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The ringing continued.

Luke stood transfixed.

Lacey’s Mustang.

In a heartbeat, from the swirling embers of disparate facts, his mind retrieved, sorted and assembled them, making it clearer than ever.

Luke hurried into the house and got his laptop, alerting Ellerd, Vern, Mallory, Cobb and Lacey.

“You all need to come out here.”

With the others gathered in the driveway, Luke began quickly but calmly conveying everything, starting by confessing how he’d hit a woman, damaging his SUV.

“I left the scene, failed to report a hit-and-run.”

Eyebrows went up and faces tensed as Luke gave his reasons for embarking on his rogue investigation of Joyce-Anne Gemsen, the woman he’d struck. Showing them images and facts on his laptop, detailing how they fit together, he then called the burner phone number that the warrant had revealed.

As it rang in Lacey’s Mustang, her jaw dropped.

“Hold up,” Mallory said. “You’re confessing to a crime no one knows anything about, and making some kind of leap in logic. How does this prove anything?”

Nodding big nods, Luke continued.

“Before she went missing, Joyce-Anne Gemsen and her boyfriend attended a street market, otherwise known as a swap meet, near Pauls Valley, Oklahoma,” Luke said. “About a six-hour drive from here.”

Luke showed them the grainy construction security video of Gemsen rising from the ditch in the rain near Fawn Ridge, wearing pink. Then he told them about the pink fragment he’d plucked from his grille.

“Do you have that piece of fabric, Luke?” Mallory asked.

“No, I tossed it. But listen to me, Gemsen was here, and so was Lacey’s phone, at the same time,” Luke said. “I couldn’t find Joyce-Anne—that’s why I thought I was imagining things. But maybe she escaped and was recaptured in this Mustang here? This is how it connects.”

Luke turned to Lacey.

“We were all high school kids when Abby and Erin were murdered, weren’t we, Lacey? I went to Rosedale Eastern, but Carrie, you, Clay, Opal—you all went to Clear River. In fact, you and Clay were in the cafeteria that day, and you went to the Halloween party, like the story says. You and Clay were there.”

Lacey began shaking her head. “I don’t understand any of this, Luke.”

“You said you called Carrie today; you were on your way to see her. But what if you flagged her down? She’d stop for you. Get out of her car for you.”

Luke paused.

“Did the story trigger something in Carrie? Did she finally remember something about you and Clay? Did she remember the truth, Lacey? Is that why you needed to see her?” Luke nodded to the Mustang. “Did you text her from the burner phone, lure her out? What is it that she knew about you and Clay? Where’s Carrie? Where’s Joyce-Anne Gemsen? ”

The eyes of the investigators fell on Lacey.

Frightened, bewildered, she brushed at tears.

“No, Luke. I don’t know anything. It’s Clay’s car. He’s out of town with his truck. Mine wouldn’t start, so I took his Mustang. And it’s Clay’s phone, but yes, it’s a burner. But he said he’d used it for undercover work, part of his applying to be a detective and stuff, and—”

“What?” Luke said.

She turned to the others. “Clay said they were watching Luke because he was acting suspiciously after he damaged his car.”

Ellerd weighed in. “Clay was never undercover. And we were not watching Luke. Although, hearing what I’m hearing, maybe we should have been.”

Ellerd then nodded to Mallory and Cobb.

“Lacey,” Mallory said. “We need you to tell us all you know.”

“This can’t be happening.” Her voice broke.

“Where’s Clay?” Mallory said.

Lacey managed, “Baton Rouge, at a swap meet.”

“We’ll alert police there to pick him up,” Ellerd said, “and we’ll get a warrant for your car, the phone and your home, which we’re going to seal as soon as possible.”

Shaking her head, Lacey’s voice was a whisper. “I only wanted to help…”

“As for you, Luke,” Ellerd said. “We don’t yet have a case against you, a victim or a scene. Only your admission. Until we sort this out, I’m going out on a limb here. You’re not under arrest at this point. This is my call. I may pay for it later, but because of exigent circumstances, and what you may know to help us, we’ll take you with us into investigative custody.”