Julian's message arrived at 5:58 a.m., three words stark against a dark screen.
Call me now.
Maya was upright before she'd fully processed why, the old instinct from years of living on borrowed time firing faster than conscious thought.
"Sophia Vance called a detective yesterday," Julian said, without preamble. "Marcus Reyes. My contact overheard enough to piece together the shape of it. She thinks you're the missing girl from his old case. She's not certain. She's certain enough to have picked up a phone."
Maya sat perfectly still on the edge of the bed, the early light doing nothing to warm the cold spreading through her chest.
"What did Reyes say to her?"
"That's the part that surprised me." Julian paused. "He told her to say nothing. To no one. Not even her own brother. My contac
