Page 63 of A Sea of Unspoken Things

“When’s the last time you saw Autumn Fischer?” I asked, hollow.

His answer was distracted, his own mind racing. “I don’t know. This summer? Before she went to school.”

“Except she didn’t. She never went.”

“What?”

“Autumn never made it to Byron. Never showed up.”

“What are you saying?”

“I’m saying that Autumn is gone! Missing! And her backpack was in my dead brother’s house!” Saying it out loud made it, impossibly, more horrifying. “So you’re going to tell me the truth.Allof it. Right now.”

Micah pinned his pensive gaze to the floor between us. He was biting back his words. Growing more rigid as he swallowed them down.

“Now.” My voice rose.

“I don’t know anything about this.”

“Stop lying to me!”

“I’m not!”

I was ready to push him all the way off the cliff. I pulled my brother’s phone from my pocket, finding the voicemail and playing it on speaker.

Hey, Johnny.

I set it down on the table, crossing my arms.

Look—I know we’re not talking, but I need you to call me back. I’m worried.Text me, whatever. Just get in touch. Then you can go back to being pissed.

The message ended, and slowly, Micah’s eyes lifted to meet mine.

“What were you and Johnny fighting about?” My voice was barely audible. “What did he do, Micah?”

Slowly, Micah’s expression shifted. He was meeting my eyes now, hands heavy at his sides. “I don’t know. I mean, I’m not sure.”

“Not sure about what?”

He paced toward the fireplace, and when he turned back in my direction, he wasn’t looking at me anymore. “There were rumors going around that Johnny and Autumn were…getting involved. At first, I didn’t think there was any way it was true, but they were spending a lot of time together and—and I don’t know—I was just concerned.”

I stared at him.

“I confronted him about it and he totally lost it. He wouldn’tanswer any of my questions, wouldn’t even have the conversation. I told him that if something was going on, he had to end it. And that if he didn’t, I wasn’t going to cover for him. Not this time.”

A shaking breath escaped my lips. “When was that?”

“Last summer. In June. He stopped talking to me. Wouldn’t return my calls—nothing.”

I tried to place it on the timeline in my head. That was before Johnny made the tuition payment to Byron. Before Autumn was supposed to leave for school.

“So, you hadn’t talked to him for months before he died.”

Micah’s jaw clenched, making the muscles in his throat strain. “No. He’d still show up and borrow the camper sometimes, but he just completely shut down. Didn’t want anything to do with me.”

“Iaskedyou.” I took a step toward him. “I asked you if something was going on.”

“I know.”