“Tell me about the party.”
“The party sucked. Tessa and Nick had a big fight and broke up. Tessa was still there when I left. I haven’t seen her since.”
“Tessa wasn’t at school today?” Morgan should have asked the Palmers if they’d called the high school.
“We had the day off for a teacher in-service day,” Felicity whispered. “I have to go.”
“Thanks. Let me know if you remember anything else.”
Felicity ended the call.
“Felicity says Tessa went to a party at the lake with Nick Zabrowski last night.” Morgan summed up the conversation for Lance.
“Isn’t that the kid who lives across the street from you?”
“Yes. I don’t understand why the Palmers wouldn’t like him.” Morgan put her phone back into her tote.
“Fighting with guardians and lying about a boy isn’t too unusual for an eighteen-year-old.” Lance turned the Jeep around. “She probably found another friend to stay with last night.”
“I hope.”
The lake wasn’t far away. Lance drove past the gazebo and picnic areas, then turned off the main road onto a dirt and grass lane. The local teenagers liked to hang out in a spot that wasn’t part of the public area. A footpath connected the park with the clearing. But it was faster to take the service road the kids used.
Morgan grabbed the handle on the top of the door as the Jeep bounced along. It was nearly two a.m. before they drove into the clearing at the edge of the lake. Their headlights swept across trees, dark water—and a white Honda Accord parked near the bank.
Morgan pointed. “There’s her car. It would be wonderful if she just went home with a friend.”
Lance stopped the Jeep, and they got out. Wings flapped overhead and a high-pitched squeak almost made Morgan jump back into the SUV.
“Was that a bat?” Morgan pulled her flashlight out of her tote.
“Probably.” Lance leaned back into the Jeep for a flashlight of his own and switched it on.
“Are you armed?”
“Yes.”
Morgan stepped closer. She was an independent, professional woman, but bugs and bats were not on her list of favorite things. “I should have brought my gun.”
Lance chuckled. “I promise to shoot any bats that attack us.”
“I’m going to hold you to that.”
The soil was sandy, and in the center of the clear area, generations of kids had dug out a pit for bonfires. Lance played his beam across the pit, full of ashes and scorched wood. Empty water bottles, beer cans, and fast food takeout bags littered the area.
“Doesn’t matter how many times the police run the kids out of here.” Lance stood next to her. “They always come back.”
Morgan spotted more litter at the water’s edge. “Were we this messy and inconsiderate?”
“I don’t remember being interested in food when we were out here.” Lance paused. “I do remember making out in the back of my car.”
“I’ll bet you do.” Morgan shone the flashlight on his face.
His grin was too wide. “I’ll bet you remember steaming up my car windows too.”
“I admit nothing.” But yes, she did. “Your ego doesn’t need feeding.” She poked his arm. “Your head will get bigger than your muscles.”
He wiggled an eyebrow. “You noticed my muscles.”
With an amused snort, she shifted the light back to the ground, turning her attention—and hopefully Lance’s as well—back to Tessa’s car. Alarm pricked along the skin on her arms. “Her tires are flat.”
“All of them?” Lance shone his flashlight on the white sedan.
“Yes.”
They approached the car. Lance leaned over to look more closely into the interior. “It’s empty.”
The woods were thick and dark. Could Tessa have decided to walk home and gotten lost? Or maybe she’d gone home with one of the other kids. Wouldn’t be the first time kids covered for a friend with their parents or the police.
Lance took out his phone. “I’ll call the SFPD and let them know we found the car.”
“We should probably call Nick and see if he’s seen her.”
Lance shook his head. “Let the police handle that in case there’s a problem.”
“A problem?”
“Someone slashed all her tires.” His eyes were flat in the darkness as he turned away.
“Nick wouldn’t do that.” But Morgan didn’t make the call.
While Lance called the police, she circled the vehicle, scanning the car and the ground around it for clues. Something metal glinted in the dirt a dozen feet away: a set of keys. The largest was a Honda ignition key. Why would Tessa’s keys be on the ground? If she dropped them while walking away . . .
Morgan walked past the keys. She played the beam of her flashlight over the ground and saw something pink on a mossy tree root closer to the lake. She walked closer. A cell phone. She stooped to pick it up. There was something dark spattered on it.
The wind shifted, and a sense of vulnerability swept over Morgan. Shivering, she glanced around at the dark woods. Branches and their shadows swayed in the dark.
She called back to the clearing. “Lance?”
The hairs on the back of her neck twitched. Had Tessa gone this way? Morgan could see her accidentally dropping either her keys or her phone, but both? She glanced back down at the dark red dots on the phone case.
Blood?
And Morgan knew.
Tessa hadn’t been walking away. She’d been running.
Morgan followed an imaginary arrow that connected the two objects. Underbrush plucked at her jeans as she scanned the ground but saw nothing but dirt, moss, and dead leaves. Continuing in the same direction, a game trail led toward the lake.
“Morgan, where are you?” Lance called from the clearing. “Did you find something?”
A twig snapped as he approached. She jumped but didn’t answer. Every cell in her body was screaming that something was wrong.
Very wrong.
“I’m here.” She waited until she heard Lance behind her, then followed the trail toward the lake. Cattails rose from the weeds as she neared the water. The ground turned marshy and sucked at her feet. Directly ahead, her flashlight paused on some broken cattails.
Was that blue cloth?
“We should wait for the police,” Lance said behind her.
“I see something.” She moved two steps closer, her need to know warring with her sense of dread. Apprehension prickled at her spine as she moved closer, her feet dragging in the mud as if they knew she wasn’t going to like what she saw.
Morgan took another step forward. The cloth was blue. Denim blue. The sleeve of a jacket much like the one she was wearing. The beam of her light caught a length of long, dark hair. Her stomach went cold.
Tessa?
The cattails had nearly closed over her.
“I found her!” She rushed forward. Six feet from the girl, she froze. Morgan moved the light over the girl’s body. Blood on her torso had dried to a dark red. Lance’s arm swept out to block her path.