"We've gotten off track," I said. "I came here to talk about Kelsey. I need you to be honest with me."
"About what?"
"Did you convince Kelsey to help you get information from our family and friends?"
His brow arched in surprise. "What does that mean? You think I took Kelsey?"
"It would be a great way to get someone to talk to you, someone like Gage."
"Are you out of your mind, Willow?"
"I saw the way she hugged you when we got off the ferry yesterday. You might have played on her affection, on her sympathy. Maybe you asked her to disappear for a day. What better way to get people to talk than to have another disappearance to worry about? We're all thinking about the past now—the past and the present."
"That's quite an idea. I wish I'd thought of it, but I didn't. You're giving me too much credit."
"Am I?"
"Yes. I don't know what happened to Kelsey—if anything happened. It hasn't been that long."
"My gut says it's been too long."
He frowned and let out a breath. "Well, I can relate to that feeling. I can see that you're scared, Willow."
"I'm terrified."
"And it's easier to believe I got Kelsey to hide out for a day than to consider the alternative. You want me to say that Kelsey is okay and that she'll be back as soon as someone tells me the truth."
"I really do want that. This can't be like before, Drake. You might not believe me, but losing Melanie almost killed me. I loved her so much. It was like losing a piece of myself. I know that my relationship with her was nowhere near as close as yours was, but it was real, and it meant a lot to me."
At my words, the rest of the wall between us crumbled. His gaze softened. The anger faded. He was just Drake again, the Drake who had starred in so many of my teenage dreams. That Drake had been handsome, kind, and funny. We'd connected at the local newspaper office where I'd tried to convince them to publish my photographs, and Drake had tried to convince them to publish whatever article he'd come up with. That Drake had been the one I'd fallen for. Of course, that Drake had also stabbed me in the heart. Maybe I'd never really known him the way I thought I did. I certainly wouldn't make the mistake of trusting him again.
"I didn't take Kelsey," he said. "I didn't convince her to hide away. I'm not part of this, whatever it is."
Disappointment ran through me. "Did you talk to Kelsey at all last night?"
"I did—at the bonfire, but it was only for a few minutes while Gage was getting her a drink."
"What did she say?"
"That I shouldn't come to the wedding. Gage wasn't happy about her invite. She apologized, and I told her not to worry about it."
"That's it? You backed off without an argument? That seems a little too easy."
"I knew he'd make her take the invitation back. I never thought I'd go to the wedding. I was more interested in talking to everyone before the big day. I was hoping being back on the island would trigger a memory." He paused. "Has it triggered any for you?"
I thought about last night when I was walking from the lodge into town. "As a matter of fact, yes. I remembered walking on a road. Headlights blinded me. I also felt like I was at the edge of a cliff at some point."
"When did you remember that?" he asked with excitement in his voice.
"I walked from the lodge into town last night. I got a weird feeling, like I'd been alone on a deserted road once before, but it wouldn't have been that road. The lodge isn't around any place I would have been that night."
"How do you know? You don't remember."
"Well, it just doesn't make sense. I was on the other side of town at Ben's house when I started drinking. Everyone said I just wandered away. One minute I was there, and the next I was gone, so it would be logical to assume I walked from there to my house."
"Which would have been a couple of miles. I've gone over your possible route home a million times."
"You have? Why?"
"Because it might contain a clue."
"You're really obsessed with this, aren't you?"
"Yes," he admitted. "In fact, I've been thinking about writing a book about my sister's disappearance. In gathering notes for that, I've done a lot of research. Last year, I asked Sheriff Ryan to reopen Melanie's case. That was before Ben came back to the island. His father refused, but he did give me a copy of the police reports. What I realized then was how thin the original investigation had been. I got a private investigator to help me dig into the details. Unfortunately, we ran into the same roadblock as the sheriff."
"What roadblock?"
"The wall of silence. My investigator tried to speak to the Chadwicks, but they refused and referred him to their attorney. Your parents did the same, as well as the Connellys and the Hamiltons."
"I never heard that."
"Does that surprise you?"
After the way Sean and my mother had spoken last night in the kitchen, I couldn't say no. "I guess not."
"I realized I needed to find a different way into the case. When Ben took over for his dad, he agreed to work with me, but in the weeks since then, he has come up with little information. I think he's stonewalling me, too."
"Why would he do that?"
"Because I pointed out some contradictions in the police report between various people's statements, including Ben's."
"I don't understand."
"Ben said he never left his house that night. After our party, he stayed home while others went to the bonfire. But I know he met with a Road House bartender by the name of Rick Hodges at nine. Did you ever meet Rick?"
"No. Why is he important?"
"Because Rick claims he sold Ben some opioids that night. When I related that story to Ben, he admitted that he'd lied to his dad because he didn't want to get into trouble. That he'd just bought a few pills to get a buzz. He didn’t think his lie mattered, because he'd never seen Melanie that night."
"Maybe that's true."
"It's still a lie. And now he seems to be reluctant to dive deeper into her case. I'm not sure he isn't covering something else up."
I wasn't sure, either. I didn't really know what to make of what he'd just told me. Ben had never been a liar. At least, I'd never thought of him that way. But he had been a big partier, and I could see him buying drugs. He and Dillon were best friends, after all, and they liked to get high. But I didn't think Ben was lying about Melanie. He'd loved her.
Still, a lie was a lie, and I could see why it raised questions in Drake's mind. I could also see why Ben might be avoiding Drake. But Ben had been willing to cop to the truth, so maybe there was another side to the story.
Drake leaned forward, resting his arms on the table, bringing my attention back to him. "If neither Ben nor his father will help me, then I need to get my own answers."
"I have to believe that Ben will help you."
"I can’t waste more time waiting.”
"Okay, but how are you going to find answers? If someone lied before, why would they tell the truth now?"