shoulder every few seconds to make sure that either his mother or Marguerite don't hear what we're saying.
"Look, I'm really sorry about your friend," he says, after long pause.
"I'm not sure what to do if she doesn't come home soon," I say, walking nervously from one side of the kitchen to another. "I might have to go to the police."
"No!" Lincoln yells at me. "You cannot go to the police."
"I don't have a choice. I have no idea what happened to her unless you do."
He shakes his head. "If you go to the police, Marguerite is going to find out, okay? They're going to have to interview me and this whole thing ..."
"Well, you should have thought of that before you went over there," I snap.
“Listen," Dante gets in between us, "let's not lose control here. We're going to find her. Have you tried calling her?"
I give him a blank expression. "Of course."
"And what? She doesn't respond?"
I shake my head no.
"Have you tried tracking her phone?"
Now that's an idea. It feels like a light bulb goes off in my head. "No, actually, I haven't," I admit.
"Well, what if we did? Come here.” He grabs his laptop and opens an app. "What's her phone number?"
I read it out and he searches for her iPhone. A few minutes later, a location pops up, another house two doors down from the one where The Redemption white party happened.
"What would she be doing there?" I ask.
I stare at Lincoln's face trying to read for any signs. If he had something to do with her disappearance, then he would be freaking out right now, but he's not.
He looks blank, perplexed, as perplexed as we are. While Marguerite is still in the other room, we go out the front door and get into Dante's car with me sitting in the front and Lincoln squeezing in, in the back.
It's a small roadster with a tiny back seat and he complains about it the whole way over. But with the top down and with fresh air running through my hair, I like the feel of it.
"What happened to the BMW?" I ask.
"There's a garage of about ten cars, I like to vary it a little when I come down."
"Uh-huh.” I nod.
I hadn't even realized that there was another part of the property I haven't been to.
We drive over to another gate and dial zero for information.
No one answers at first, but Dante keeps trying and on the third ring, someone stumbles to the intercom.
"Hello?" she asks and I immediately recognize her voice.
"Allison? Allison?" I yell across Dante.
"Is that you, Jacqueline?" she says, her voice sounds distant and not exactly clear.
I wonder if she's been drugged and kept here against her will.
“Here, let me buzz you in," she says, slurring her words just a little.
We drive down a large circular driveway with magnificent oaks lining the road. This is probably the biggest house that I've seen the whole time I've been here and it blows my mind away.
Allison comes out in a short summer dress over a white bathing suit. Her hair is drenched and her skin is deeply tanned, something that she could always do after just a few days in the sun.
"Hey, sweetie," she says, holding a cocktail and wrapping her arms around my neck. "How did you find me?"
"We tracked your phone. Where have you been?"
"Oh, Lincoln," she says, seeing him get out of the car. The expression on her face immediately changes.
"I thought something happened to you."
"How do you know each other?" she asks.
"This is Dante's brother."
"Oh," she mumbles, looking down at her feet. The pedicure is new and so is the manicure.
"What happened?" I pull her away to one side. "What are you doing here? What is this place?"
"Well, after a fabulous time last night, Lincoln dropped me off. I slept a little bit and then I went to get some food since you have practically abandoned me living with Dante this whole weekend."
"That's not what I'm doing."
"Okay, whatever. Anyway, out on Main Street, I got my nails done, got some coffee, and ran into this guy."
"What guy?"
"Richard," she says and almost on cue he emerges out of the house.
32
Jacqueline
The man standing in the doorway is broad shouldered with peppered gray hair a little long around the ears. He has a nice warm tan that stands out against his loose fitting dress shirt and L.L. Bean shorts paired with flip-flops.
His attire is casual, but in that way where you know that he is incredibly