Secrets We Keep (Thistle Cove 1)

“Yeah, a few things. Rose had a second ChattySnap account.” He looks at Finn. “Under the name Rosemary’s Baby. Did you know that?”

Finn’s forehead furrows. “Rosemary’s Baby? Like the movie? No, I had no idea.”

“I didn’t think so. You weren’t on her list of followers and she wasn’t following you, but something did stick out. There was one account she followed—a business.” He gives Finn an apologetic look. “A dating app.”

“What the fuck?” Finn asks.

“I probably wouldn’t have thought much about it except Ezra had already told me about that phone call she got on the bridge, the one from ‘Daddy.’"

“Her dad,” I repeat, trying to follow.

“No, ‘Daddy.’”

“Rose didn’t call her father Daddy, not anymore,” Finn says. “She dropped it around tenth grade and just started calling him Brice. That’s the name he’s listed under.”

The room grows still.

“The app is called SugarBabies. It’s for girls looking for a sugar daddy.”

“A what?” I ask.

Ezra answers. “Girls looking for older men who will give them an allowance for, uh, an arranged relationship.”

“Why do you know that?” I ask, feeling sick.

“I know this may sound shocking, but I do read occasionally.”

I make a face.

“Fine, it was in Playboy. My dad is old school and still gets a subscription, but still.” Ezra rolls his eyes. “It’s not a new concept—apps just make it easier.”

“And more dangerous,” Ozzy says. “I made a fake account. It didn’t take long to find Rose on there under the handle Rosemary’s Baby.”

Finn hasn’t spoken for a full minute, just sitting on the couch looking shell shocked.

“So what you’re saying is that Rose was on a dating app looking for a sugar daddy. And that person could have been the ‘daddy?

? that contacted her that night on the bridge.” I look at Ozzy. “That sounds crazy.”

“So does one of the most popular and prominent girls in Thistle Cove going missing.”

He’s got a point. All of this has been crazy from the start.

“Let me see,” Finn says. Ozzy holds out the phone and he takes it, scrolling through the account. After a moment his face falls further.

“Do you know anything about this?” Ozzy asks Finn. “Like you didn’t know she was cheating on you, did you?”

Because that looks bad. Really bad.

Finn shakes his head. “No. I swear.”

A fluttery, nervous feeling fills my belly. I knew I’d lost Rose years ago, that she was into bigger and more exciting things than the girl that does all her homework and is satisfied sitting at home on Saturday nights, but I had no idea it would lead to this. I certainly didn’t know this when I spoke to her that night at the pool. A different emotion builds in the pit of my stomach, and now I’m the one that’s scrambling toward the door, looking for fresh air.

“Move,” I mumble, crawling over long legs and reaching for the door. I push it open and cool, fresh air hits me in the face. I smell the salt of the bay and take a deep gulp of air as I lean against the outside of the cottage.

The boys come out, one by one, Ozzy holding the lantern. It casts a circular glow.

“Hey,” he says, “I know this is really upsetting, but it may be the first real break in the case.”