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“Well, your place is amazing. I’m going to recommend it to the school.”
“Okay, well, make sure to tell them to book early. It’s harder with larger groups. Most rooms only have double beds, so it’s not set up for the roommate thing. And remember, if you look at the reviews, anything less than five stars were the Swiss.”
She escorts Ryan to the door. “Shoot,” he says as they pass the guest book. “I seem to have set down my phone.” He makes a show of checking his pockets. “The patio maybe.”
“I can check.”
When Angie leaves, Ryan pulls out his phone. He snaps photos of the open guest book pages. He flips the prior page and nervously takes another photo.
He then calls out, “Sorry, I found it.”
Back in the van, he pulls up the photos.
The most recent page has only three names. The first is a woman from Switzerland. The toast lady. There’s another woman’s name. Then he sees it.
“Peter Jones, Lackford, England.” A fake-sounding name if he’s ever heard one. Says “Ryan Smith.”
The woman said the American guest lives in the UK. Jones is the only guest from the UK. And Nora learned that of the two flights leaving soonest from the airport, one was to London’s Heathrow.
He’s got him.
29
PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA
Michael softly raps his knuckle on his daughter’s bedroom door.
He waits for Taylor to respond before opening it a crack. She sits on top of the covers in an oversized sweatshirt. Her laptop is nearby, frozen on some video she’s watching. He should monitor her screen time more, he knows. He should monitor everything a lot more.
He holds a black dress from a dry-cleaner hanger, the plastic sticking to the garment from the electricity. He remembers the last time she wore this dress—her mother’s funeral—and hopes it still fits.
“I need you to try this on. We’ll have to stop by Macy’s in the morning to get you something if you’ve grown out of it.”
“It’ll fit.”
Michael nods. “I know going to a funeral will be hard…”
“Then why are you making me go?”
Michael is surprised at the anger in her tone. “We’ve been through this. It’s the right thing to do.”
“And you’re afraid.”
“Yes, I’m afraid. I’m not sure you appreciate the situation. Anthony O’Leary’s father is a dangerous man. If he finds out about the—”
“He won’t find out.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Dylan made sure everybody scrubbed their phones. No one’s gonna talk.”
Spoken like an invincible teenager.
“And I think the real question is why do you work for such a dangerous man?”
“This isn’t about me, Taylor.”
His daughter makes a huffing sound and dramatically turns away from him.