“Dad, you know this isn’t right. It’s all too perfect. The caller ID leads us right there. The bartender at Moloko just happens to know Charlotte out of all the customers they get every night? Wants you back there tonight at midnight—by yourself?”
Her dad put up his hands, as if to quiet her down. He looked out at Mom and Tommy again. “We’ll talk about this later.”
Maggie frowned. They hadn’t had a chance to talk since last night. And she didn’t like keeping this from Mom. She looked at her father and had the sinking feeling that nothing she could say would stop him. The never-ending loop of her life: Evan Pine fixating on a clue, running it into the ground, getting discouraged, swearing he was done with it all, then identifying a new clue and repeating the cycle. A drug addict in search of a fix. Now he was going to screw up this trip—put himself in danger!—walking into a trap. Was it a trap? Or a prank? Someone trying to shake him down? She didn’t know. But she did know something was off. And that they’d been lured to the Moloko Bar.
“It’s a scam,” Maggie said.
“I know.”
This surprised Maggie. Her father wasn’t one to give up so easily. But something was different today.
“So you’re not going back tonight?”
“I haven’t decided.”
“It could be dangerous, Dad.”
He didn’t respond, just waved to her mom, who was looking hot and exasperated as she wrangled Tommy back toward them.
Maggie decided she couldn’t keep it from him anymore. She hoped it wasn’t a mistake. But telling him about the cell phone report, the address where the phone that called him pinged, was the only way to get him to stay away from the bar. “I have something I need to tell you. A new lead. But only if you promise not to go to Moloko tonight.”
He looked at her for a long moment.
“I uncovered something. It could answer who’s behind this. Who really called you.”
Her father looked at her intently in that way he would.
“What is it?” he said. “And why didn’t you tell me before? What’s—”
“I need a promise.”
“Okay. I promise.”
“I’m serious,” Maggie said.
“I know, so serious,” her dad said playfully.
Her mom and Tommy appeared. Mom gave them a skeptical look. “What are you two up to?”
“Maggie’s decided to take a gap year. Or two. Live with us until she’s thirty,” her dad said.
“That would be totally fine with me.” Liv gave her a side hug. They were so embarrassing.
“Actually,” Maggie said, “Dad said he was taking me out to dinner tonight, just me.”
“He is, is he? What are you two plotting?”
Tommy interrupted them. “What’s a human sacrifice?” He pronounced it sac-pre-price.
“Where’d you hear that, sweetie?” Mom said.
“Those people over there were saying that’s where they would make human sacrifices.” He pointed to a stone platform in the center of the ruins.
Her parents looked at each other.
Dad said, “You want to take this one?”
“All yours, handsome,” Mom said. “That’s what happens when you ditch me for dinner.”
CHAPTER 53
Maggie and her father had a quick dinner at a place called Burrito Amor, then turned to the plan. They didn’t have all night to wait for someone to come out of the house identified in the cell phone report. So they’d have to be more proactive.
Maggie wrote a simple note:
WE KNOW YOU MADE THE VIDEO PRETENDING TO BE CHARLOTTE AND WE’VE CALLED THE POLICE.
It took some doing, but she convinced her dad to give it a try. He’d be crazy to go to the bar tonight. That was where they wanted him. They needed to be the hunter, not the hunted. Maggie felt so cool right now.
They rode the bikes to the small run-down house in the twilight. Maggie waited at the corner under the cover of a stand of shrubs. She watched her father ride his bike to the broken sidewalk in front of the house. He looked around to see if anyone was watching, then pedaled to the front door. The place was a one-story ramshackle structure with bars protecting the windows. She’d googled the address and it popped up as a vacation rental property, so with luck the owner of the phone that pinged at the location was still there. Otherwise, the new tenant would likely be freaked out by the note.
Her dad’s back was to her, but when he turned around, she saw that he’d taped the note to the front door. He positioned the bike away from the house, gave a hard knock, then rode for his life. Maggie’s heart pounded as she watched him race away, praying he’d make it without being spotted. With only seconds to spare, he disappeared around the corner as the door opened a crack. The silhouette of a man emerged in the doorway and he removed the note.