taps on the Shadow app, then taps on the photo of McKenzie, beaten, tied up on a bed. She passes it to the other woman.
“I thought you deleted the app.”
“I un-deleted it earlier today.” Marin nods at the phone. “Look closely. Read it. I thought it looked real.”
Castro zooms in and frowns. “It might well be. Who knows at this point. Derek got this today?”
“Yes.”
“You should have sent this to me the minute you saw it.” Castro looks at Marin. She seems flabbergasted. “Why didn’t you?”
“I wanted to ask Derek about it first.” Marin’s eyes are hot with tears. “Because that text could mean he’s had a ransom demand before. I wanted to know what Derek knew.” She swallows. “He’ll be home any minute.”
“And what about what you know?” Gone is the gentle tone. Castro’s voice is hard, and Marin can picture her back in her cop days, grilling suspects relentlessly until she got to the truth. “What else do you know, Marin?”
Tell her. Tell her what you did. Tell her about Julian.
But she can’t bring herself to say a word. It’s conspiracy to commit murder. She’ll go to prison.
“That’s everything, that’s all I know,” Marin says. “Are you going to call the police? Have Sal arrested?”
“I already did.” Castro’s voice returns to normal again. “I’m waiting for word from the Prosser police department that he’s in custody. There’s nothing to do right now except wait and see what they find.”
“Find?” Marin blinks, not quite understanding what the other woman means. “Are you talking about Sebastian?”
“Marin, it’s been sixteen months now since your son was taken,” Castro says. “That’s a long time to hold someone captive. I’m not saying I have answers. We have to wait and see what Sal says. But I want you to be prepared, okay? This is me talking to you, woman to woman, mother to mother. I don’t want you to get your hopes up. You need to brace yourself. That’s why I came. I thought I could be here for you—”
Marin shakes her head rapidly. “No. Sal wouldn’t have hurt him.”
“Maybe not on purpose. Not intentionally. But Sal did grow up in a very abusive household.”
“Which is exactly why he wouldn’t hurt a child.” She’s being stubborn, because she wants it to be true. She needs it to be true. “He wouldn’t have hurt my child.”
“What kind of relationship did he have with your son?”
“He…” Marin stops, thinks. Sal didn’t have a relationship with Sebastian, not really. He didn’t dislike the kid, he just … wasn’t very interested. “They didn’t really bond. But whatever sick games he’s been playing, Sal isn’t capable of killing someone.”
“He isn’t?” Castro says. “Are you sure he didn’t kill his father?”
Marin opens her mouth to respond, then shuts it again. She shouldn’t be surprised that Castro knows about Sal’s father’s untimely death, but she has to be very careful about how she answers. “That was a long time ago.”
Castro raises an eyebrow.
“It was an accident,” Marin adds quickly. “Sal’s dad was a drunk. He—”
“According to the police report, you were there that night. Did you actually see what happened?”
“No.”
Marin hadn’t seen it. She’d come out onto the balcony a second too late.
But almost immediately, she’d told Sal to lie. She told him exactly what to say so he wouldn’t be arrested, so he wouldn’t go to prison. Why would she have done that, if she hadn’t on some level, deep down, believed he might have killed his father on purpose? Sal Sr. was a terrible human being, and it was her fault they’d even been at that party. She didn’t want her boyfriend to spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing the man who’d nearly killed his mother, and who might just as easily have killed him.
“And the people Sal associated with aren’t good people,” Castro continues. “Have you ever met his friend Julian Black?”
Marin freezes.
“They were cellmates briefly more than twenty years ago, during the time Sal was in lockup for dealing drugs. When I did background checks on everyone close to you and Derek, Julian’s name didn’t come up initially. I admit I didn’t look deeper into Sal’s life back then because I’d already eliminated him as a suspect. But when I discovered the connection between McKenzie and Sal, I took a hard look at Sal’s known associates. Julian Black has gone on to have quite the colorful criminal career. You don’t recall meeting him at any point? Sal never introduced you?”
Why is Castro