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My forehead creases. “What do you mean?”
“Think about it,” she says patiently, clasping her hands between her knees. “What if his endgame isn’t just punishing the women who destroyed his life? What if he wants to punish the girl who put him in their crosshairs in the first place?”
A cold feeling crawls through my stomach.
“Remember that time we saw him at the supermarket?” she continues. “Remember the way he looked at you?”
My throat goes dry at the memory.
“He looked like he hated me.”
“Exactly.” She points at me as if I’ve just proven her case. “Now imagine that hatred sitting there for ten years. Growing. Festering. He lost his job. His family. His reputation. His entire fucking life, Max. Everyone in Fairhope thought he was some perverted teacher who preyed on his female students. On his young female students. It doesn’t matter that it wasn’t true. Once people put a label like that on you, good luck ever peeling it off.”
“Don’t you think I remember?” I scoff. “I had to live with that stigma too.”
“Yes, but look at you now. You got out. You built a life for yourself. You became someone.” Her tone turns pointed. “Maybe he didn’t.”
“How do you know?” I ask, my brows drawing together.
Sienna shifts farther onto the bed, leaning back on her elbows as she stretches her legs out in front of her.
“After he didn’t show up this morning, I pulled a few strings and did some digging into what Mr. Collins has been doing with himself for the past ten years.”
“And?” I ask, my curiosity getting the better of me.
“And it looks like he left Fairhope about six years ago, around the same time his family moved back to Boston. I’m guessing his ex-wife needed a fresh start somewhere she wouldn’t have to endure pitying looks everywhere she went. Collins apparently didn’t want to be that far from his kids, so he followed them.” She pauses. “Which brings me to the reason I came over. I have his last known address.”
“What are you going to do with it?”
“Pay him a visit. What else?”
“What? Today?”
“Why not? It’s not like I have anything better to do. I sure as shit am not going to tonight’s bonfire.” She tilts her head. “I was thinking maybe you’d like to take a little road trip with me. Three hours there. Three hours back.”
My gaze drifts to my laptop, to the page still open on the screen and the blinking cursor urging me to keep writing. I was on a roll before she knocked, the words pouring out faster than I could type them, and I’m already itching to dive back in.
“But I guess you have other plans you can’t tear yourself away from, huh?”
I shrug sheepishly. “Sorry. I’m so close to finishing this book. I have, like, ten chapters left and then I’m practically done. Six hours is a lot of writing time.”
“Fine.” She rolls her eyes, though the smile threatening at the corner of her mouth ruins the effect. “I won’t interfere with your work as long as you let me do mine.”
Before she can push herself off the bed, I grab her hand.
“Maybe it’s better if you don’t go.”
Her brow lifts.
“If you’re right about him, Sienna, he might be dangerous.”
“If I’m right, he’s nowhere near Boston and is hiding out somewhere around here.” She gives my hand a reassuring squeeze. “Believe me, if I had someone I trusted to do this for me, I’d send them to Boston instead. But seeing as I seem to be the only person taking this seriously, it falls on me to see it through.”
“Just be careful, okay?”
“Always am.”
She pulls away and heads for the door, only to stop with her hand hovering over the doorknob.
