"Let’s not jump to conclusions,” Diego says, after I explain the connection. “Emily and Kendall both knew Marcus. So what?”
“The coincidences are piling up,” I argue. “What are the odds of two girls disappearing when they know the same guy? And the person who wiped those computers was an expert. It went way beyond sending stuff to the recycle bin.”
Diego sighs. “We have to be careful, Gracie. You were certain about Zed.”
He’s right. But that doesn’t mean I like hearing it. Time is running out for Emily. I can feel it now, and I realize it’s been there the whole day. While we were driving to Seattle, while we were talking in the car, I was feeling it.
She’s giving up.
She’s slipping away.
And the answers are in front of me. I’ve seen the clues.
I’ve been inside his head.
“She’s given up trying to be brave,” I say. “She’s given up waiting to be rescued. She’s…fading.”
“What?” Diego asks.
“Emily. I feel her emptying out. So that”—my mouth is dry—“so that when the worst happens, she won’t feel it.”
Diego looks shaken. “Maybe if you had something of Marcus’s, something he owned…”
“Maybe I’d get a vision!” I say. “It’s worth a shot.”
We’re only blocks from the computer camp, and I know they don’t start until noon. Diego and I hurry toward it. We push through the doors and run up the stairs to the second floor. All the classrooms are locked.
“What now?” I ask, frustrated. “Should we try to break in?”
Diego sighs. He raises his hand and knocks.
“Or I guess we could try knocking,” I say.
The door opens. Ryan’s head appears. He brightens when he sees me, then frowns when he sees Diego standing next to me.
“This is my cousin Diego,” I say.
Ryan brightens again. “I came in early to get some work done. Come on in.”
“How come you have a key?” I ask.
“The instructors give us one if we ask,” Ryan explains. “You have to sign in and stuff. Hey, what brings you here?”
I hadn’t had much time to prepare a story, so I thought a mixture of truth and fiction was best. “I’m really worried about Emily,” I tell him. Truth. “I guess I was kind of distracted yesterday. I think I left my sunglasses here.” Fiction. “Can I look around?”
“Sure. Can I help?”
Diego smiles at Ryan. “That’s okay. We don’t want to interrupt.” He says this firmly, and disappointed, Ryan sits back down at his computer.
I pretend to look around, and Diego stays between me and Ryan so Ryan won’t have a good sight line. I drift toward the desk where Marcus had been working, but it’s clear of anything, even empty soda cans. Then I see a row of mailboxes with names on them—the names of the instructors. Marcus’s is full to overflowing.
Bending down and pretending to look on the floor, I rifle through the pages. Memos, mostly, and takeout menus, and assignments handed in by the students. Then I see a corner of a photograph. I slide it out. It’s the same photograph Ryan had given me.
Something clangs in my head. Something’s wrong. Somewhere behind me, I can hear Diego sneezing, and I wish he’d stop, because I can’t concentrate.
Suddenly, Ryan reaches down and takes the photograph.
“It was on the floor,” I say.
His face is red, as though he’s angry. “Jonah Castle gave us each a copy,” he says. “This must belong to Marcus.” He quickly stuffs it back in the mailbox.
Diego knocks over a pile of circuits, and Ryan yells, “Hey!” and runs over. Quickly, I stuff the photograph in my purse. I dig out my sunglasses.
“Found them! I must have kicked them under the desk. Thanks so much, Ryan.” I pour as much flirtatiousness as I can manage into my thank-you, but Ryan doesn’t respond. His head is down as he reassembles the circuits, and he mumbles a good-bye.
As soon as we’re outside, I turn to Diego. “You could have warned me Ryan was coming.”
“I did! I sneezed!”
“What kind of a signal is a sneeze?”
"A clever one.”
“A sneeze isn’t a signal; it’s an allergic reaction.”
“Great. Next time I’ll fart.”
Suddenly, I realize what it must be like to grow up with an older brother. I take out the photograph.
There’s something different about it. What?
And then I get it.
“Emily’s not here,” I say. I shake my head, confused. “She’s gone.”
Diego looks over my shoulder. “Where was she?”
“Here, next to Ryan. Now there’s just empty space.”
“So they took two photographs that day,” Diego says.
“But everyone has the same expression. And Jonah Castle is still holding the cell phone in the same position. No, this is the same one.” I look up at Diego. “Someone digitally altered it. They removed her.” I shivered.
“The question is, who?” Diego says.
“It was in Marcus’s box.”
“But Ryan looked really freaked.”
“He always looks freaked.”
We walk to the car and get in. Diego starts the engine. I stare back down at the photograph. The absence of Emily registers as a presence. It’s like the ghost of her is there, the ghost of the Emily that is fading, and it’s saying, find me.