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Yeah, so my nephew calls me a harp. It’s his attempt at saying Aunt Harper. He’s still learning how to talk, so it’s cute.

“Okay, well, I have to take off.” She slides into the driver’s seat and tosses her phone into the charging dock. She starts up the engine and rotates around in the seat to look at me. “Thank you so much for doing this. Really, I owe you.”

“You’re good.” It’s a lie. And I don’t like that she’s rushing to leave. I haven’t even got to talk to her about what I found at the house. “I actually need to talk to you about something.”

“You’ll have to talk to me later.” She closes her door. “I really need to get going.”

So much for being grateful for me driving all the way out here.

Plus…

“Where’s the stuff you got from the storage unit?” I ask, noting nothing appears to be in the vehicle.

“Huh?” Her phone has gone off so she’s distracted with reading the message.

“You said you came here to pick up some of Will’s old stuff,” I remind her. “So where is it?”

She sends a text then returns the phone into the charging station. “Oh, I forgot the key to the unit.” She bumps the heel of her hand to her forehead. “I really am losing my mind. I swear I am!” She gives this fake laugh. “But I really have to go. Call me soon, and I’ll take you out for lunch as a thank you for doing this.” She shifts the car into reverse and starts to back up before I can even get out of the way.

I quickly shut the door and step back before she ends up running over my feet. Then she turns the car around and peels away, giving me a half-ass wave as she drives by, the tires of her vehicle kicking up a cloud of dirt in my face.

I cough and fan my face while shaking my head. Did she seriously just take off without making sure I made it back to my care safely?

Am I seriously that surprised?

Annoyed, I make my way back to my car, knowing full well that she wasn’t out here to get items from a storage unit. My sister lies a lot and yet even with all that practice, she sucks at it. She was out here for another reason. It makes me sick to my stomach about what that could be. Drugs maybe? But would she do that with her kids in the car?

That sad reality is I honestly have no idea anymore what my sister would and wouldn’t do.

She hasn’t been herself since that night that part of her died.

It’s almost like nothing is left of her but a ghost.

Chapter 5

Harper

Ispend the weekend trying to focus on studying, although part of my mind is stuck on my sister and her sketchy behavior. I keep waiting for her to call me and chew my ass out for getting rid of her drugs, but the call never comes.

That’s not the only thing that has me distracted.

Ivy is still missing. The news comes via the news outlet since her parents officially reported her missing with the Fairfield police department. I learn about this from Zayla when I wander out of my room Monday morning, feeling beyond exhausted even though I slept a decent amount of hours. My watch tells me I had a restless kind of night, though, and constantly woke up.

Needless to say, my eyes are burning, my brain is foggy, and I still have to get a ton of study time in.

“Oh my god.” Zayla is sitting on the sofa with the television on, which is a little odd since we rarely turn it on. “Ivy Maypalton is officially a missing person.”

I rub my eyes with the heels of my hands as I make my way over to the coffee pot. “What?”

She rotates in the sofa to look at me and points at the television. “The news is doing a report on it right now. Her parents filed a missing person’s report yesterday.” She’s still wearing her pajamas and her hair is pulled into a messy bun.

I grab a mug from the cupboard while glancing over at the television. On the screen is a photo of a woman around my age with dark hair and bright blue eyes. “That’s her?”

Zayla nods as she rotates back around toward the television, points the remote at the television, and cranks up the volume.

“If you have any information, please call the Fairfield police department,” the news reporter is saying. “Ivy was last seen at a party Friday night.”

“It’s the party that we were at,” Zayla explains as I pour coffee into the mug. “I called and reported that I saw her there, but I don’t think I helped much because I can’t remember much about that at night.”