Mr. Amos continued to ignore him. “I know exactly what the stakes are—.”
“Obviously, you don’t—.”
“Krystal—.”
“Stop it!” Rachel screamed, gripping the sides of her head. “Stop fighting! I’m sick of listening to you! That’s all you ever do! I can’t take it anymore!”
She pushed out of her chair, forcing it to fall back against the floor with a clatter. Rachel pulled the kitchen door open, face streaming with tears, and stormed out, despite the protests of her parents. The door bounced off the table against the wall, then slowly closed, settling against the door jam.
“Let me talk to her if you will,” Aidan said quickly, holding up his hand to prevent Mr. Amos from chasing after his daughter. “If you don’t mind.”
“She’s not ready to face it.”
“The sooner she talks about it, the sooner she can focus on healing,” Shaun replied. “And the sooner Agent O’Reilly and I will leave your family to your grief. Think of your daughter, Mr. Amos. Think of her friends. Ray Parsons deserves justice, and Rachel may be a way to get it for him.”
For what seemed like long minutes, Mr. Amos stared at his wife, whose face was twisted in pain and wet with tears. Finally, he nodded at Aidan, pulling his wife into a tight hug.
“It’ll be okay, sweetheart,” Mr. Amos said, his words muffled in her hair. “We’ll get through this. I promise.”
“Thank you, Mr. Amos,” Aidan said. “Do you know where Rachel went?”
Rachel’s dad raised his eyes to Aidan. “She’ll be in her treehouse out back. It’s her safe place. I built it for her a few summers ago. But if you ask her, we built it together.” He smiled. “A little girl with a hammer, and me holding the nail.”
Shaun smiled. “And you’d do it a thousand more times.”
“A million,” Mr. Amos said and gently kissed his wife’s hair.
Aidan found a glass and filled it with iced water before walking out the door. He shut it behind him, staring toward Rachel’s treehouse.
He slowly walked toward it.
“Rachel?” Aidan called as he approached. “It’s Agent O’Reilly. Do you mind if I come up there?”
When she didn’t respond, Aidan began to climb to the top, holding the glass of water in one hand.
“Wow,” he said as he stuck his head inside. “This is an impressive hideout.”
Rachel sat on the floor in the corner, a blanket covering her body, her eyes red and cheeks soaked with tears. She was shivering with anguish, rocking back and forth.
“I thought you might be thirsty, so I brought you a glass of water,” Aidan offered. He set it next to her, then went to his own corner to give her a little space. A table sat underneath a window with a photo of Rachel, Leon, and Ray. Beneath the table, were stacks of board games. “Did your dad build you this treehouse?”
He looked her way and waited until she finally nodded.
“That’s great. Really cool. I never had a treehouse like this, but in Ireland, where I’m from, my sister and I used to hang out in some caves. That was our clubhouse.”
Rachel seemed to be paying attention, however, made no effort to talk, so he continued to carry the conversation.
“We’d have passwords for those interested in coming in. I can’t remember what it was, though. Something silly like colcannon.”
Aidan allowed his speech to lull, giving her a chance to respond.
“You don’t sound very Irish,” Rachel finally pointed out shyly.
“I don’t?” Aidan asked with a smile. “I guess it kind of went away after a while of living in the states. It still comes out sometimes. But my sister, she still sounds a little Irish.”
“Does she live here too?”
“Mairead’s in Boston. She moved there from Ireland a few years after I did, wanting to be closer to me. But then, I needed to transfer out of state, so I moved to Atlanta. Now I’m here.”
“Your job made you leave your sister?”
Aidan frowned, his heart growing heavy at the memory which still resurfaced when he wished it didn’t. “Actually, not directly. A close friend of ours was killed. She was a victim of a serial killer called The Carnations Killer.”
“I’m sorry,” Rachel said.
“Thanks,” Aidan replied.
“Did you find out who killed your friend?”
Aidan nodded. “We did catch the killer. It took about ten years, but he’s in jail now. He’s on death row.”
She looked up at him now, through her long eyelashes. “Will you catch who killed Ray?”
“I’d like to,” Aidan said. “I’d like to very much, Rachel. But I need you to help me. Do you think you can help me?”
Rachel diverted her eyes again and sniffed, before nodding.
“Why don’t you start from the beginning?” Aidan suggested. “You and your friends went to Phinizy Swamp for a class trip, right?”
With hesitation, Rachel nodded.
“We left the group.”
“Why?”
“I’m not supposed to tell. It’s all stupid, really. But…” She trailed off, trying not to cry again.
“Go on,” Aidan said. “I won’t talk about anything to anyone unless it is directly pertinent to the case.”
Rachel looked back at Aidan and studied him, then sighed, wiping her eyes. “A few weeks ago, Ray had gotten involved with a game.”
“What kind of game?” Aidan wondered.
“A scavenger hunt,” Rachel told him. “It was kinda like Pokémon Go, except the game started out in the emails. If you’re interested, you have to sign up. So Ray did. Only certain people were eligible to play.”
“What was included in the emails?” Aidan pressed. “Did it come with instructions?”
“It had a map of the search area. There would be miscellaneous hidden items. We’d have to solve a riddle, and the answer would be what we needed to find.”
“When you did find the object, did you have
