“Are you gonna show me?” Ashley asked.
“I don’t think you earned it,” Logan slurred. “You didn’t even look.”
Ashley rolled her eyes. Against her better judgment, her lips curled into a reluctant smile. This Logan was different from the one she’d expected. For a moment, she was warm and open. Her laughter was real, dark and smooth as velvet.
“Please,” Ashley said, “can I see what you found?”
Logan smirked. “Since you asked nicely.”
She turned her fist over and revealed something small and shining on her palm. It was a thick gold ring with a cursive inscription inside: Mark 10:9. Ashley plucked it from Logan’s palm and studied it. “What God has joined together let no one separate.”
“It doesn’t say that,” Logan said.
“That’s the verse.”
Logan snorted. “I knew you were a church girl.”
Ashley playfully shoved Logan in the arm. The ring was nondescript—no embellishments or jewels on the outside, and only the inscription on the inside. “It’s not really a clue.”
“Yes, it is,” Logan said. “Look, there’s no dirt on it.”
“So?”
“So that means it was here recently.”
Ashley handed the ring back. Someone had been to the cabin recently. Someone else had walked the decaying floors. Someone had crept here and lost a piece of themselves. “You think whoever was out here saw what we saw?”
“Maybe,” Logan said. She tilted her head back, emptying the rest of her beer. When she finished, she crunched the can down and discarded it in the cracked kitchen sink.
“Are either of your dads missing a ring?”
“No. And they wouldn’t have Bible shit on theirs, either.” Logan’s eyes widened with a sudden realization. “Oh, I found out something else.”
Ashley waited.
“Breaking news—you’re not the only one who can see stuff. Ghosts.” Logan wiped her mouth, smearing her lipstick the rest of the way across her cheek. “My dad sees ’em, too.”
Ashley’s chest tightened. “What?”
“Yeah. He says he’s always seen ghosts.” Logan put on a mischievous smile. “Not so special now, are you?”
Ashley waved away the comment. “That’s … a big deal. You’re sure?”
Logan nodded. Before she could answer, she tripped over a loose plank in the floor and stumbled into a collapsed counter. Her eyes were glazed over, dark as the night outside and hazy. She was too drunk to talk about the disappearance; Ashley was pretty sure she was too drunk to be here at all. She propped a hand under her elbow and helped her sit down. The night wind skirted Logan’s hair into her mouth and across her eyes.
Ashley pushed Logan’s hair out of her face.
Something strange snagged her breath.
“I’m an amazing detective,” Logan said, eyes half lidded. “I did a great job. Way better than you.”
“Sure,” Ashley breathed. “You did amazing.”
Logan reached up and took Ashley’s shoulder. The wind through the gaps in the kitchen walls grew colder by the minute. Logan’s eyes watered in the crisp air. “Why’re you in here by yourself?”
“I’m not by myself. I’m with you.”
Logan blinked, then laughed. “Before that. You looked so sad.”
“I…” Ashley trailed off. She looked back at the main room of the party. No one was looking for them, no one was listening in on them. She closed her eyes. “Honestly? I’m having a really hard time. I’m just really…”