Page 30 of Our Daughter's Bones

It wasn’t the first time it had happened. She knew it wouldn’t be the last time.

Her thoughts were twisting and turning. The clues were suffocating whispers in her mind. She was in a maze. But the paths kept changing. She pulled out her notebook and decided to organize her thoughts. She listed what she knew.

Abby was depressed after Erica disappeared—confirmed by Hannah, Principal Burley, and Dr. Coleman.

She used Coleman to get access to antidepressants—Abby didn’t like to show her “weakness” to anyone.

She stole hundreds of dollars from her mother over the course of six months.

The antidepressants were fake.

Pages were missing from her personal journal.

Mackenzie stared at her words. The last three points didn’t make sense. Was she missing something? Maybe the pages were missing because Abby tore them off after venting. Perhaps she wrote something in the heat of the moment and discarded it later. But the money and the pills had no explanation.

Someone knew she had a prescription, had access to her home, and switched her meds. Had they known she’d faked the prescription, and wanted to stop her taking the pills without confronting her directly? Or had they just not wanted her to get well? Was this person playing a sick prank or did they want to hurt her?

Fifteen

A few hours later, Mackenzie’s hair was covered in flour and her hands were smeared with batter. After spoiling two batches, the chocolate-chunk ginger cookies were ready. It had only taken her a few hours to prepare a recipe that took her grandmother under an hour. She stared at the recipe, written on a wrinkled yellow page that had a logo of a Chinese restaurant at the bottom. Mackenzie was lucky to have it. Tracing the handwriting with the tip of her finger, a smile tugged at her lips. Her years in New York were spent watching her grandmother bake. From juicy berry muffins to buns glazed in sugar. She licked her lips and could still taste the buttercream. It was the only untainted relationship she had.

Then, Sterling happened. Then, Sterling cheated.

She packed the cookies into Tupperware. Finding a video on YouTube to show her how, she wrapped the box in silver gift paper and tied a bow on top. Lastly, she attached a note to the gift.

Dear Luna,

The secret is yogurt and ____.

Lots of love,

M

She knew Luna would like a good guessing game.

Twenty minutes later, she was parked in front of the tall, narrow house. Unlike other houses in Lakemore, this one was modern—a giant shoebox. With painted wood cladding covering the structure and a small rose garden in the front yard, it looked humble and quaint. The front of the house was all windows. The soft yellow light behind the curtains was casting a glow around the house.

It looked warm and inviting.

Mackenzie tapped her fingers against the steering wheel. Her knee bobbed up and down.

She remembered the last time she had come here. It was around two months ago. Rain had poured, heavy and violent. A storm brewed, knocking out electricity in different parts of the city. She’d ran. The beating of her heart had been louder than the crackling thunder. She’d knocked on the door till the sides of her hands bruised.

“What’re you doing here? Get inside.”

“I need to ask you something.”

“We can talk inside. Just—”

“No! Did you know?”

“What are you talking about, Mack?”

“Did you know that Sterling cheated on me?”

The memory collapsed when her phone vibrated with a message. It was from Sterling. She pursed her lips and tossed her phone in the back of her car without looking at it. Before she could convince herself otherwise, she grabbed the gift and marched to the door.

It swung open practically before the bell stopped ringing.