“The recycling bin was unlocked,” Ellery says, twisting a curl around her finger.
“Unlocked?” Officer Rodriguez’s eyes are ringed with dark circles. Considering what Ellery told me on the way over about the picture of his father, I doubt he slept much last night either.
“Yeah.”
“But everything was still inside?”
She meets his gaze without blinking. “Yeah.”
“Okay.” He rubs a hand over his face. “Let’s go with that. Regardless of whether the bin was locked or unlocked, its contents weren’t your property to take.”
“I didn’t think discarded items were anyone’s property,” Ellery says. She sounds like she really, really hopes she’s right.
Officer Rodriguez leans back in his chair and regards her in silence for a few seconds. He and Ellery don’t resemble one another much. But now that I know there’s a chance they’re related, the stubborn set of their jaws looks exactly the same. “I’m going to treat this as an anonymous tip,” he finally says, and Ellery visibly exhales. “I’ll look into the car situation. Given Brooke’s state of mind when you saw her at Fright Farm, it’s an interesting thread to follow.”
Ellery crosses her legs and jiggles one foot. She’s been full of nervous energy since she got here, constantly shifting and fidgeting. Unlike Officer Rodriguez and me, she seems wide awake. “Are you going to arrest Katrin?”
Officer Rodriguez holds up a palm. “Whoa. Not so fast. There’s no evidence that she’s committed a crime.”
She blinks, startled. “What about the video?”
“It’s of interest, sure. But there’s no destruction of property involved. Trespassing, maybe. Depends on who owns the wall.”
“But what about all the other times?” I ask.
He shrugs. “We don’t know she was involved with those. All we know is what you saw this morning.”
I grip my mug. The coffee is already cold, but I drink it anyway. “So everything we gave you is useless.”
“Nothing is useless when someone goes missing,” Officer Rodriguez says. “All I’m saying is that it’s premature to draw conclusions based on what you’ve shared. That’s my job, okay? Not yours.” He leans forward and raps his knuckles on the table for emphasis. “Listen up. I appreciate you guys coming to me, I really do. But you need to stay out of this from now on. Not only for your safety, but because if you are circling around someone who played a role in Brooke’s disappearance, you don’t want to tip them off. Okay?” We both nod, and he crosses his arms. “I’m going to need a verbal confirmation.”
“You’re better at this than I thought,” Ellery says under her breath.
Officer Rodriguez frowns. “What?”
She raises her voice. “I said, okay.”
He juts his chin toward me, and I nod. “Yeah, all right.”
“And please keep this between us.” Officer Rodriguez levels his gaze at Ellery. “I know you’re close to your brother, but I’d prefer you not share what we’ve discussed outside this room.”
I doubt she’s planning to honor that request, but she nods. “Okay.”
Officer Rodriguez glances at the clock on his microwave. It’s almost six-thirty. “Does your grandmother know you’re here?”
“No,” Ellery says. “She doesn’t know anything.” Officer Rodriguez’s eyes flick toward me at the emphasis, and I keep my face carefully blank. It’s a little surprising, maybe, that nobody in Echo Ridge made the connection between his father and the twins before now. But Mr. Rodriguez was one of those private family guys that nobody saw much of. Even when you did, he didn’t resemble the photo Ellery showed me on her phone. He’d been wearing thick glasses as long as I could remember, and had gotten a lot heavier. And balder. Ezra better enjoy his hair while he can.
“You should get home, then. She’ll worry if she wakes up and you’re not there. You too, Malcolm.”
“Okay,” Ellery says, but she doesn’t move. She jiggles her foot again and adds, “I was wondering something. About you and Lacey.”
Officer Rodriguez cocks his head. “What about me and Lacey?”
“I asked you once if you were friends, and you wouldn’t answer me.”
“I wouldn’t?” His mouth twists in a wry smile. “Probably because it’s none of your business.”
“Did you …” She pauses. “Did you ever want to, you know, ask her out or anything?”
He huffs out a small laugh. “Sure. Me and most of the guys in our class. Lacey was beautiful, but … she wasn’t just that. She cared about people. Even if you were nobody at school, she made you feel like you mattered.” His expression darkens. “It still tears me up, what happened to her. I think that’s half the reason I became a cop.”
Ellery’s eyes search his, and whatever she sees there relaxes the tense set of her shoulders. “Are you still looking into her murder?”
Officer Rodriguez shoots her an amused glance as his phone buzzes. “Give it a rest, Ellery. And go home.” He glances at the screen, and all the color drains from his face. He pushes his chair back with a loud scrape and gets to his feet.
“What?” Ellery and I ask at the same time.
He reaches for a set of keys on the counter. “Go home,” he says again, but this time not like it’s a joke. “And stay there.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
Ellery
Monday, October 7
I’m sitting on Nana’s front steps, phone in hand. Malcolm left a few minutes ago, and Officer Rodriguez is long gone. Or maybe I should start calling him Ryan. I don’t know the protocol for addressing probable half brothers who, until recently, were on your short list of cold-case murder suspects.
Anyway, I’m alone. Something’s obviously going on with Ryan, but I have no idea what. All I know is that I’m sick to death of watching lies pile up on top of one another like the world’s worst Jenga game. I pull up the photo I snapped of Mr. Rodriguez’s army picture, studying the familiar lines of his face. When Ezra noticed the August 2001 date on my timeline I was afraid that maybe—maybe—we were dealing with a potential Vance Puckett paternity situation. I never imagined this.
I can’t call Sadie. I don’t know whose phone she’s been using, and anyway, it’s the middle of the night in California. Instead, I send the photo to her Gmail with the subject line We need to talk. Maybe she’ll read her email when she borrows the aide’s phone again.