A Fierce and Subtle Poison - Samantha Mabry Page 0,60

the sea as if searching it for ships.

“We should go,” she repeated, more urgently this time.

I turned and started trudging through the sand toward the hotel. Once I reached my shoes, I glanced back to the water. The sun continued to beat down against the beach, but there wasn’t a small-framed, dark-haired girl basking in it anymore. Then a head broke the surface of the water far from the shore. As soon as it appeared it disappeared again, and a moment later Isabel’s feet kicked up from the waves, as if she were diving straight down in an attempt touch the bottom of the ocean.

The nearest phone was at the front desk of one of the neighboring high-rise hotels. Rico was pissed that I’d woken him up, but when I told him it was an emergency and I needed him to get to La Andalusia, he said to give him ten minutes. I’d left out as many details as I could, which was easy because Rico rarely asked for specifics about anything.

As I was making my way back through the lobby, I noticed a small crowd gathered near the bar, watching a special news report on one of the screens. There was a grainy picture of Celia. Under that was the number for a tip line.

“Poor girl,” I heard someone murmur. “I hope they catch the creep who did this.”

“Again, to revisit our top story,” said the newscaster. “Police are searching for a possible suspect in the case of the disappearance of Celia Reyes. Sources confirm that suspect’s name as Michael Lucas Knight, aged seventeen.”

My yearbook picture appeared on the screen. It was followed by a live shot of Detective Lopez. Several microphones surrounded her crimson lips.

“A mentor of Mr. Knight,” she said, “a man who lives on Calle Sol in the old city who wishes to remain nameless at this time, claims that Lucas confessed his crimes to him. After that confession, and when the older man threatened to call the police, Mr. Knight attacked him and left him for dead.”

I squinted, and cocked my head like a man who’s just been hanged. There I was, onscreen. There were words coming out of Mara Lopez’s mouth. None of it made sense.

A voice from off screen demanded, “Are we to assume that the Reyes cases are now linked?”

Detective Lopez turned to share a glance with the tall, thin man next to her. I remembered him but not his name. He’d also interviewed me the night I found Marisol.

“All we’re willing to say is that Mr. Knight is a ‘person of interest,’ and that while we’re asking for the public’s help in finding him, we also ask that they be careful. His mentor claims Mr. Knight stole a firearm from his house. It’s also important to note that the young man does have a history with the San Juan Police Department.”

Sensing eyes on me, I looked down to my left. There, a little girl with blonde hair in two perfect pigtails was holding a beach towel and staring up at me. With her free hand, she slowly reached up to tug on her dad’s shirt.

I ran.

Nineteen

I BOLTED INTO La Andalusia, where Isabel was sitting on the floor near her suitcase. Her wet hair was twisted up in a knot, and the hood of her sweatshirt was again thrown over her head.

“Your dad,” I gasped. “They’re showing my picture on the news.”

Isabel sprang to her feet and rushed to look out the window. “Did anyone see you?”

“No. Yes.” I shook my head and doubled over, bracing my hands on my knees. “I don’t know. A little girl, maybe.”

I heard the distinctive whine and sputter of Rico’s scooter approaching.

“He’s been setting me up this whole time!” There was that feeling again, in my throat and in my lungs, as if they were being forced to suck in bad air. “He took Marisol and Celia, knowing I was connected to them. He told my dad he was my mentor and all about my newfound interest in poisonous plants. Then he went and told Mara Lopez—who hates me—that I confessed to him and then left him for dead.”

I looked up and saw Isabel, pacing, gnawing on the edge of a blackened thumbnail.

“Please tell me you didn’t know about this,” I begged. “Because if you’re lying, this is finished. I’m leaving you here to haunt this place by yourself, and I’m going out to find Celia.”

“No!” Isabel cried out. “I knew he was taking the girls,