The first week was the worst. Claire stayed glued to the television and compulsively checked the news feeds on the internet. The center of the hurricane had come ashore north of the island, but Rockhead had sustained significant damage. Five days after her departure, the story broke. Beachside mansion on Rockhead Island riddled with bullets, one body discovered. One body—not two. Larry Smith, but no Darren Stevens. She still couldn’t shake his image—his raspy voice, the feel of his hands on her body. The next day another report described a grisly scene in another house on Rockhead where two more bodies had been discovered. The reporter interviewed a law-enforcement officer who said it looked like something from a horror movie. The North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation had been calle
