Page 32 of Behind These Four Walls
At the same time, Rey said, “What a stud,” totally impressed.
“Look deeper into the background on the family. Business associations. Rey, could you hurry with finding the origin of the accounts in Leonard’s name? Who knows how long we have before someone tries to take the money out?”
“Working on it,” he said tersely.
“I’ll try to figure out Eden’s trail the day she disappeared and how it traces back to the Corrigans. There was likely a secret Eden knew. Maybe she confronted one of them and ended up ...” She stopped herself short, unable to bring herself to say the worddead. The fact that there was no body meant there was a chance, though Isla didn’t know if she really believed that. Not like Victor and Holland seemed to believe.
“They really think she could be alive, living somewhere off the grid?” Nat asked. “I mean, it’s rare but possible. People go missing and end up found years later, living their best lives. Some of them just walk away because they’ve had enough of the lives they were living.”
Isla would hang on to any glimmer of hope, even if it meant Eden had left her behind. But if that was the case, why send a letter from a city they had already left? And what about the bracelet that never left Eden’s wrist?
“There’s something about Bennett that rubs me the wrong way,” Isla said. “On the outside he’s fun and can be charming as hell, but he’s hiding something dark and ugly that’s itching to come out. He’s like a loose cannon.”
“Keep an eye on him, but be careful,” Rey said.
“What about Myles?” Nat said dreamily. “He’s delicious looking. This family has great genes. He’s—”
“A wild card,” Isla finished. “With no personality.” She left out the part where he’d gotten her a change of clothes.
“Watch out for him too,” Rey warned.
“I know,” Isla said, her chest tightening. She changed the subject. “About this article. I have some clips from when we were at UCLA, but could we doctor up a couple more in case I need to prove it? Get a portfolio together? It needs to look legit. Nat?”
“I’m on it,” Nat said before Isla could finish. “I can have it by the end of the day.”
“Only work on the laptop I gave you,” Rey said, back to business. “And don’t connect to their Wi-Fi. Use the hot spot I gave you too. Everything will be encrypted, so if they have someone trying to backdoor you, it’ll block them. But you do need to put my USB drive into one of their computers. A home and a work, so I can get in easy. This is just another job, okay? Think of it that way. Leave the emotions out.”
“I know,” Isla said, looking once again at the board.
Someone in that house knows the whole truth, but each of them holds pieces to the puzzle.
“At least I’m in. Right?”
Nat replied, “Sure, but this won’t be easy. You’ll have to be ‘on’ twenty-four seven. Even actors stop filming at the end of the day. You can’t break character. Ever. If they ever suspect you ...” Nat whistled. “Just don’t end up like your friend, okay?”
“Kinda harsh, Nat.”
While they argued over who was the more insensitive one, Isla fought against the burn behind her eyelids as the weight of her reality began to press down on her. She didn’t want to speak, afraid she’d betray her feelings.
Isla zeroed in on Eden’s smiling photo.Eden, what did you know? And why did you have to disappear to find it?
No matter how terrified she was, she couldn’t let Rey and Nat ever know.
Chapter Twenty-Six
There was a little time before the estate car came for her, and it was as good a time as any to begin retracing where she and Eden had been. Her first stop was where they’d eaten a couple of times. She pushed open the door to Mabel’s Country Kitchen, the same one she’d entered a decade ago. Only this time she wasn’t sixteen, terrified, and confused, with no one to turn to. She was older, with over a decade’s more experience and a whole lot more nerve and sense that she belonged. This time, she had people, even if they were thousands of miles away. Still, she couldn’t help the slight trickle of déjà vu and a triggering recall of having felt deserted and confused that morning long ago.
The smell of bacon and coffee, the ting of metal to porcelain, and the happy chatter of people filling their bellies greeted her. She scanned the room until her eyes landed on a woman wiping down the counter, where luckily one seat was vacant. She slipped onto the stool after getting the okay that she could seat herself and plucked the plastic-covered menu from the napkin dispenser that kept it upright.
“Good morning,” Isla said, offering a warm smile to the woman behind the counter. “Hot tea please?”
The woman’s name tag informed Isla that she was not the famous Mabel from the restaurant’s moniker.
Isla looked around. “So where’s Mabel?”
Becca looked Isla over with curiosity as she flipped over the mug and pushed toward her a steel container of an assortment of teas—of which Isla picked Earl Grey—and poured the hot water. She snorted. “You must not be from around here, hmm?”
Isla shook her head. “That obvious, huh?”