Chapter 2

After dinner, Derek went to take a shower.

I sat on the couch, my palms sweating.

The sound of water came from the bathroom.

I looked at the bathroom door. Then I looked at his phone on the coffee table.

I knew the passcode. My birthday.

I picked it up. My fingers were shaking.

I went through his texts. His call log. His notes app.

Nothing.

Too clean.

A normal person's phone isn't that clean.

I went to his laptop in the study. Same passcode. He'd never hidden anything from me, or so I thought.

Search history. Downloads. File folders.

I checked everything.

Then I opened his Uber trip history.

My hand stopped moving.

One month ago.

Derek told me he had a business trip to San Diego for two days. I packed his suitcase.

But the trip history showed something else.

He didn't go to San Diego.

He went to Sedona.

He left one day before Sarah arrived.

He came back two days after she disappeared.

The shower turned off.

I closed the laptop. Walked back to the living room. Sat down. Picked up my phone and pretended to scroll.

Derek came out drying his hair, glanced at me. "Coming to bed?"

"In a minute."

I smiled.

He walked into the bedroom and turned off the light.

I stared at the bedroom door in the darkness, my fingers digging into the arm of the couch.

Derek.

What did you do in Sedona?