We Were Never Here(50)

I hadn’t looked at my phone in hours, but when I did, it couldn’t find cell service. “Hey, Russell said I should be on email tomorrow,” I said. “Do we have to drive somewhere for Wi-Fi?”

“No, we have a thingie now. A hotspot.” She ducked into the hallway, and I heard her fumbling through plastic. She returned and tossed the gadget my way. “But we only get a limited number of gigs a month. So you can’t stream a movie or anything.”

I waited for it to connect, then sifted through all the birthday wishes. There was a peculiar note from Nana, sent only to me:

Dear Emily,

How are you doing at the lake? I just wanted to make sure you’re comfortable. Kristen has been acting a bit strange lately. Please don’t hesitate to call me if you need anything.



That was alarming enough, but then another email, one from less than an hour ago, made my vision swim. A discordant hum whooshed in my ears, shrill and wrong, like the sound of an orchestra tuning up.

    It was also from Nana, and it was sent to Kristen and me.

“This is why I think you’re so brave with all your travels,” it read, followed by a URL. I tapped the link with a shaking finger.

It was a CNN article, Paolo’s smiling face at the top. The headline: Backpacker’s Remains Found in Remote Chilean Village.





CHAPTER 21


“Hey, did you want to make a campfire tonight?” Kristen called. She’d stuck her face into the freezer so her voice echoed. “We bought ice cream, but we could also do s’mores. I’m great at building fires. But we can wait until tomorrow.”

When I didn’t answer, she smacked the freezer door closed and whirled around. “Did you hear me? We should probably get more firewood, but—”

“Kristen.” I dropped my phone on the table, thunk. “You need to see this.”

“What is it?” Her nose wrinkled. “Did someone you used to hook up with send you a birthday text? I hate when dudes—”

“I’m serious. Check your email.”

She squeezed her eyebrows, then snatched her phone off the kitchen counter. I watched her face as she read: expressionless.

“Well, shit.”

I reread the email. “Do you think Nana knows?”

“Knows what? That we’re stupid girls who travel to faraway places and are lucky to still be alive?” She rolled her eyes. “The obnoxious thing about Nana’s performative concern is that she isn’t actually worried about me—she’d be glad to say ‘I told you so’ if something happened. It’s just another way for them to criticize me.” She raised a naggy finger. “?‘Look at you making stupid decisions, and no surprise, I was right and the world is dangerous and you’re not a functioning adult.’ Typical.” She flopped into the chair across from mine.

“Wait, that’s not even my point. Paolo. Was freaking found. Doesn’t that disturb you the tiniest bit?”

    Kristen stared at me, stock-still, then cocked an eyebrow. “Let’s turn our phones off.”

“Kristen, for Christ’s sake, no one is listening, we’re in the middle of nowhere with crappy reception, and—”

“Phones off.” She said it firmly, calmly, like I was a little kid having a meltdown. I slowed my breathing and knew she was right. Siri was always listening, always ready to pipe up and hook us into the grid.

“Not till after we read the article,” I said.

“Fine.”

    The body of a 24-year-old Spanish-American backpacker who went missing after months of traveling around South America has been found, according to police. Paolo García was last seen in Puerto Natales, a city in Chilean Patagonia, on March 27.

On Wednesday, police confirmed to CNN that a body found by police in Arroyito, a remote area in Chile’s mountainous Elqui Valley, was his.

On Thursday, Chilean National Police told CNN that they had completed an autopsy overseen by an American consular official. Police have not released information about the cause of death but confirmed they are treating the investigation as a homicide.

The García family is now working to bring Paolo’s body back to the United States, police said.

“Right now we are grieving and desperate for answers,” said Rodrigo García, Paolo’s father and the owner of Castillo Development, a Los Angeles real estate development firm. “The police must figure out who did this and make him pay.”

Paolo García was born in California but spent most of his life in Barcelona. He had dual citizenship in the United States and Spain.

     García was regularly out of touch for weeks at a time during his travels, so it’s unclear how long he was unaccounted-for before his family reported him missing. The man’s personal effects, including his passport and wallet, were not with him, so local teams are investigating where in the area he may have stayed, according to Spain’s Agencia EFE news agency.

On Wednesday, Paolo’s sister Elena García said her brother wanted to live life to the fullest. Paolo had been saving up for the trip for years, and he was “very excited to see new countries and meet new people,” Elena said.

The last time they spoke was on March 23, when Paolo messaged his sister to say how amazing his trip was.