Chapter 22

TWENTY-TWO

Gulf Shores, Alabama

Thursday, September 19

7:54 a.m.

Creating a person out of thin air hadn't been as easy as she'd expected.

Logging out of Poppy's profile, Elyse had created a new one in under a minute. The details were all a lie. Her age, her interests, place of residence. A tourist for an extended stay in Gulf Shores. She'd made her age prominent in bolded hashtags across the profile. #fifteenyearsold. The photos she'd uploaded had all been a lie too. She'd started with a simple selfie, but even from a few feet of distance, her age had been apparent.

She'd added a bit more makeup. Layers and layers of foundation to fill the crow's feet at the edges of her eyes and the smile lines around her mouth. She'd lost count of mascara applications to make her eyelashes seem fuller. Contouring made the biggest difference, but even then, time had done its damage. It was the filters, an oversized pair of blue light glasses, a choker from Ava's jewelry box, and a few manipulations that'd done the job.

It'd taken longer than she'd estimated, but the profile was done. Now all she had to do was start uploading posts. But they wouldn't be enough. Not if she wanted this entire charade to be believable and certainly not on their own. She needed a story. Interests, friends, a family.

Within an hour Elyse had presented Katie Rose to the world.

No last name. Because her parents had taught her better than that. She was from Boston, visiting her aunt Hailey. At fifteen years old, Katie was a huge fan of screamo, especially Senses Fail. They were an older band from the 2000s, but she'd seen them in concert in New Jersey last year. Best night of her life. Elyse even had photos of the band to prove it. Katie Rose loved soccer. She was the team goalie and had saved her team multiple losses last season. But she was thinking of switching to basketball. Her stepdad worked in finance. One of the big firms in Boston. Katie didn't know exactly what he did, but he wasn't like all the other stepdads she'd heard about from friends. They got along. Ice cream trips on the weekends. Buying her avocados and leaving them around the house for her to find. They were her favorite.

Katie's mom had remarried when Katie had only been three. No siblings, thank goodness. She wasn't entirely sure about what'd happened between her mom and her bio dad, but he'd never called her to wish her happy birthday or send gifts for Christmas. He didn't want anything to do with them. Her mom didn't like to talk about it, but Katie didn't need to know. She was happy in Boston. She loved her school and her friends and couldn't wait to get her driver's license in a few months.

The more detail Elyse added to the sketch of Katie Rose, the more she began to believe this was a real person. That she would be friends with someone like Ava and Ruby Davis and Poppy Slater. That they might accept her into their friend group. Because she was just like them. And in order for her target audience to believe Katie Rose existed, this person she'd created out of thin air needed friends.

"Too late to turn back now." She logged out of Katie's profile and back into Poppy's, tapping the follow icon. After that, it was a matter of going through Poppy's friend list and sending follow requests to anyone around Katie's age, tagging a few brands, and creating highlights of other users posts into perfectly curated collections. Within minutes, Elyse had built a network of twenty-five friendships. Real humans who would give Katie some legitimate clout, but the believability would be in the comments sections of her posts. Elyse needed these friends to engage with Katie.

Using the Photoshop software Wesley paid for to manipulate photos he used to upload his own social media, she dove headfirst into creating a series of posts. An entire history going back what would feel like months if no one bothered to look at the upload dates. All true to Elyse in a twisted way. On a run. At the beach. Getting ready for a high school dance, though Elyse didn't want to admit how long ago that'd been. Perfectly curated moments from her life. Sans her marriage and giving birth. She covered signs of aging as best she could with the software she had on hand, edited stretch marks across her belly, and eliminated changes in weight from over the years. Borrowing Ava's wardrobe, she spent over an hour pairing accessories with the perfect set of jeans and T-shirts. Trying to become a fifteen-year-old in every way. She threw up peace signs as Poppy Slater had done in one of her photos and held on to an empty mug for the perfect shot. She kept her smile under control while celebrating all A s on her report card with an angled shot of the laptop logged into Ava's hand-covered records. Then more.

Katie Rose finishing her first crochet project for her home economics class. Another of her squeezing the strings of her favorite hoodie around her face. That one hadn't taken as much editing.

Eleven photos in all. Of a life she'd never lived, that didn't exist.

The captions ranged from advocating for polar bears to recommending skin care products Katie Rose loved using and squeeing over the nerves of asking out a boy she liked in class. Katie Rose has never had a crush before. What was she supposed to say? Elyse posted to strangers' accounts, exchanging comments and emojis. Others followed faster than Elyse expected, and she replied. Building on what she'd started.

And all she had to do now was wait.

Twenty-one minutes and seven seconds after going live. That was all it'd taken before a user with a penis for a profile picture had liked her latest post. His message request came next. But this wasn't the man Elyse was looking for.

Twenty-one minutes and forty seconds. Another message request. Then five more. The messages ranged in severity. Wanna chat. Do you like older guys? u a virgin? really pretty eyes. Wanna trade pics? Video chat? The onslaught was too much for Elyse to keep up. Over the course of the next hour, she'd read more than thirty messages from male predators all over the world. Incessant, sexual, depraved.

Her responses were short and to the point.

"Mom?" Movement in the corner of her eye sent her heart rate into overdrive.

"Ava, baby. You scared me half to death." Elyse set the phone face down on the desk. Out of sight. "I didn't realize you were already awake."

"What are you doing with my stuff?" Ava crossed her arms over herself as she came into the office, so unlike her. At least unlike the girl she'd been up until last week. So much had changed in such a short amount of time. Entire lives. Their family. The families of those missing girls.

Elyse studied the pile she'd made on the back of another chair. Shirts, jeans, necklaces and hair accessories. It'd all helped her create Katie Rose. "Oh. I'm a little tired of my wardrobe. Thought I might test out a few things before I bought them for myself. Didn't work though. I'm not a fan of wearing necklaces that choke me." She added a laugh at the end. To ease the lie bubbling at the back of her throat. "I hope you don't mind. I took them out of the laundry this morning. I was going to bring it all to your room after you woke up."

Hesitation tensed the muscles in Ava's jaw. For as much distance as teens added between themselves and their parents, Elyse had always been able to read hers. "Have you heard anything new about that girl? The one who disappeared? Ruby."

Elyse held herself back from sitting a bit straighter. There was curiosity and then there was guilt. Hers. For keeping Ava in the dark. For lying to everyone she cared about. It was for their own safety. That was what she kept telling herself. She wasn't lying. Not really. She was doing what she did best. Taking care of her family. "Just what I've heard on the news."

"Oh." Ava shook her head as she grabbed for the pile of clothing from the back of the chair. "Kind of scary when you think about it. Two girls about the same age and who were friends disappear."

Two girls. So Ava had known about Poppy Slater then too.

Her daughter headed for the door, arms full of belongings.

Except Elyse didn't want to let her go. Didn't want her leaving this office without knowing how far Elyse—Wesley too—would go to protect her from suffering the same fate as those girls. "Ava."

Ava pulled up short, turned to face her.

The phone she'd taken from Poppy Slater's bedroom shocked her back into the moment with a distinct ringing. Elyse reached to silence it as fast as she could, but it was too late. Ava had heard it. She hit one of the side buttons to quiet the ring tone and looked straight at her daughter. "I love you. You know that, don't you? No matter what. I will always love you."

Ava's gaze rose from the desk, like she could see right through it, and pasted on that half smile she'd been prone to using the past few days. The one that didn't quite reach her eyes, and Elyse found herself missing that younger version of her daughter. The one whose entire world hadn't been ripped out from underneath her. "I know, Mom. I love you too."

Her daughter shuffled free of the office and back across the hall as the phone vibrated in Elyse's hand. A click of a door told her Ava had gone back to her room. When this was over, when they were home, they would find a good marriage and family therapist. They would figure this out. Together.

Elyse flipped the phone over in her hand. A video chat request.

Only this wasn't a profile she'd interacted with yet. The request hit its limit, and the screen returned her to the full inbox of messages meant for Katie Rose. Elyse targeted the circle icon of the video requester. I'm in Gulf Shores too. Want to meet up? You're going to love my beach house. There was a photo of the house, and Elyse's body contracted. She knew that house. Had been inside that house. It was more real and visceral to her than the fifteen-year-old she'd created out of thin air.

Elyse had a choice, her thumbs poised over the screen.

She could shut down the account and go back to her life as a physician's assistant for Dr. Wilson. She could focus on Ava and hire that divorce attorney. They could move on. They'd find a place of their own and have movie nights and heartbreaks and rolls and rolls of unbaked cookie dough. She could have everything she'd ever wanted. Without worrying about whether or not Wesley was cheating on her, if he was coming home, or wondering why he was late yet again. She'd help Ava prepare for college applications and take her on campus tours all over the country, if that's what her daughter wanted. They could do this. They could be happy.

But would Ava ever feel safe?

The decision was made before Elyse had a chance to realize it. She double-tapped the image, and a heart appeared in the corner. Can't wait.

The screen went dark with another incoming video request. And she couldn't ignore it this time. Elyse secured her hoodie over her head, brought her hair into her face, and angled the phone to her shoulder.

She answered the video call.

"I can't see you," a deep voice said. Light ear-length hair, a straight, wide nose, and blue eyes registered so clearly on the screen. He leaned in closer, trying to get a better view of her, but she was in control of their interaction this time. She took a screenshot. "Don't be shy."