He saw Olivia tense and wondered if she was going to let him drive on past. Instead she murmured, “Slow down.”
He slowed and she pointed toward a gravel track that led off into the trees.
He turned right and stopped when he encountered a chain stretched across the one-lane road. Hanging from the middle of it was a rusty sign that said “No Trespassing.”
“I guess we can’t go up there,” she whispered, sounding like the sign was going to stop them cold.
“You kids ignored the sign.”
“Yes,” she murmured.
“We’ll be quick,” he answered. “How far is it?”
She raised one shoulder. “I never measured it. I guess it’s less than a quarter of a mile.”
“Walking won’t be a big deal.”
For a long moment, he thought she was debating whether to refuse or send him up there himself. Finally, an expression of resignation bloomed on her face as he turned the SUV around and pulled down the road about twenty-five yards to a small clearing beside the shoulder.
They both climbed out, then walked back to the chain. Max scanned the highway, waiting until a car had passed before stepping around the barrier, looking back at Olivia.
She followed, and they silently started up the rutted gravel track, as the loose stones crunched under their running shoes. The road was narrow, with weeds and small saplings encroaching on either side. Max could see that the surface hadn’t been maintained recently, and he had the feeling that the site had long ago been abandoned—at least as far as its intended use was concerned.
“Did you all walk up here or drive?” he asked.
“We walked. But usually we parked farther down the road and came through the woods,” Olivia volunteered.
Max thought she could have told him about that strategy earlier but didn’t bother to voice the complaint. Her body language and lack of conversation told him she obviously didn’t want to be here.
But he couldn’t stop himself from making a comment about the location. “So you all drank up here?”
“And did pot,” she admitted.
“Did they do pot at that party, too?”
“Yes,” she snapped.
“Why didn’t you mention it before?”
“I wasn’t thinking about it. Do you think it’s a big deal?”
“Not really.”
“Good.”
Did that mean she’d been into it? He had when he was in high school, but he didn’t volunteer that information as they walked uphill, farther into the shade of the trees, the highway noises receding behind them.
As they walked farther into the woods, he was thinking, So this was where the rich kids hung out when they wanted to be alone. And now one of the rich kids was leading him up here. Only she wasn’t really rich the way he’d assumed—from her being with the in crowd and from her clothes. Now it turned out that her mom had made her clothes. He’d assumed she was out of his league back then. And it had been true—if for no other reason than that hanging out with him would have been out of the question for anyone in the in crowd. Now she was truly a lot farther above him than when they’d been teenagers. He had a respectable job. But he couldn’t really see a model with a big-time career hanging out with a PI.
He snorted.
“What?”
“I was thinking about assumptions I’d made.”
“You mean when we were kids?”
“Yeah.”
She raised one shoulder. “We all do.”
“And what about now?” he asked.
“What do you mean?”
Instead of focusing on a personal relationship, he asked, “What if you decide to trust me? Don’t you think we have a better chance of solving Angela’s murder if you do?”
“Yes.”
“But you’re still uncomfortable with that?”
“This place makes me uncomfortable,” she answered. “Ask me when we get safely out of here.”
“Safely?”
“A figure of speech.”
***
As the road made a sharp turn into the woods, Olivia felt the temperature drop and foliage close in around them. She could hear birds chirping, but the highway noises had become only a vague rumble in the background. She felt totally cut off from the real world. Up ahead she saw a structure through the leaves and tree trunks.
On the drive here, she’d been hoping that a bulldozer had come and mowed it down, but there it was, about the way she remembered it. She struggled for objectivity as they got closer, trying to see the place from Max’s point of view. The place was like a small house or cabin with weathered siding. It could have been something from a hundred years ago, except for the attached carport sticking out from the right side.