I do as I’m told. McMichael sits next to me. The other guy, Luke Fenway, studies me with those cool blue eyes and fine blonde hair. It’s short on the sides but a little shaggy on top, like he’s been growing it out. He doesn’t look old enough to be an FBI agent—but that’s not what she called him. She said, ‘associate.’
“When Rose Waller went missing, it was reported that she may have had an involvement with an arranged relationship app called SugarBabies. We’ve spent the last few months investigating that lead.”
My stomach flutters.
“You followed up on that?”
“Of course. It seemed like a viable lead in a missing person’s case.” She flicks her eyes at McMichael—the man that ruled her death a suicide. “A young girl involved in a sex arrangement app with older men? That triggers all kinds of sex trafficking warning bells.”
“We alerted the FBI when we found out,” McMichael says.
“Okay.” I swallow, mind running a mile a minute. “Why do you want to talk to me?”
“Because we unearthed some important information while looking into Rose’s disappearance and we think you may be able to help us.”
She turns on the tablet and pulls up a screen. The guy next to her, Luke, looks at it with a bored expression. Before I even see the screen, a wave of nausea rolls over me. There’s little doubt what they uncovered and how it ties back to me.
“I can explain,” I say, glancing down at the SugarBabies profile. My photo is tucked in the corner of the screen. Red lipstick, black wig, ample cleavage.
“No need. It’s fake. We know. You were playing a well-intentioned, dangerous game looking for your friend.”
“I was, but not anymore, and turns out I wasn’t even talking to an adult. It was Alice all along.”
Agent Cole and Luke Fenway exchange a look.
“Well, maybe,” she says. “Alice was definitely a participant. She seemed to know exactly how to get into your accounts. What kind of gifts and details would motivate you. She was the active side of the partnership.”
“I don’t understand. How do you know all of this?”
“Because we’ve been watching you and Alice for months—monitoring the IP addresses using the SugarBabies accounts. There is enough online evidence—emails, texts, private messages—to support the fact that Alice was harassing you and that she was doing it under the influence of an older man.”
I freeze, breath caught. “You can prove this?”
She nods. “We do believe that she is in love with you, and that this man convinced her that the way to get you to love her in return was to emulate Rose Waller. There were direct communications that encouraged her to play 'games' with you; leaving little notes and gifts. Using your former friendship as a way to get into your house and in your head. He pushed that you’d eventually come around.”
I glance at McMichael, who just looks grim.
“I don’t know what to say.” I run my hands down my legs anxiously. “Can you tell me who put her up to it?”
“The men are good at covering their tracks. There’s an entire network of perverts out there victimizing young girls, but yes, we think we’re getting close enough to evidence to finally take them down.”
Surprise flutters in my chest. “Seriously?”
She nods. “Yes, but Rose and Alice weren’t the only underage girls being pulled into this world. And it’s not limited to Thistle Cove. Not by a long shot."
I think of Cliffside, the East Point Suites, the man at The Dollhouse, and how desperately he wanted Rose.
“No,” I say, “I imagine not.”
“The FBI wants your help, Kenley,” Chief McMichael says. “You don’t have to do it. In fact, I don’t think you should.”
“Help with what?”
Agent Cole runs her finger over the tablet screen, pulling up a page filled with photographs. She turns it my direction and I see them; Baxter. Waller. Chandler. A dozen other smug, handsome men that I don’t recognize. “Taking them down.”
I miss first period but catch up with the boys in the hall before second.
“Is everything okay?” Finn asks at my locker. A group of juniors walk by, eyes darting between me and Ezra, whispering and giggling. Guess word got around about the trip.