'I can't believe you're just going along with everything like this is a normal Saturday,' Laura complained.

'Because this is a normal Saturday,' Jess replied, slipping on her shoes.

'How can you even say that? Yesterday we lied to the police.'

'Lau, why are you whispering?'

'Because we broke the law. Twice. Do you know lying to a police officer is a federal crime?'

'Is it?' Jess rolled her eyes.

'Of course it is. And you're just carrying on like normal.'

Jess sighed and turned to look at Laura frantically scribbling in her notebook, her eyes glued to the textbook in front of her as if her life depended on it.

'There's no other way to be,' she said gently.

Laura spun around on her desk chair. She'd scrapped her black, frizzy hair into a tight bun, and her face was makeup free. She looked scared, and Jess felt guilty.

'You're taking this so well. I don't know how?' Laura's voice cracked and Jess had to look away.

'You've met my sister. Lying to the cops isn't a new thing for me.'

'Ash regularly gets in trouble?'

'When we were kids, sure. Now, I don't know. Like I said, we don't talk often.'

'Why didn't you tell me about her?'

Jess scrubbed a hand over her face. 'It's complicated.'

'You never really talk about your family,' Laura realised.

'I didn't have the best of upbringings. It's not something I like to talk about. The past is the past and it should stay there.'

'Considering you don't talk, you did exactly what your sister said. Did you even ask her why she couldn't be there when the Deputy arrived?'

'She promised to tell me another time.'

'And you believe her?'

Jess grabbed her coat off the back of the door, struggling to find the words to answer her friend.

'Ash raised me. She's pretty much the only family I have left.'

'That's not an answer,' pointed out Laura.

'I know. And it's not a good explanation, but it's the truth. That's why I did what I did, because Ash has always looked out for me. She wouldn't make us do something unless it was important.'

'I'm not sure I share the faith you have in your sister,' admitted Laura.

Jess embraced her friend. 'You don't have to. Just have faith in me.'

'I can do that,' Laura mumbled into her shoulder.

Jess pulled back. 'For now, just focus on what you can. Study. Chat to the girls. Flirt with cute boys.'

'Is that doctor's orders?' Laura joked, trying to put on a brave face.

'It is. We can only do our best, Lau.'

Jess walked away from her friend with a heavy heart. It wasn't that she didn't believe her own advice, she was sure it would work for Laura, but more that she didn't think it would work for her. Somehow things in her life had been turned upside down, and for once her sister didn't seem the cause.

She left the house, putting in her headphones, and made her way down the street. She'd already text Daryl to say good luck. That was the one thing she enjoyed about dating him; he didn't constantly need her beside him. She had her own life, and he his.

From the corner of her eye, she saw a red blur pull up beside her, and she cursed. How could she forget about brunch with her sister?

'You look like a woman on a mission this morning,' Ash said through the car window.

'I completely spaced. I promised Daryl that I'd go to his swim meet,' apologised Jess.

'I could come. We could grab a meal after?'

Jess thought through her options. Daryl would likely be busy afterwards. The team liked to celebrate and celebrate hard after a big meet. It wasn't like he would notice another person in the crowd sitting next to her. And truth be told, swim meets bored the hell out of her. She understood that swimming was a sport, and that people worked hard. But, much the same as football, she didn't understand other people's fascination with it.

'Sure,' she agreed, getting into the passenger's seat.

'So how's your anxious friend holding up?' Ash asked after a few minutes of complete silence.

'I left her studying.'

'That bad, huh?'

Jess grimaced. 'I'm not sure Laura has ever broken a law in her life. She likes to ride pretty close to the line but stops at anything actually illegal.'

'Would she ever say anything-.'

'We can trust her.' Jess glared at her sister, who just shrugged her shoulders.

'Easy. I had to ask.'

'Which reminds me. It's later. Are you going to explain why you bailed last night?' She raised her eyebrows as Ash's shoulders tensed.

'It might be better if I waited.'

'Bullshit.'

Ash smirked at her sister's outburst. 'I may have downplayed how much I knew the Pastor and his family.'

'Downplayed how?' Jess' eyes narrowed.

'Downplayed like Pastor Jim would probably really like to see me burning in Hell.'

'What did you do?'

Ash glanced at her sister's furious expression before focusing back on the road. 'Nothing illegal or even remotely what you're thinking.'

'How do you know what I'm thinking?'

But Ash just rolled her eyes and didn't answer.

'So you going to tell me what went down?' Jess asked.

'Oh look, we're here,' announced Ash, managing to unbuckle her seatbelt and exit the car in one fluid motion.

Jess raced to catch up with her, surprised that they'd made such good time.

'How'd you even know where to go?' Jess queried, only then wondering how her sister had known where her sorority was the night before. Not once had Ash ever visited her.

Ash looked uncomfortable under her sister's unfaltering gaze. 'I come by and check on you now and again.'

'Seriously?'

'I wanted to make sure you were okay,' Ash said.

'How often?'

'I didn't snoop. You don't have to worry.'

'How often?' Jess demanded.

'Just every couple of months. Whenever I need to pass close.' Ash glanced at her before busying herself by locking the car and trying to find the right entrance to the swimming pool.

Jess trailed after her, feeling dazed. She had no idea that Ash had checked in on her. The idea made her feel strange. Most of the time she worried that her sister would forget her birthday, and now to find out that she'd been driving by the university to check on her was unsettling.

'I think we've gone the wrong way.'

Ash's voice brought her out of her trance. Jess looked up and down the unfamiliar corridor. She'd only been to a handful of swim meets but she was sure she'd never been in that part of the gym.

'Maybe we should go this way.' Her sister pondered.

Jess just hung her head. It would be just her luck to miss Daryl's swim meet because her sister had led them into a maze of corridors that was the sports building.

A janitor ambled out of a cupboard, a mop and bucket clutched in his hands.

Never before had Jess been so pleased to see a man in dirty blue overalls.

'Let's just ask that guy. He's bound to know where we have to go.'

Ash looked like she had two heads. 'What guy?'

Now it was Jess' turn to look at her sister as though she were blind. 'What guy?' she whispered. 'How about the janitor over there?'

'Jesse, there's no one there?'

Jess turned, but her sister was right. The janitor, his mop and bucket, had disappeared.

'Huh, guess we missed him.'

'Guess so,' her sister said uncertainly.

'Hey, you there. You here for the swim meet?' A guy called from the end of the corridor.

'We got lost,' Jess called back.

The man nodded, beckoning them forward. 'Happens all the time. Doesn't help with all this building work. Makes my job a lot harder. I can tell you that much,' he grumbled. 'Just go down this corridor and take a right.'

'Thanks so much,' Jess said, hurrying forward and down the corridor.

Ash hung back, seeing the man's janitor uniform. 'Are you the only janitor working today?'

'That's right ma'am.' The older man tipped his hat at her.

'You're sure there's no one else working today?'

He scrunched his face up, thinking. 'Nope. Used to just me and Jono working a Saturday, 'course that was before his heart attack.'

'Jono died?'

'A year ago last March. Miss him every day. Man loved this job, and between you and me, what person loves being a janitor,' he joked.

Ash forced out a laugh. 'He sounds like a character.'

'Oh aye, he was.'

Ash thanked the man and took after her sister, feeling worried. The signs were all there. She just hoped that she was reading them wrong.

She found her sister saving a seat for her in the front row.

'You okay? You look pale?' Jess asked.

'Fine, just chewing the fat with that guy.'

'Please say he's not another one of your conquests?'

Ash rolled her eyes. 'I don't just go off with every Tom, Dick or Harry, you know.'

'Could have fooled me,' Jess muttered under her breath.

'So since you're so interested in my love life, what's going on with yours? You and this Daryl serious?'

Jess looked away, not liking where the conversation had gone, but knowing that she'd brought it upon herself.

'I guess.'

'Don't sound so happy, Jesse.' Ash shook her head. 'If you don't like the guy, just break it off.'

'I like him,' argued Jess. 'He's kind, stable, and dependable.'

'Bloody hell, he sounds like a damn golden retriever.'

'I happen to admire dependability,' snapped Jess.

'There's more to love than just stability.'

'What would you know? You never fall in love. They never last long enough.'

Rather than getting angry, Ash actually smiled, her eyes a million miles away. 'That may be true, but at least I'm doing what I want. Falling in love, and jumping in with two feet.'

'Sleeping around doesn't make it love.'

'Neither does being in a relationship,' pointed out Ash.

Jess' lips pressed into a tight line, but she found it impossible to retort.

'Can Miss Ashilde Hawthorne, and Miss Jessenia Hawthorne, come to reception?' The announcement came over the loudspeakers, drowning out the rest of the conversation in the stands.

The sisters looked at each other, but stood, and with the rest of the crowd staring after them, made their way to reception where the Deputy and Sheriff waited for them.

'Ashilde Hawthrone?' The Sheriff asked.

'People call me Ash.'

'Well Miss Hawthorne, we have a few questions we'd be keen to ask you down at the station.'

'And what's this concerning?' asked Jess.

'We would like to know how much your sister knows about the disappearance of your friend Charity,' the Sheriff said.

'This is ridiculous,' Jess admonished. 'My sister has nothing to do with that.'

The Sheriff ignored her, addressing only Ash. 'We ran your name through our database, and guess what we found?' Ash glared at him but remained silent. 'Breaking and entering. Trespassing. Burglary. Arson. Your rap sheet is a long one, Miss Hawthrone. Not to mention you had a previous history with the Artridge family. Nothing to say about that?'

Ash's face was stony as she stared back resolute.

'Arrest her Deputy.'

'With what? All those charges were thrown out,' growled Ash.

'Miss Hawthorne, you are now our major suspect in the disappearance of Miss Charity Artridge.'

'Ash?' whispered Jess.

Her sister's pleading voice was the only thing that pulled Ash out of her stare down with the Sheriff.

'Jesse, it's not as bad as it sounds.'

'You're getting arrested,' protested Jess.

'I've been arrested before,' Ash reassured her. 'But you listen to me, stay safe. And start wearing the necklace I gave you.'

Instinctively, Jess gripped at her coat pocket.

'That's what I thought.' Ash shook her head. 'Wear it.'

'And what about you?' demanded Jess.

'I'll be out in a few hours. Don't worry about me.'

But Jess couldn't help but worry as she watched her sister being carted away, handcuffed, in the back of a police car. Laura's words came back to her, and for the first time, Jess wondered if she could really trust her sister.