Page 132 of Secrets Along the Shore

Serenity’s eyes narrow. “She’s the body you found up there,” she whispers, her gaze locked onto mine.

“What makes you say that?”

“’Cause I’m not dumb. I saw it on the news. You found a body and now you show up asking about Kamden?”

“We don’t have a concrete identification yet, but Kamden has come to our attention. You filed a missing person’s report with the Birmingham Police on May fifteenth of last year?”

Serenity is poised on the edge of the seat, her spine rigid. “Yeah, I did.”

“Can you tell me what happened?”

“Kam lived with me. With me and my kids.” Serenity ticks her head in the direction of the screaming. “She stayed in one of the bedrooms down the hall. She watched them during the day so I could go to work, and in exchange, I didn’t charge her rent. I clean at the airport—had to switch to nights when she left ’cause that’s when my mom could watch the kids.

“When Kamden didn’t come home, I thought she’d run off with some guy again. She’d done that before, but she always got in touch eventually, a couple days after, you know? This time, when I didn’t hear from her after a week, I figured something was up. I guess I was right, huh?”

I let her comment pass. “When you talked to the police, how did they handle it?”

“I mean, they took the report, but they said there wasn’t much they could do. I get it. She’s an adult, and like I said, she’d taken off before. They weren’t too worried, but I thought it was weird shedidn’t check on the kids. She loves them. So, I thought, ‘better safe than sorry.’”

“What do you think happened to her?”

“I honestly have no idea. I was hoping the cops would figure it out.”

“What happened after you reported her missing?”

“Nothing. Some cop called about a month later to follow up, but I told him nothing had changed. He asked if I’d found out anything else, anything to make me think somethin’ bad might have happened, but there wasn’t. Other than the fact that she had stopped posting pics on Instagram. I mean, she was reposting stuff from other people, but that wasn’t like her. She only ever posted her own stuff.”

“That was unusual for her, to not post new photos?”

Serenity nods. “Very.”

I pull up Kamden’s Instagram account on my phone and turn the screen toward Serenity so she can see the last new photo Kamden posted and the caption. “Any idea what the caption means or who might’ve taken the photo? It’s obviously not a selfie.”

Serenity takes my phone and studies the screen. “I remember this. I’m guessing it means Kam’s gonna party a little more before the night’s over. After she didn’t come back, I kept looking at it, trying to figure out who she was with, but I don’t have a clue. Could’ve been anybody. But”—she taps the screen—“something about this parking lot seemed familiar. Still does. Never could come up with it.”

“If she was partying, could it be a bar? And this purplish light?” I point out the color on Kamden’s face. “Is that what’s familiar to you? Maybe from a neon sign?”

Serenity shrugs. “Could be.”

“You think it’s someplace you’ve been?”

“Or just some place I’ve passed by. I told you, I don’t know.”

“Do you travel much?”

She laughs like I’m doing a Netflix comedy special. “Are you kidding? I haven’t left Birmingham in, like, five years.” She jabs a finger at the hall. “Between those three and my job, I don’t have time to travel. The farthest I’ve been is up the road to Pinson to see my sister.”

“So, it’s reasonable to assume that, if you have seen this place”—I tap the photo again—“it’s somewhere in Birmingham, or at least between here and Pinson?”

She doesn’t answer, just shrugs.

“Did you ever drive around to try to find it?”

She snorts. “I can barely keep up with my own business. I don’t have time to go looking for some place my drug-dealing housemate went to get wasted. I blew three hours going to the police station to make a report about her.Thatwas my attempt at finding her.”

“Kamden was dealing drugs? Not just using?”

“Not out of here.Neverout of here. Out there,” she says, shooing her hand at the front window. “After work and whatever. I made her keep the stuff out of the house.”