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I didn’t think things through when leaving Eve’s house.

A part of me screamed to calm down, go back home, and process my thoughts before acting, but I couldn’t.

Instead, I jumped behind the wheel of my car and drove to Sage Hill.

Again . I was an idiot, I know. But the adrenaline coursing through me was hard to control.

Along the way, I gave Kennedy a call. She didn’t answer the first time but did get around to it on my second try.

“Kennedy Windsor,” she answered.

“Hi, Kennedy. It’s Rose. I—I think I found something, about Eve.

I don’t think she felt safe in the cottage and there’s some guy she talks about a lot named Victor, but I have no idea who he is.

I don’t think I’ve met him. There are also other things I saw that might help us figure out what happened to her. ”

“Okay, okay. Slow down,” Kennedy insisted. “What exactly did you find?”

“I found recent journal entries on her laptop, but there’s proof in here that she was with Alex and Damian while staying at the cottage. She talks about stuff they did.”

“Good Lord.” Kennedy sighed. “Alright. Where are you?”

“I’m on the way to Sage Hill. I should be there within the next hour.”

“Right. Well, you can’t come to the sheriff’s office. Reed is here,” she said in a lower voice. “I’ll send you my address. You can meet me at my place. My shift is almost over.”

“Okay.”

“You called at a good time,” she added. “My friend got back to me, and I also received a call from the DA. I told her about Eve and what we suspect. It has piqued her curiosity and she wants more details. The more proof we have, the better our chances are of bringing them in for questioning.”

“Okay, good.” Questioning wasn’t enough, but it was a start. Perhaps they’d slip or more proof would be revealed. Who knows, maybe there would even be a confession.

“Drive carefully,” Kennedy said before ending the call.

Once she’d sent her address, I tapped it, and my phone provided me another route.

Kennedy Windsor lived in an apartment on the second floor in the heart of town. The parking lot was massive but hardly filled with cars. The complex was well kept. I took the stairs up and gave her door a knock.

In a matter of seconds, she answered. It was interesting seeing her out of uniform. She wore jeans and a graphic T-shirt with an ice cube wearing sunglasses. The words TOO COOL were above it. “Come in,” she said, stepping back.

I walked past her, and the smell of baked chicken and spices flooded my senses. A candle was lit on the center of her glass dining room table. The rug in her living room was furry and black. Her furniture was suede brown. A corgi mix circled my ankles, sniffing at me.

“That’s Pinto,” Kennedy said after locking the front door.

“Hi, Pinto.” I squatted, giving the dog a rub on the head. He sniffed my hand then chuffed before twisting around and trotting away.

“You really think something bad has happened to her, don’t you?”

I faced Kennedy, who had her arms folded and an expectant look on her face.

“I really do,” I admitted. “At first, I thought it was just Eve being Eve. She can be flaky and sometimes she just flat out ignores people. But this time it’s different. She’s too quiet about it.”

Kennedy dropped her arms and shook her head as she walked past me. “I used to have a friend like Eve. Do you want something to drink?”

“Um, just water is okay.” I watched as she opened the fridge. “What do you mean, you had a friend like Eve?”

“The flaky, self-absorbed kind,” she said, plucking a water bottle out and carrying it my way. “We’re no longer friends.”

“Oh.” I accepted the water when she offered it to me. It wasn’t until I took a few chugs that I realized how thirsty I was. The bottle was nearly empty.

Kennedy laughed as she returned to the kitchen, grabbed another bottle, then handed it to me. “When was your last full night of sleep?” she asked, making her way to the stove to stir something in a pot.

“Not sure, honestly. Two nights ago, maybe.” I shrugged, finishing my first water then opening the next. I hadn’t slept much with Jayson last night in the hotel either, though he’d slept like a baby. I envied how calm he was, how none of this was truly his concern.

“You should rest. Seriously, you can’t get anything done running on empty.” Kennedy turned off the stovetop and sat on the sofa. “Come on, sit. Tell me about these journal entries you found.”

I sat with her, placing my purse on my lap to dig the laptop out. Once I’d signed in, I started to hand the journal to her.

“Oh—hold on.” She shot back up and returned to the kitchen to retrieve a box from one of the cabinets. When she returned, she was sliding her fingers into a pair of latex gloves. “Evidence.” She sighed before taking the laptop from me and pressing a finger to the mousepad.

“She wrote in there a lot,” I said as she scrolled and clicked. “But there’s this one entry about them that sort of surprised me. May I?”

She nodded, turning the laptop my way. I clicked on the entry about Eve spending time with Alex and Damian then turned it back to Kennedy.

Kennedy’s brows furrowed deeper with every line. “Wow,” she finally said.

“Right?”

“Are you sure this actually happened?” She lifted her gaze to mine. “How do you know this isn’t fabricated? That she didn’t make it all up as some sort of fantasy in her head?”

“I don’t think she would. Eve is very promiscuous and loves sex. I wouldn’t count it out.”

“So, she had a threesome with the brothers, and they killed her because of it?” Kennedy raised a brow. “Sorry, I’m just not making sense of it.”

“I can’t piece it together either, but if that’s all they did, why are they being so secretive about it?

And why did they have her purse? Eve makes pretty good money doing what she does.

What if those guys did something to her and took her purse so they could try and use her cards or drain her accounts or something?

” I was reaching now, but I needed Kennedy to side with me on this and get the same sense of urgency I had. Every passing hour left a colder trail.

“The purse thing is odd, yes, but it’s not enough, Rose.” She handed the laptop back to me after closing it. “Nothing in this can be used as full-blown proof, at least not enough to spark an investigation. Unless we find Eve or discover a body or blood— something —there’s nothing I can do.”

I swallowed my frustration.

“But like I told you, I spoke to the district attorney. She’ll likely give me guidance on the matter. It could take a few days but—”

“Are you kidding me?” I tried my best not to frown. “We don’t have a few days, Kennedy. She could be trapped somewhere or even dead!”

“I understand that, believe me,” she said, holding up patient hand, “but I can’t go hunting the Reeds down based on a purse and a virtual journal.”

I slid my eyes to Pinto, who was sitting on the love seat licking the top of his paw with his eyes closed.

“What if I get picture proof that Eve’s car is in Sheriff Reed’s garage?”

Kennedy frowned. “I hope you aren’t telling a cop you plan on breaking and entering into another cop’s home.”

“Of course not,” I lied. “I can sit in my car nearby and wait for him to get home after a shift. I’ll snap a pic when he opens the garage again.”

Kennedy suppressed a groan. “I think you need to get some rest. Think this through a bit more and let me handle it. I know you want to act now, but you don’t want to tip the Reeds off and make them paranoid.

If Sheriff Reed catches sight of you lurking around his house, he’ll find a way to shut this down.

That’s the last thing I want happening again. ”

My brows puckered. “What do you mean again ?”

Kennedy paused, realizing she’d slipped up. “It’s . . . nothing.”

I kept quiet, watching as she rubbed one of her nails with the pad of her finger. I’d learned a long time ago that silence made most people want to talk more.

When the silence went on for too long, she cut a glance at me.

“He assaulted my dad at a bar.” She sighed.

“I had just completed my training at the academy and my dad took me and my brother out for drinks to celebrate.

Sheriff Reed comes in all loud and boastful.

My dad and brother decided to play pool, but when my dad was going for the pool sticks, Reed snatched one of them out of his hands.

“Reed told him he was gonna have to wait his turn and said he was going to play with his boys once they arrived. My dad doesn’t take shit from anyone so he just grabbed another stick and told him once Reed’s friends arrived, he’d take a break so they could play.

Reed got pissy about it and punched my dad in the face. Just like that.”

I gasped. “Are you serious?”

“Yes. And the worst part about it is there were people who saw this happen but all of them sided with Reed. But he didn’t realize that I’d been recording the whole thing.

I had proof that he swung first. We filed a report and were even thinking about suing, but Reed reached out a few days later and offered me a job.

He said he’d give it to me, but only if I redacted the report and deleted the video. ”

“And I assume you did?”

“Wouldn’t be wearing the uniform if I hadn’t,” she grumbled, peeling the gloves off.

“Believe me, I didn’t want to. I told my dad I wouldn’t, but he didn’t want my opportunities limited.

He wanted me to get the job, to make some money, make a difference in this shit town.

Work a few years in Sage Hill so we could move to Raleigh or Charlotte.

” She shrugged, but I didn’t miss the sadness in her eyes.

“My dad insisted I take the offer, so I deleted the video, and we pulled the report. There isn’t a single day that I don’t want to punch James in his face for punching my father in his. ”

“You hate him,” I said.

“I don’t hate him. I just don’t like that he’s running this town or that so many people think he’s a good person. He’s a snake who loves hiding in the grass.”

“Damn,” I murmured.

“That’s why I believe you about Eve’s car.

I wouldn’t put it beneath James to hide the car to save his ass or even his nephew’s.

The last thing he wants is his name tarnished.

He can’t afford to lose votes as the sheriff around here.

It’s the only thing that gives him purpose and power.

” Kennedy stood and walked to the trash can to dump the gloves.

“But like I said, book a hotel or head back home. Get some rest. I’ll take it from here.

” She stepped toward me when I stood, placing a hand on my shoulder.

“I want you to know you can trust me, Rose.”

I pressed my lips, wanting to smile, but finding it hard to. “I hope so.” It was hard to trust anyone around here, but I had faith in Kennedy.

When I was inside my car again, I debated whether to go back to Charlotte or book a hotel in Green Pines again.

Then I thought about Kennedy’s story. James assaulting her dad.

A white man carrying injustice like a weapon.

It wasn’t a new circumstance, but it still pissed me off.

He was no different than Robert Cowan—men in power who will do anything to keep it that way.

It was time for that vicious cycle to end.

I started my car and left the parking lot, but instead of booking a hotel or going home, I took the road that led to James’s neighborhood.