Page 116 of Distress Signal

Facing Lane again, I said, “Aspen is right. Itishard. But they could hold some key that only I can decode.”

“I doubt there’s anything there for you to find that we haven’t already, but I can get you a copy.”

I held up a hand. “Not necessary. I have my own.”

Lane raised a brow but wisely didn’t press the issue further.Smart man. I found my patience where his bureaucratic bullshit was concerned sorely lacking at the moment.

“Well then,” Lane said, rising to his feet, flipping his notebook closed and stuffing it back into his pocket. “We’ve all got our marching orders.” Glancing around the room, he looked each of us in the eye in turn. “Everythinggoes through me. Understood?”

I didn’t miss the way he lingered on Finn and West, as if the cowboys of the family had a tendency to go, well, a little cowboy on occasion.

Everyone, including the twins, nodded in assent.

The family dispersed shortly after, Finn leaving me with alingering but relatively chaste kiss before he snagged a muffin and walked out the door. I watched him eat up the lawn and head down the hill toward the barn, eyes remaining on him until he was out of sight.

“Did you know?” Aspen asked. “About the twins?”

I nodded. “I went up with them once.”

“Did you…ask them to do that?”

“Of course not! I didn’t even consider the possibility.”

“But they were operating on your ‘tip,’” she guessed, and I nodded.

“I had a dream,” I admitted. “More of a nightmare, really. About the farmhouse. About Lainey chained up in the basement. I woke up screaming, and Finn came to check on me, so I told him about it.”

“Why didn’t you tellme?”

Snorting, I canted my head to the side and pursed my lips in aget realexpression. “C’mon, Aspen. Would you have believed me? It was adream. Not a vision or anything kooky like that.”

Aspen shrugged, not bothering to refute me. “Obviously the twins think differently.”

Even if Finn and West weren’t dialed into the same freaky twin frequency as me and Lainey, I somehow knew Finn would’ve taken me seriously anyway.

Maybe I should’ve trusted Aspen to do the same.

“Do you have any ideas or leads?” I asked her.

Aspen shook her head. “I’ve gotten a number of tip calls thanks to your posters, but so far, nothing has panned out.” Glancing across the room, she leveled Trey with a look. “Wereallyneed that security footage from seven years ago.”

“I’m working on it.”

I rolled my eyes. “You’ve beenworking on itfor months.”

“Do you want to try it?” Trey asked, his irritation evident. “Let’s see how far you get.”

“Knock it off,” Birdie said softly. “You’re all working so hard on this. Cut each other some slack.”

Trey rose from his seat, walked over to Birdie, pressed a kiss to her cheek, then left.

Hopefully to get back to work on that footage.

I had a task of my own to complete and headed home not long after.

As difficult as I knew it would be, being blindsided by any information that may come out about my sister as a result of those journals would be far worse.

I didn’t want any surprises, and the time had come to face them.