacht, sweetie. You can wear anything you want.”

Wait for it.…

“Or nothing at all,” he continues.

I scrunch up my nose a little and turn my attention back to the dregs of my first cocktail. I have to let him know that he’s just stepped over the line. Not a deal breaker, necessarily, but I’m not some strumpet who will strip naked at the mere suggestion of a spin around the bay.

Halsey, to his credit, senses this and immediately turns it down a gear.

“You’re right, though. That dress is too pretty for a cruise. How about we take a stroll down the beach? My family spends the holidays down here every year, and I could show you some places the locals don’t even know about.”

“Could you,” I say.

Is this what he told Paige Ryerson? Meet me later, I’ll show you a place the locals don’t even know about—like six feet under the sand. For a brief moment I wonder if he’s a thrill killer, and he’s done this thing a half-dozen times before, at ports all over the Caribbean, protected by Daddy’s bankroll and loyal Captain Kurtz.

I’m curious to see if he’d try such a thing with me.

But before I can respond, I hear a loud exclamation: “Brah! I didn’t know you were coming back to the island!”

I swivel around to see Paolo Salese, playboy lifeguard, arms open and waiting for a hug from his pal Jamie.

Chapter 21

JANA (continued)

“Duuuuude,” Jamie says, then wraps his arms around Paolo for a very manly yet intimate hug. There is more grunting and laughing, and there are more exclamations. For a minute I feel very much like a third wheel. Then Paolo catches a glimpse of me.

“Hey, who’s this?”

“Paolo, meet my friend Jana—she’s an actress.”

The lifeguard takes my hand and gives it an awkward kiss, like you’ve seen in countless movies but never in real life. “Stage or screen?”

“Minor roles on Broadway, major ones off, you know how it is. A little television work when it’s in New York.”

But Paolo barely comprehends the words coming out of my mouth. He’s sizing up my body like he’s a costume designer. Then, upon seeing my second cocktail, makes a suggestion. “Dude, we need shots.”

Shots it is. The bartender busies himself lining up the glasses while Jamie and Paolo busy themselves competing for my attention. As amusing as such a competition might be, I was more interested in hearing these two talk. How do they know each other? Up until this moment, the teams of suspects had been clearly defined: Lifeguard and Cop, Rich Kid and Captain. What connected the Rich Kid with the Lifeguard?

I gradually withdrew from their antics, and they sensed I was not interested in either as a nighttime companion. They focused on each other, their speech punctuated by shots of Grey Goose. Soon enough, Paolo leaned in close and whispered, “I need some help.”

“What’s up, man?”

The bar is bustling, and they no doubt thought they were speaking too softly for anyone to hear. But I learned lip-reading as part of my stage training years ago. To me, their conversation is as clear as a high-definition radio broadcast.

“I could use your advice on something,” Paolo says. “You know any diamond experts? Like some guy who can authenticate them?”

“What, did you rob some old lady?” Jamie says, giggling. He’s drunk.

“Dude, I’m serious. I’ve got a line on something but I need someone I can trust.”

“No worries. I’ll hook you up. When do you need him?”

“Tonight, man.”

“Tonight?”

“I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t super-important. I’m meeting this guy at ten.”

Halsey pulls out his cell phone and begins thumbing it. “Done. Just texted my guy here on the island.” Then he claps Paolo on the shoulder and, in his normal brah voice, yells: “More shots! Who’s in?”

Halsey looks over at me expectantly. Perhaps through the haze of alcohol he believes he has another chance. After all, I didn’t flee the scene.

“What about you, Jana?” he asks.

“I’ve got the lady’s drinks,” says a voice behind me.

Your lovely voice, dear Matthew.

I’m thrilled you came after me, but for these two brats, I still have to play the part. I put on a pout. “Oh, now you want to drink, Matthew. I was having a perfectly lovely time without you.”

“With these two?” you say, eyebrows cocked. And I love you for it. You have no idea how badly I want to kiss you in that moment.

But before Paolo and Jamie realize they are being insulted, you whisk me away.

Chapter 22

THEO (THE TRADER)

“You got them?” Paolo asks.

We’re in the same backwater bar where we first met. The perfect shady place for shady business. Normally I’d suggest a drink, but the kid’s impatient and jittery (and already drunk), so we get down to the matter at hand.

I open my valise and show him the uncut rocks, tilting the bag a little so they glisten. “Here they are. Now, do you have a little information for me?”

“Not yet. I have a guy coming to verify those diamonds.”

“What? You don’t trust me?”

“No offense, man, but I gotta look out for myself. You understand.”

Oh, I understand completely. I also understand that guy is supposed to be here any minute, thanks to the intel that Jana provided. Which is why Quinn hacked into Halsey’s phone and texted the diamond authenticator to cancel this evening’s sudden appointment. All that remained was figuring out who would take his place on such short notice.

And then I see him.

Oh, boy.

“You the guy? Yeah, I’ll bet you’re the guy,” Otto says with a rapid-fire cadence, making him sound like Martin Scorsese on uppers. Then he points at me. “Who’s this? I don’t know this guy. Halsey said it would just be you. I don’t know this guy.”

“Take it easy, man,” Paolo says. “This is my business associate, uh…”

“Ted,” I say, shaking Otto’s hand. You glorious fool.

Just you wait, his eyes reply.

“Ted, huh? Well, yeah, good to meet you, Ted, you the guy with the stuff? I haven’t got long, Halsey said this was an emergency. I’ve never known an emergency that concerned diamonds, but there’s a first time for everything, I suppose. Let me see the stuff, Ted. Come on, break it out.”

I know what Otto’s doing—taking the attention off me. By the time he’s through, Paolo is going to consider me an old trusted buddy compared to this twitchy weirdo. Which is exactly where we want him.

Otto’s performance is kind of inspired, I must admit. He balances his manic Scorsese with a bit of Laurence Olivier from Marathon Man, taking his time when it comes to examining each (very fake) diamond from the stash I’ve brought. He tut-tuts. He looks at the same facet twice, three times, then a fourth just for good measure. He strokes his chin. He talks to himself. By the time he’s ready for a verdict, Paolo’s practically jumping out of his skin.

“They’re real, kid.”

Paolo exhales.

“Halsey told you about my cut, right? No? Well here’s the deal, I take five of these off your hands. I don’t negotiate because before me, you didn’t know if you had real diamonds or stuff that ladies use on their purses and jackets, what’s that called, when you put bright little pieces of clear plastic on something.…?”

“Bedazzling,” I offer.

“That’s exactly right, Ted! You could have been bedazzled by Ted, but thanks to me, you weren’t. You got a problem with me taking five?”

Paolo says he has no problem with that. Otto nods, takes great care to scoop five pieces of worthless glass into a velvet pouch, and then takes his leave. Paolo is so rattled by Hurricane Otto that I have to nudge him back to the business at hand.

“So…you’ve got your payoff. Now what about the girl?”

“Yeah,” Paolo says, sounding like he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. “I’ll take you to her.”

Chapter 23

THEO (continued)

The kid is not entirely disarmed. He has the presence of mind to ask for my gun, then searches me for a wire. It’s a rather sloppy search, though. I’ve had more invasive pat-downs from TSA. There are any numbers of places I could have hidden a wire.

But I’m not here to secretly record Paolo. I’m here to see if he actually knows where Paige is buried, or if he’s trying to scam me.

As he leads me all over the island, I begin to suspect it’s the latter. Paolo acts like a kid who forgot he was supposed to deliver an oral report to the class and is making it up as he goes along. Not too much farther now. Sorry, I get a little turned around in the dark. I’ve only been here in the daytime. I swear, just a few more minutes…

I say nothing, because I’m looking for signs of an ambush. That’s the only thing that makes sense to me—some of Paolo’s hidden buddies waiting to pounce on me. And by the time I wake up in the hospital, the lifeguard will have long fled the island. That’s if I’m lucky. If I’m not, I’ll end up under the sand, just like Paige Ryerson.

“It’s right over here.”

We’re at an empty stretch of beach that nobody’s gotten around to developing yet. Good palm tree cover, and an empty shack. No other inhabited buildings within shouting distance. If I’m going to be jumped and dumped, this would be the ideal place to do it.

Question is, how many punks am I going to be fighting? I’m counting on Paolo being either cheap (and hiring only one or two people) or not having many friends.

Paolo stops to turn around. “You coming, or what?”

Gradually I realize that this is not a trap, and that this lifeguard may actually know something. Paolo scans the beach, which is littered with beer bottles and cigarette butts and plastic cups—the aftermath of a party.

Paolo points at the one beer bottle that’s upside-down and sticking perfectly straight out of the sand.

“She’s here.”

Which instantly depresses me. A beer bottle for a grave marker on a strip of dirty sand? A sweet girl like Paige Ryerson didn’t deserve this. Quinn’s voice is in my head: Imagine she’s your sister. I make a silent vow to avenge her, no matter what.

Paolo looks at me expectantly. As if I’m just going to say, Don’t worry, buddy, I’ll take it from here. You go on back to the bar and have a few cold ones for me.

“I need confirmation, Paolo.”

“You didn’t say anything about digging her up.”

“Considering the number of uncut diamonds I’ve just given you, I was hoping you might throw in that service for free.”

Paolo sighs, then drops to his knees and begins to reluctantly claw at the sand with his bare hands. He’s in no hurry to dig up whatever is down there, so I get down there, too, and start helping. The sand is rough and burns my skin. But I don’t care. The faster I dig, the faster Paolo digs—he’s the kind of guy who can’t help being competitive.

We’re only a foot deep when the smell hits me. There’s no doubt—there’s a corpse right below us.

Chapter 24

THEO (continued)

She’s beneath a plastic tarp, about three feet under. The stench is overwhelming. I take shallow breaths. I’m endlessly creeped out by the knowledge that smell is transmitted by tiny microbes flying through the air and attaching themselves to the olfactory cells in my nose.

In short: I have microscopic pieces of Paige Ryerson’s dead body in my sinuses. I may never forgive Quinn for this.

After I blink the tears out of my eyes, I hold up the flashlight app on my smartphone to take a better look. (Though I would really, really rather not.) Mentally I try to compare the picture of Paige Ryerson to this…being under the tarp. I have a hard time reconciling the two. The girl has been under the sand for over a week now and the elements have not been kind.

“So…we good?” Paolo asks.

“This could be anybody,” I say.

“What, do you think I’d bring you to some random dead body? This is the girl, I’m telling you, man!”

I don’t say anything because I want to see what Paolo does next. Is he going to stick around to see what we learn about the body? Or is he going to flee the island like the guilty little jerk that he is?

I also use my phone to take a series of quick photos and text them to Quinn. (Hey, why should I be the only one having fun?) Quinn must have been waiting by his phone with breathless anticipation, because he pings me back almost instantly.

Need confirmation, he texts.

OK. Tell me how, I reply. After all, I’m no forensic science expert. I’m barely qualified to tell someone if the milk in the fridge has gone bad. Dead bodies are Jana Rose’s weird little hobby.

Look for jewelry, Quinn texts. Specifically a watch and a ring, given to Paige by her parents.

As I peel back the clear plastic tarp, Paolo starts to fidget. “What are you doing? You shouldn’t be touching her, should you? I mean, if it’s a crime scene?”

“You watch too much TV, buddy.” The plastic is cold and clammy under my fingertips. I do wish I’d brought plastic gloves, just like the ones on those TV crime shows I was mocking. But on the corpse’s left wrist is indeed a sensible Marc Jacobs watch—the kind of watch proud, middle-class parents might buy for their daughter at the end of an outstanding academic year. I snap a photo and text it to Quinn.

And on the ring finger of her right hand is a petite platinum ring with a ruby heart at its center. I think about how happy and proud she must have been when she first slipped it on.

And then I think about the human monster who choked the life out of her, dragged her to this cold stretch of beach, and then chose to mark her grave with a dead soldier.

Within seconds of my sending the second photo, Quinn responds: Got your location on my phone. We’ll be right there.

The anger must be showing on my face, because Paolo is looking increasingly nervous. He’s brushing the sand from his hands and knees, slowly backing away from the scene of the body dump.

“So we’re all done here…right, man?”

“Why? Are you in a hurry, sport?”

Emotion is getting the best of me, I know. Quinn definitely wouldn’t approve. But you know what? Quinn’s not here right now. He’s not staring at Paolo, who’s been more than happy to profit from this young girl’s death. I want to take the same raw, sandy, bare hands I used to dig up Paige’s grave and squeeze his neck until his head pops off.

“Don’t look at me that way,” Paolo says. “We had a deal.”

I point at the grave. “And she had a life.”

Paolo realizes that sticking around isn’t the smartest option at this point. He jogs away, looking over his shoulder every few yards to make sure I’m not coming after him. Believe me, I’m tempted. But my job now is to keep vigil over Paige, buried among these beer bottles and plastic cups. I sit down and stare at the ocean, trying to calm myself. I think about the cases we’ve handled as a team. Not one of them feels as heavy as this one does now.

Quinn and Jana arrive. They don’t bother to say hello; they see the lost look on my face. Jana peers down into the open grave, and genuine grief washes over her face. Quinn, as usual, keeps his emotions buried deep within a lockbox in his mind.

“Paolo split a few minutes ago,” I tell him. “We can still catch up with him. Pound the truth out of him.”

“No,” Quinn says. “Let him go.”

“Why?”

“Because he didn’t kill Paige.”

Chapter 25

JANA (THE ACTOR)

My dear Matthew, do you remember the first time I told you I’d performed autopsies and you didn’t believe me?

We were out for a nightcap, and I dropped that little bit of trivia on you. You said it wasn’t true. I insisted it was. This was followed by a frenzied cab ride to Boston University School of Medicine, where you generously tipped our way into the cadaver lab and then offered an extraordinarily large tip (some might even call it a minor grant) for a fresh cadaver. You simply had to see me in action for yourself. It was put up or shut up time for me.

So I grabbed the nearest scalpel and put up.

At the time, you didn’t know that I was once cast in a pilot for a TV show called Flesh and Blood, where I portrayed a plucky yet brilliant medical examiner (aren’t they all). That show was never picked up, but I threw myself into the role with great élan. I took classes. I pored over texts. And soon I talked my way into rooms with real medical examiners who showed me the ropes. Or the intestines, as it were. The examiners allowed me to do a little cutting, too. It was glorious.

I’ll never forget the look on your face as I glided the scalpel down the front of that anonymous corpse and proceeded to give you a tour of the dead man’s internal organs.

In this bleak room now, however, the mood is much more somber.

“It’s her, isn’t it?” Theo asks. “I mean, there’s the ring, and the watch.”

“Let’s not jump to conclusions,” I tell him. “There are five stages of decomposition, and this body is in the second stage—bloat.”

“Yeah, I noticed.”

“You don’t have to be in here, you know.”

“No,” Theo says. “I really do.”

This is what we both love about Theo. Beneath that swaggering, devil-may-care exterior is a human being with a good heart, who cares until it hurts.

I begin my work.

Fortunately, my dear Matthew, you’ve secured us an emergency trauma center, the one erected to serve the population if  a natural disaster occurs here on the island. It has the official seal of CDEMA, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency, and all the tools I need for a speedy autopsy. You were very thoughtful to procure a set of Paige’s most recent medical records so that I might make some comparisons to confirm her identity.

“How do you know Paolo didn’t do it?” Theo asks.

Quinn says, “A guilty man would have long fled by now. Instead, Mr. Salese stayed around to profit from his knowledge of the crime.”

“Which means he knows who did it—which is just as bad.”

“Not necessarily. Just because you hear about a certain crime doesn’t mean you’re an accomplice. Besides, he’s not going anywhere with those fake diamonds you gave him. I presume he’s going to learn the truth very soon, and he’ll come looking for you.”

I interrupt the boys. “And when he does, I’d like a word with him.”

“Why’s that?” Theo asks.

“For a man whose alleged profession is lifeguard, he seems to have run into more than his fair share of dead people.”

“What do you mean?” Matthew asks.

“This woman is definitely not Paige Ryerson.”

Chapter 26

KATE (THE SOLDIER)

Okay, Quinn—here’s the lowdown.

We arrested the trust fund kid and his captain a little after midnight, just as the Hostile Wake-Over was preparing to leave port.

Of course I knew Jamie Halsey and Jacob Kurtz would try to bolt. Once we allowed word to spread that Paige Ryerson’s body had been unearthed, it would only be a matter of time before the rich little snot and his captain either lawyered up or decided to split. An interception of port communications revealed the pair had chosen the latter.

“Hands in the air!” I shouted the minute I set foot on deck, flashing my forged badge. “You’re under arrest!”

Otto played the role of my partner this time around. His MO was to say next to nothing but maintain a steady, hyperalert expression that said, If you try to run, not only will I catch you—I will destroy you.

Kurtz knew better. Clearly, he had been on the other side of a Miranda warning before. He put lifted hands, palms out, to indicate he wouldn’t be reaching for a weapon (to shoot his way out) or a wallet (to buy his way out).

His young boss, however, was clearly a law enforcement virgin. Jamie Halsey’s face burned bright red, as if he’d been caught in the act of something naughty, and he began to stammer a weird blend of explanation and threat.

“W-wait wait! We weren’t d-doing anything! We were due to leave tonight because I have a meeting in the morning. Ask Captain Kurtz—I swear it’s the truth. You can’t stop us! I don’t even think you have jurisdiction here. My father will make you both sorry you ever set foot on this boat!”

Kurtz shook his head and muttered, “Jamie, quit it.”

I nodded at Otto, who pulled a pair of handcuffs from a case strapped to his belt and approached Kurtz. Otto cuffed Kurtz in front, an indication that we could be civilized about this whole thing.

“What’s the charge, Officer? Or is that Special Agent? Or perhaps some other title you guys made up?”

Otto merely smiled.

Halsey, on the other hand, was freaking out at the sight of the cuffs in my hand. He looked like a schoolboy who’d just watched his teacher pull out a whipping cane.

“You’re not putting those on me. I know my rights. I get a phone call!”

I shook my head. “Jamie, calm down. You still have the chance for this to go relatively easy.”

Halsey turned to his captain. “Kurtz—do something!”

“Kid, let her put the cuffs on and get this whole thing over with.”

“No—no way!”

And then he went for it. Some primal part of his brain made the calculation. Fight was impossible, so he chose flight. Perhaps he thought his youth, combined with a small element of surprise, would do the trick. With Otto busy with Kurtz, he bolted and attempted to go around me, out of arm’s reach.

So I dropped down, crouching on my knees and using my fingertips for balance on the boat deck, and kicked out my left leg. His foot hooked over mine and BAM, down he went. He probably didn’t know what had happened until he kissed wood and blood began to gush from his nose and mouth.

“Kid, I told you,” Kurtz said with a sigh.

Within a second, I had a knee in the middle of his spine and was cuffing the brat’s hands behind his back—an indication that we could go the uncivilized route, too. His body began to shake, and at first I thought he was trying to throw me off. But then I realized he wasn’t fighting. He was crying.

“W-why are you doing this to me?” he blubbered through tears.

I removed my knee from his back but kept steady pressure on his wrists as I leaned in to whisper in his ear. “Because you took a young girl, a beautiful girl with everything ahead of her, and then you murdered her.”

“I didn’t do it!” Halsey said. “I’d s-swear on anything I didn’t do it!”

“You murdered her and then you and your captain buddy over there buried her body in the cold, wet sand with nothing but an empty beer bottle for a headstone.”

“W-what?”

“You put her family through more than a week of living hell, all because, what…she wouldn’t sleep with you?”

“Jamie, for God’s sake, don’t listen to her!” Kurtz cried out. “She’s trying to psych you out!”

“Please, please, I’m telling you the truth, I didn’t even know she was dead! The last time I saw her she was drunk, sure, but she was alive!”

I pulled Halsey up to his knees. His face was a wasteland from all the crying and bleeding.

“Well,” I told him, “we’re going to give you one last chance to see her again.”

Chapter 27

KATE (continued)

The building looked official enough. Gotta hand it to you, Quinn—procuring a CDEMA facility? That was an effective touch. Even stoic Captain Kurtz swallowed hard when he saw the official government seal.

By this time, I’d given Halsey a towel to mop off his face, allowing him to regain some semblance of dignity. But he was still petrified. I almost felt bad for the punk.

“Come on,” I told him. “She’s in here.”

The moment I pulled back the tarp, Halsey’s face turned white and then a strange shade of purple as he tried to hold back the tidal wave of bile rocketing up his throat. Otto, fortunately, got him over to a metal slop sink in the corner of the room before he could vomit all over the body.

By the time we stepped inside the facility, I had already received your text, Quinn, telling me that the corpse under the tarp wasn’t Paige Ryerson. No matter who she was, the girl could still be used as an effective prop to shock our two suspects into admitting the truth.

Jamie Halsey was clearly rattled. But Kurtz was another story. Ever since we’d set foot on the Hostile Wake-Over, the captain had been the coolest of customers. And you know the old riddle, Quinn. Who sleeps the most soundly during his first night in prison? The guilty.

Otto helped Halsey clean himself up more thoroughly—which was no easy task, considering the kid’s hands were still cuffed behind his back. Then he brought him back over to the table. Halsey’s face looked like he had traveled to the far side and back. What do the kids say? Worst. Night. Ever.

“Is that her?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah,” Otto replied.

“I swear to God, on my parents, on my life, on everything…I did not kill her. Someone else did this.”

I watched Kurtz carefully. He said nothing. Expressed no emotion whatsoever. He just stared at the corpse on the slab like he was looking at something a deep-sea trawler had dredged up from the ocean floor. Whatever this was, it didn’t concern him in the least.

That’s the kind of person who could stalk a young girl, grab her, strangle the life out of her, and bury her body.

And consider Kurtz’s advantages. He was mobile, thanks to the yacht. He was afforded the same protections as Jamie Halsey. Nothing ever blew back on the kid. And Kurtz could be confident he’d enjoy the same kind of immunity. After all, he was a virtual member of the family.

I’m convinced we’ve found our killer.

Chapter 28

QUINN

“Tell me about the last time you saw her,” Quinn asks.

Jamie Halsey is seated in a chair so that he’s facing Quinn directly. Behind Quinn: the corpse of the unknown woman. This arrangement is not accidental. Quinn will be watching his suspect’s eyes as much as listening to his words.

“I don’t really remember. I was kind of drunk myself.”

Quinn’s expression doesn’t change. “Try harder. This is your ass on the line, not mine.”

“Okay, okay.” He glances over at the corpse behind Quinn, who notes the movement of Halsey’s eyes. “I do remember her friends laughing like lunatics—they were really drunk. And I think Paige…Ms. Ryerson…was dancing with Jake.”

“Captain Kurtz,” Quinn says.

“Yeah. I struck out, so maybe he thought he’d give her a try. I do remember that she was really strange. Flirty one minute, then next, cold fish. You know?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Come on, man, don’t be that way. You know how these girls can be. They’re total teases. They come down here to party and get out of control, right up until the minute they decide they want to be good girls and go home.”

“Is that what made you angry? That Paige wanted to go home?”

“No, I’m just saying…”

“Is that why you trapped her on your boat? So that you could party?”

“Trapped? No, man, it wasn’t like that…wait, I remember now! Those crazy loud girls—they pulled Paige away from Jake. He held on to her hands, trying to convince her to stay, but her friends wouldn’t let her. They practically dragged her away.”

“And that’s the last time you saw her.”

Halsey glances behind Quinn. “Yeah, I swear.”

A short while later, Captain Jacob Kurtz is placed in the same seat while the others guard Halsey in another room. Kurtz doesn’t look behind Quinn. Not even once. No matter how many times Quinn says her name.

“The last time anyone saw Paige Ryerson alive,” Quinn says, “was when she was dancing with you. Why did you kill her?”

“That’s not true,” Kurtz says, “and you know it. Those Clee girls dragged her away. And anyway, I heard she was making out with some islander cop later that night. So why don’t you go talk to him and let us be on our way?”

“Nobody saw you on that yacht after your dance with Paige. You followed her down the beach. You couldn’t get over her turning you down, even though you’re old enough to be her father. You followed her and saw her kissing that cop and it drove you insane.…”

“Come on, man. You know that’s not right.”

“And it drove you insane,” Quinn repeats, “that she would be with someone else instead of you. So after she broke things off with the cop you followed her. You strangled her. You buried her body. That”—Quinn pauses to jerk a thumb at the corpse behind him—“body right there. And then you just…sailed away.”

“This is all crazy. If you’ve got proof, then show it to me. Otherwise, you need to let me go.”

Quinn calls for Otto to take the suspect away. All of that suppressed emotion comes bubbling out of Kurtz now. He yells about how this farce of an interrogation will never stand up in court, how Halsey’s lawyers will crucify Quinn for this, and so on and so on.

But Quinn is barely listening. After a moment, Jana enters the room, touches Quinn’s shoulder. “What are you thinking, my dear?”

“I’m thinking we let them both go. They didn’t do it.”

Chapter 29

QUINN (continued)

“I’m resisting,” Theo says.

“Resisting what, exactly?” Jana asks.

“Resisting the urge to dance around and do this.…”—at which point Theo starts to do an exaggerated Broadway dance number, all to the nonexistent tune of “I Told You So.”

“Come on, get into character,” Quinn snaps. “Here he comes.”

Indeed he comes. And Paolo Salese the playboy lifeguard is furious. He scans the crowd outside the casino, searching for the face that did him wrong. And then he finds it. Theo Selznick, standing on the corner, giving him a shy little wave. Which seems to infuriate Paolo even more.

Quinn and Jana, meanwhile, stroll down the sidewalk, arms locked, taking in the laid-back decadence of a Caribbean-style resort.

Paolo crosses the street, finger pointing at Theo. “You gave me a bag full of fake rocks!”

“What are you talking about? You had your guy there. He authenticated them.”

“Whatever, man. You fooled him, but you didn’t fool the guys who mattered—the guys who almost killed me for trying to pawn off fake diamonds! Look, I don’t know what kind of scam you’re pulling, but you’re going to give me my money right now.”

“I know you’re upset, but hey…so am I. You led me to the wrong dead girl.”

This statement acts like a bucket of ice water on Paolo’s growing rage.

“W-what? What do you mean, wrong girl?”

At this very moment, Quinn and Jana pass by, and Jana heaves a punch into Paolo’s midsection that certainly would have made him double over—if Theo hadn’t been there to grab his shoulder and the waist of his pants to keep him upright.

“Come on,” Theo says, “let’s talk this whole thing out.”

Talking this whole thing out, in this instance, means hustling Paolo into the back of an idling SUV. Quinn knows this is technically kidnapping, but he doesn’t care. Jana takes the wheel, and Quinn and Theo sit on either side of the lifeguard, who is struggling to catch his breath.

Quinn says, “We know the girl wasn’t Paige Ryerson. Who was she?”

“I’m telling you…it’s the girl.…”

“No, it’s not, Paolo,” Theo says. “You stole Paige’s ring and watch and put them on a fresh corpse. So who was she?”

“You can’t do this to me.…”

Quinn places two fingers on Paolo’s chin and moves his head to the right so they’re looking directly into each other’s eyes. “You have no idea what we’re capable of, Mr. Salese.”

The head tilt is a distraction so that Theo can inject the lifeguard with a knockout cocktail. Paolo feels the pinch, but two seconds later, the lights go out.

“Take us to the beach, Jana,” Quinn says.

By the time the lights come back on for Paolo Salese, he’s lying on his back in a grave in the same bottle-littered stretch of beach where the corpse with Paige’s ring and watch was buried. He’s three feet down, with enough sand shoveled onto his body to immobilize him while keeping his head uncovered.

It’s four o’clock in the morning, so when Paolo starts screaming, there’s nobody awake to hear him.

“Shhh,” Quinn says, crouching down. “Calm down. If we wanted to kill you, you wouldn’t have woken up at all.”

This seems to calm the lifeguard down a little, as he realizes there might be a way out of this. Theo and Jana are standing on either side of Quinn, looking down into the grave as if they’re pallbearers at a secret funeral.

“But if you lie to us,” Theo says, “you’ll stay down there for good. You understand?”

“Yeah…I understand.”

“Who was the girl?” Jana asks.

“I don’t know,” Paolo says. “I swear to God, I don’t know.”

“Then how did you know where her body would be?” Theo asks.

“The day before you and I met, I got this call—the guy wouldn’t tell me his name. But he said that people would probably be asking me about the girl. And if that happened, I should play along, and he’d give me further instructions.”

“In exchange for what?” Theo asks.

“Money. Like you, he gave me a little down payment and promised me the rest when it was all over. That’s why I was trying to make a deal with you—I knew this guy was up to no good, and I didn’t want any part of it. I just wanted to get out of this damn place and put all of this behind me.”

“How did this man contact you?” Quinn asks.

“Through the hotel. He left me his number at the front desk and said I should call him back within an hour.”

“What did he sound like?”

“Uh…rich.”

Theo is not so quick to believe Paolo. “So we have no way of backing up your story. Isn’t that convenient for you.” Idly, he begins to kick sand into the grave, pelting Paolo’s face.

Paolo starts to scream again. Quinn motions for Theo to knock it off.

“The hotel! Check the front desk phone records! I called him back using the lobby phone. Maybe you can trace him.”

“Anyone smart enough to run this kind of cover-up would use a burner phone,” Jana says. “Nobody calls from landlines anymore.”

“Is that my problem?!” Paolo shouts. “Come on, I told you everything I know. Let me out of here.”

“Let’s go,” Quinn says, already strolling toward their SUV. “The others are meeting us in a couple of hours.” When Jana and Theo shake their heads and begin to follow, Paolo freaks out all over again, screaming with all of his lung capacity. Quinn suggests that Theo give the man a hand, and he does, reluctantly: clearing the sand away from Paolo’s left arm.

“Dig yourself out.”

Chapter 30

THE STINGRAYS

Up in the penthouse suite Quinn has ordered a full breakfast for the team, but no one feels like eating. Aside from Otto, of course, who never turns down a hot meal. He tucks into an egg-and-sausage scramble bowl as if a guard is about to knock on his door at any moment and lead him down to the executioner’s block.

“Okay, Quinn,” Theo says, “so to recap, the lifeguard didn’t do it, the rich kid didn’t do it, and his yacht captain didn’t do it.”

“That’s correct,” Quinn replies.

“Which leaves us with Nigel James, the islander cop. I’ve liked him for this crime since the moment I met him. So what are we waiting for? Let’s nail him.”

“Hold on,” Jana says. “Just a few hours ago you were about to bury the lifeguard alive because you were convinced he did it.”

“No, I said he knew about it. I didn’t think he actually did it.”

Kate interrupts. “Are we really discounting Jamie Halsey and Jacob Kurtz? Quinn, you said you thought this was a conspiracy—that we most likely have two suspects working in tandem. I can think of no better pair.”

“Sure,” Otto says through a mouth full of scrambled egg, “but everybody agrees that Nigel James was the last person to see her alive. I’m with Theo on this. Let’s put this cop in our crosshairs and see what he does.”

“No,” Quinn says. “We’ve pushed Officer James as far as we can. If we try a full-court press on him now, he’ll have the entire police force looking for any flimsy excuse to boot us off the island.”

“So then…we go into stealth mode and lay an extremely clever trap?” Jana asks with a hopeful smile on her face.

“No,” Quinn says. “Right now, I suggest you all finish your breakfast and go for a swim. Loosen up your muscles a bit.”

“Wait—what?” Kate asks.

“I’ll be flying back to the US,” Quinn tells them. “I’ve got a noon flight up to Boston.”

A sour look washes over Theo’s face as he throws up his hands. “Well, that’s just awesome. Some killer got the best of us? Are we seriously giving up?”

“Matthew, dear,” Jana says, “is there something we’re missing?”

“Look, I’m not leaving until we find Paige,” Kate says. “Or her body.”

Otto grunts his agreement.

Quinn, perhaps sensing the minor mutiny brewing in the penthouse, shows them his palms. “I didn’t say anything about any of you leaving. I suggested you take a leisurely swim, because you’re going to have a long night ahead of you. By the time you return, I’ll have made a phone call, and your assignments will be waiting for you.”

Theo smiles and shakes his head. “Can you imagine what it was like to be this guy’s roommate in college?”

Chapter 31

THE TWINS

Even though they have papers due the next morning, Hannah and Brooke Clee head back to Turks and Caicos for the night.

Brooke laughs and says they’ll have plenty of time to write them on the Gulfstream—or download them from the internet, whichever’s easier. But Hannah doesn’t find this amusing in the least.

“I can’t believe you’re joking at a time like this. Do you even realize why we’re headed back down to the island?”

“Because maybe, oh, I don’t know, you’re hopelessly OCD?” Brooke asks. She means it to sound devastating, but there’s enough uncertainty in her voice to let Hannah know her sister’s not entirely sure what those three letters stand for.

“No, it’s because we need to know if they really found her or not,” Hannah says. “And there’s only one way to do that.”

Hannah, of course, was the one who arranged the impromptu trip. Ordinarily such a lavish expense would have to pass through her father’s office for approval—the jet is company owned, after all.

But Hannah has had eighteen years to practice her powers of persuasion and manipulation. A sob story about a lost ring (allegedly a gift from her stepmother, Daddy’s second wife) and the delicate need to search for it in person was enough for the jet crew to scramble to get the Gulfstream down to Turks and Caicos for the second time in a week. Flying the jet for an hour costs about $9,000; the round trip would set the company back about $100,000. But the staff knows that if it makes Hannah Clee happy, then it’s wheels up.

“All we know is that somebody found a body,” says Brooke. “If it really is Paige, wouldn’t it be all over the news?”

“Exactly,” Hannah replies. “We can’t trust anybody. For all we know, those jerk FBI agents spread a fake story. We have to be sure.”

“Why? We didn’t do anything!”

“Well,” Hannah says, “we did something.”

Brooke sighs, then sneaks in a mumbled complaint. “We should never have invited her along for spring break.”

“Oh, don’t even go there, Brooke. If we hadn’t invited her along, you know where you’d be right now?”

Brooke has no response to this, because deep down she knows her sister is right. Throughout their childhood Brooke was always the one to run her mouth off at the wrong time, and Hannah was the one who’d have to bail her twin out of the mess. More than once using her fists.

Hannah, feeling a little guilty, tries to reassure her sister. “Don’t worry. We’ll be there soon, and we’ll know for sure.”

Brooke frowns. “I don’t know why we didn’t just call the police right away and tell them what happened. They’d have to understand. None of it was our fault.…”

Hannah takes her sister by the shoulders and refuses to let go until she finally makes eye contact.

“Listen to me. We did the right thing. Some people would like nothing more than to use this to embarrass or hurt Dad. We’re not going to let them.”

At the airport, the twins are met by two vehicles. One is a private limousine, white, chartered to Paul Clee & Partners. A uniformed driver pops out from behind the wheel the moment the girls clear the gate. He is efficient and the girls barely notice him. They don’t ask for ID because why would they? Strangers have been taking care of them their entire lives.

The other vehicle, parked thirty feet behind the limo, is a rented SUV, also white. But this second vehicle is not under the employ of Paul Clee & Partners.

Then again, neither is their limo driver.

Chapter 32

OTTO AND JANA

Otto Hazard, in his crisp white uniform, uses the limousine intercom to ask the girls where they’d like to go. “The hotel, to check your bags? Or perhaps a quick stop at Calico Jack’s?”

Annoyed, Hannah stabs the intercom button. “Just go east on Leeward Highway. I’ll let you know when to turn.”

“Yes, miss, my pleasure.”

The intercom connection is severed. Or at least, that’s what Hannah and Brooke Clee believe. Any conversations the girls have will be heard clearly by Otto—and Jana Rose, who is following in the white SUV. A hidden digital video camera is also running, capturing everything that happens in the back of the limo and instantly uploading it to the Stingrays’ private servers. For instance, there is this exchange:

“This is going to suck.”

“Don’t flake out on me now, Brooke.”

“I’m not! I just don’t want to see her again.”

“Will you shut up? I don’t want the driver hearing any of this.”

“Hannah, that guy can barely speak English. Did you look at him? Um, Neanderthal much?”

Otto smiles. Over his Bluetooth earpiece, he hears Jana’s laugh.

“I’m sorry, Otto, but Brooke Clee has said what we’ve all been thinking.”

“Nah, she’s just playing. I’ll bet she thinks Neanderthals are foxy.”

“Keep sharp. We’re approaching the beach.”

“Neanderthal out.”

After their late-morning swim, the Stingrays had returned to the suite to discover that Quinn had left them all simple instructions. Otto and Jana’s list read:

1. FOLLOW THE TWINS

2. RECORD THE TWINS

3. LISTEN TO THE TWINS

Their collective afternoon was busy with an insane amount of detail work—which happened to be the kind of work they did best. Otto, however, was eager to finish this whole thing so they could maybe kick back and relax over a proper meal.

His reverie is interrupted by the static pop of the intercom. “Turn left here, driver. Then follow my directions.”

“Yes, miss, my pleasure,” Otto says, adding a little more of an islander accent to his speech this time around. If nothing else, he wanted to live up to Brooke’s expectations.

After a series of turns, he is told to park the limo about a block from a deserted stretch of beach.

“This isn’t where we found the other body,” Jana whispers.

“No, it’s not,” Otto replies.

Another loud static pop. “Wait here, driver. We’ll be right back. You stay in the car. Do you understand?”

Like he’s a moron. “Yes, miss, I understand.”

But the moment the girls make it a safe distance away, Otto springs into action, gathering his mobile recording gear and swiftly tightening the distance between himself and the Clee girls. Jana joins him a few moments later with her own recording devices. There’s no time for chatter now; they nod at each other, then slip into the cover of darkness and follow the twins.

Hannah and Brooke are on the beach, gingerly stepping around a patch of sand a few yards away from a crumbling lifeguard station.

“This is it,” Hannah says.

“Is it?”

“You know it is. You put the bottle there.”

“I was making sure.”

“No, you’re not. You just don’t want to dig.”

“Neither do you!”

“Come on. Let’s get this over with.”

Jana is able to capture their conversations with a long-distance microphone; Otto, meanwhile, records the visuals, focusing in with his digital camera. The Clee girls drop to their knees as if they’ve suddenly decided to build a sand castle here on this dark, sinister strip of beach.

They push the sand away with their hands, slowly at first, as if sifting dirt for flecks of gold. But then they grow impatient and begin grabbing great handfuls and flinging them off to the side. The wind catches some of the sand and blows it back into their faces. They pout with annoyance.

But then one of the girls—Jana has to really listen to determine the difference in their voices—shrieks loudly.

“Oh, God,” she says.

Even with those two syllables, Jana knows it’s Brooke speaking.

“It’s her.”

Chapter 33

KATE AND THEO

“You sure you don’t want me to drive?” Theo asks.

“Dude,” Kate says, “I’ve driven a Humvee through two hundred heavily armed Taliban guerrillas in Quam. Pretty sure I can follow a huge black limo through the streets of a resort town.”

“Yeah, but he’s a cop. Pretty sure he’ll know if he’s being tailed.”

They’re in a Honda Whatever, some generic import that’s guaranteed not to raise eyebrows because so many tourists rent them here. They waited outside police headquarters on Old Airport Road until Nigel James finally stormed out, looking irritated. Then the cop climbed into an unmarked car and sped away. At that point, Kate took off in pursuit.

Quinn’s list of instructions to Theo and Kate were as simple as Jana and Otto’s:

1. FOLLOW THE COP

2. RECORD THE COP

3. DETAIN THE COP (IF NECESSARY)

Kate is following the cop like a pro. But there isn’t much mystery as to where he’s going. About three minutes ago, Theo intercepted a text transmission from a burner phone to James’s personal cell, asking him to meet at a certain location on the southeast end of the island. At the same exact moment, Otto Hazard observed Hannah Clee holding a cell phone and thumbing an urgent message that said:

UR GONNA HELP US FIX THIS

All transmissions are documented and uploaded to the Stingrays’ servers.

After a frenzied five minutes, James arrives at the given location. The white limo is kind of a dead giveaway; the cop must be fuming at the girls for being so utterly and completely indiscreet.

“Look at him,” Theo says. “That man is not happy.”

“Tell me something I don’t know,” Kate replies. “Come on, let’s get our gear.”

Nigel James smooths out his clothing, checks his personal weapon (a Glock, Kate notes), stuffs it into a jacket pocket, and then shuffles up the beach toward the twins.

As soon as he’s in range, Hannah Clee points at the unmarked grave in the sand, barking orders.

“You need to get this out of the ground right now and dispose of it properly!”

“Take it easy, Ms. Clee,” James says. “I didn’t expect you back here so soon. You know, what you’re doing is not very wise.”

“Oh, really? You want to know what I didn’t expect? A phone call telling me that somebody pulled the body of a girl out of the sand. And that it could be you-know-who.”

James shakes his head. “There have been some private investigators causing trouble on the island. I told you both: you have nothing to worry about. You are under my personal protection. And by extension, that of the entire police force.”

“No,” Hannah says. “That’s not good enough. We need this…thing up out of the ground and, like, shoved into a wood chipper or something. I don’t want any trace of her left behind!”

“You have to be patient. The evidence was planted elsewhere, which will satisfy local investigators, and eventually everyone else.”

“You don’t get it. I’m not satisfied! It should be me you’re worried about!”

James can’t help but chuckle, which unnerves the twins. They look at each other, wondering if they’ve made a deal with a lunatic.

“Ms. Clee…you don’t understand your position.” James removes the Glock from his jacket pocket. “In about five seconds I could be a hero and the two of you could be dead, next to the corpse of your friend. Murder solved. Everyone’s happy.”

“What?!” Brooke exclaims, the first word she’s uttered since the cop arrived. Life has always been a bunch of laughs for her—until this moment. “But we didn’t kill her! It was just an accident. She was crazy drunk and running too fast and then she tripped and fell and hit her head on a rock.”

James smiles. “Oh, is that the story your sister told you?”

There is a look of growing horror on Brooke’s face as she begins to put it together. Oh, no. Her sister murdered Paige.

“Brooke, don’t say another word,” Hannah snaps. “I did what I had to do. To protect you.”

“But…I d-didn’t ask you to do that!” Brooke stammers, still trying to process everything. “This is bad, Hannah. Dad’s going to be so angry!”

“Ladies, ladies…I don’t care who did what. What happens on the island can stay on the island…if we can successfully renegotiate our deal.”

“What do you mean, renegotiate?” Hannah says.

“The heat on this case has intensified. I’m sure you understand, it’s going to take a lot more money to keep this under wraps. I know you both have stellar credit lines, so it’ll only be a matter of discussing payment.”

“We’re not paying you more money,” Hannah says. “That’s unfair!”

James sighs, then points the Glock at Brooke with a two-hand grip, elbows bent, feet shoulder-width apart, just as he was taught in the police academy. This is called the Weaver stance, and it allows you to fire repeatedly and accurately at multiple targets without the muzzle flying all over the place.

“Guess I’m going to be a hero, then.”

Chapter 34

THE STINGRAYS

They were all expecting the gun to make an appearance, mostly as a way to frighten the twins.

But none of them really expected him to actually use it.

The four of them, however, scramble from the surveillance locations the moment James pulls the weapon from his jacket pocket. A few seconds later, his body language is practically screaming, I’m pulling the trigger.

Kate is the first one to make it within range. There’s a loud crack and pop and then Nigel James’s body jerks and twists like a marionette caught up in the wake of a jet engine. Kate holds the Taser steady until the Glock tumbles out of his hands and the cop collapses completely, by which point Otto is on top of him. Jana and Theo run onto the beach, Tasers in hand.

But then a voice surprises them: “You’re all dead.”

They all look over at Hannah, who has picked up the Glock in the momentary confusion. And she is pointing it at Otto.

“I remember you. You were that fake security guard back at school. And you!” Now she points the weapon at Jana. “You’re the fake FBI agent! You people have been after us this whole time.”

“Well, technically, only since this morning,” Theo offers.

“ALL OF YOU SHUT UP!” Brooke screams. She can’t handle it anymore.

“I don’t care who any of you are,” Hannah says with a creepy calm in her voice. “But I’m not going to let you ruin our lives.”

“Pretty sure you did that all by yourselves when you murdered Paige Ryerson and paid off a local cop to cover it up,” Theo says.

Hannah might be trying to smile, but instead it comes across like the leer of someone who’s just realized she’s lost her mind.

“You probably think I’m some silly schoolgirl who can’t do anything right without her daddy helping out. Well, you’re wrong. We grew up by ourselves, left to fend for ourselves. I’ve gotten us out of trouble before, and I’ll do it again.”

“How?” Theo asks. “By shooting us?”

“Yes. And then you can join Paige under the beach here,” Hannah says. “I’ve been to the shooting range plenty of times. My daddy used to take me, and he always told me I’m an excellent shot.”

“I don’t doubt that, sweetie,” Jana says, speaking in the soothing tones of a therapist. “But killing us wouldn’t help anything. We’ve recorded everything you’ve said since you stepped inside that limo.”

Hannah is momentarily gobsmacked by that piece of news, because it’s the worst possible thing she could hear. The whole world is going to know what we’ve done!

Brooke, however, doesn’t seem to get it. In the moments since she’s learned the truth, Brooke has done what she’s always done: taken Hannah’s side. After all, Hannah’s always known what’s best for them.

“Yeah, well, after we kill you,” Brooke says, “we’ll just find all of your phones and cameras and whatever and bury them, too.”

“Honey,” Jana says, “to cover this up you’d to have to take down the whole internet.”

Hannah, meanwhile, knows it’s over. She allows the Glock to fall to her side. Weirdly, the first thing that pops into her head at this moment is the paper she’ll never write, never hand in. But what do papers matter now?

The message still hasn’t reached Brooke, however, because she snatches the weapon out of her sister’s hand and screams as she points it at Theo.

“Look who’s defending us now, Hannah! Look who’s cleaning up your mess!”

Now, Brooke Clee hasn’t spent any time at shooting ranges. But she’s confident she can squeeze the trigger and spray these annoying jerks with enough bullets to make them all just shut up.…

And maybe Brooke would have gotten in a lucky shot or two, if Kate and Otto hadn’t rushed in, Tasers in hand, and lit up both of the Clee girls like Roman candles.

They both shriek before tumbling down onto the cold sand. A full minute later you could still smell the ozone in the ocean breeze.

Otto secures the Glock, unloads it. Kate checks the killers’ vitals. They’ll be hurting later, but they’ll certainly live. Jana texts Quinn with the latest developments. Theo, however, simply stands there, enjoying the moment.

“Man, I hope we got all of that, because I’m totally binge-watching it later.”

Jana says, “First we need to get the room and the equipment ready. We’re not finished yet, and we don’t have a lot of time.”

Chapter 35

QUINN

This time, Matthew Quinn enters the offices of Paul Clee & Partners the way he is expected: through the lobby, up to reception, and with an appointment. All perfectly respectable and businesslike.

“You didn’t have to make a special trip,” Clee says as he shakes Quinn’s hand. “I presume there’s news?”

“There is, but perhaps not the kind you might be expecting,” Quinn says.

Clee sets his jaw and frowns, then shows Quinn to a chair on the other side of his massive desk. Other clients might place Quinn on the office couch and take a seat nearby, as if to imply, Hey, we’re in this thing together. But this seating arrangement says something different. I’m the boss, you’re my employee. Now impress me.

“Go on,” Clee says.

“None of the four major suspects you gave me did it. My team cleared them all.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Salese, Halsey, Kurtz, and James—none of them killed Paige Ryerson. That I can guarantee.”

“You guaranteed closure, Mr. Quinn,” says Clee. “I’m paying you people a lot of money to end this nightmare. For my girls’ sake, and for the poor Ryersons’ sake.”

“The Ryersons will have closure. Because we found the killer.”

“Well, who is it?”

Quinn gestures: May I? Since Clee has no idea what he means, Quinn walks around the other side of the desk and helps himself to Clee’s desktop computer, which has an absurdly huge display. A few clicks, and he’s bypassed Clee’s password and connected to the Stingrays’ servers. Clee is about to protest, but then digital footage begins to play.

It’s his daughter Hannah, who looks like she’s hungover. The ghosts of mascara lines run down her cheeks.

“Yes, I killed her.”

An unseen voice demands, “Who did you kill?”

“Paige Ryerson, our hallmate. But you have to understand…she was such a snitch! I swear, it was like she was keeping notes on Brooke. You should have heard her—that’s a violation of the St. Paul’s honor code, that’s a violation of the honor code, honor code, honor code, blah blah blah.”

Paul Clee’s jaw drops. Quinn watches him carefully—especially the man’s eyes. They reveal everything.

“She threatened to turn Brooke in?” asks the unseen interrogator, though Quinn, of course, knows this is Kate speaking.

“All the time! So we figured it was time for that honey and vinegar thing. You know, sweeten her up, get her to change her mind. So we invited her to the island. We showed her a really, really good time. And that little snitch had fun!”

“So why kill her?”

“Because around two in the morning I found her sitting on the beach, alone,” Hannah says onscreen. “She must have sobered up a little because she started saying all of this nasty stuff about the two of us, pointing her finger in my face, saying that we were bribing her and it would never work. That’s when I realized this little ungrateful bitch would never quit.”

“So you killed her.”

“No! I didn’t mean to. I pushed her down, to show her she couldn’t mess with me. But then she tried to push back, so I punched her in the face. And she hit me back and started screaming and I knew Brooke would be coming along any minute and I wanted the little bitch to stop so I grabbed a rock and I…”

Clee can’t stand any more of this. He lunges for his keyboard and fumbles for the key that will turn off the feed. Quinn calmly returns to his seat on the other side of the desk. After a few moments, Hannah’s voice is cut off. Both men sit in the office in silence.

“So the only people who know the truth are you and your team,” Clee finally says.

“That is correct. You hired us, we report directly to you.”

Clee nods. “I knew about this. Well, I didn’t know for sure that it was Hannah, though I should have guessed. She was always the more…rambunctious of the two.”

“Of course you knew,” Quinn says. “You also hired men to spread misinformation and offer bogus testimonies. And then you hired us to throw suspicion away from your daughters. You heard that we were the best, and that if you could convince the best that someone else killed Paige, your daughters would be safe.”

Clee puckers his lips a little as he considers this. “And you’re not going to keep this quiet, are you?”

Quinn smiles, then shakes his head. “Never try to sting a Stingray.”

Paul Clee shifts in his seat. “You know, Mr. Quinn, one of the advantages of having your own floor is that you can soundproof the walls to studio quality. Not a single noise will escape.”

Then he opens his drawer and removes a large silver revolver as if it’s nothing more than a tape dispenser or stapler. He points the gun at Quinn’s chest and shows his teeth, his expression somewhere between a sneer and a predator’s grin.

Chapter 36

QUINN (continued)

“Mr. Clee, you’re not thinking clearly,” Quinn says.

“On the contrary, I considered the possibility that your team would discover the truth. So I’ve planned everything to the last detail. Your body will be removed along with the rest of the office refuse. The chair you’re sitting in will be replaced, as well as the carpeting beneath your feet. Within the hour, everything will look brand-new. I have a very loyal staff. We’re like a family, really.”

Clee leans forward over his desk with the gun, as if to shorten the distance for the bullet that’s about to make its way into Quinn’s chest.

Quinn, however, remains motionless. “What about my team? They’re not going to let you get away with this.”

“Who? Your precious Stingrays? Without a leader, they’ll be easy pickings. If they’re still on the island, they’re as good as dead. You’re the slippery one, Mr. Quinn. But you’re not going to slip out of this.”

Quinn nods, then leans forward, too, mimicking Clee’s body language.

“After you kill me,” Quinn says, “I’d like you to do me a favor. Check your surveillance recordings from this very soundproof floor from…oh, somewhere between four and five o’clock this morning.”

“What? Why?”

Quinn shrugs.

Clee’s expression morphs from one of confusion to anger—all of which culminates in a roar as he pulls the trigger. But instead of a blast, there is nothing but a loud hollow snap of the hammer connecting with the firing pin. Clee looks down at the pistol in his hand as if it’s an employee who has disappointed him.

“I’m a planner, too, Mr. Clee.”

“So you broke into my office.…”

“…Early this morning and removed the bullets. You should thank me. This means you’ll only be arrested for attempted murder rather than the real deal. Oh, along with obstruction of justice, accessory to murder, and a host of other charges I’m sure the FBI will be reading to you in just a moment.”

Those words are the cue for the federal agents standing by to swarm into Clee’s office and take him into custody. Their entire conversation has been recorded, too, which will make it especially challenging for Clee’s wolf pack of lawyers when it comes time for the trial.

Once he’s outside the building, Quinn calls Jana, who’s waiting near the luggage carousel at Logan International with the others.

“Nigel James and the twins are in custody,” Jana says. “Local authorities are preparing to turn them over to the FBI.”

“Good. The girls will be able to see their father soon.”

“Did Clee go along quietly?”

“Pretty much,” Quinn says. “How’s the team?”

“Otto’s going on and on about lunch,” she says. As per tradition, the Stingrays will gather for a celebratory feast at the successful close of the case. “What can I tell him so he’ll shut up already?”

“Tell them it’ll be dinner,” Quinn says. “But first I’d like you to stop by the office a little early.”

“How early, my dear?”

Quinn smiles. “Well…are you busy right now?”

This is another part of the tradition. But they never mention it to the other Stingrays.

About the Authors

James Patterson has written more bestsellers and created more enduring fictional characters than any other novelist writing today. He lives in Florida with his family.

Duane Swierczynski is the Edgar-nominated and Anthony Award–winning author of Canary and Revolver. He’s also written for comic books, TV, and film.

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Table of Contents

Letter from James Patterson

Title Page

Copyright

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

About the Authors

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