After the press conference it felt too early to hit the bars and ask around about the missing girl.
Lou decided to make camp first and took a gamble on a campsite she knew on San Luis Obispo Bay where you could park right on the beach.
When she got to the guardhouse, there was a single spot left.
‘On a roll, Lady,’ Lou muttered to the RV. She backed up into the space, so she could drive out without reversing and give herself maximum views over the ocean. She turned off the engine, climbed back into the kitchen/lounge, and just sat for a moment in the amazing sanctuary her husband had created.
Brian had been a vanlifer long before the hashtag. He’d grown up in Ventura, living the California dream: surfing, partying, summers spent dawn to dusk on the beach. When Lou met him in grad school, his vehicle was a 1985 Volkswagen Vanagon Westfalia. When Abby made three, Bri found a Lazy Daze and converted her to his dream RV: Lady Luck.
Lou stared out at her current front yard: the vast blue-gray expanse of the Pacific, and figured there was time for a sanity break. She locked up and headed out across the sand. Warm golden grains slid between her toes, small boats bobbed in the bay, the setting sun behind them, the Pacific glinting silver and steel. It seemed idyllic.
The voice in her head whispered another, harsher reality. Thirteen miles away, a young woman had come to town and disappeared into a terrifying void.
“I’m coming,” she said aloud.
First, she had to check in. She snapped photos of the ocean and campsite behind her, texted them. A reply came back instantly. Avila Beach
A moment later, the phone buzzed and she knew without looking that it was Brian.
“Too easy,’ she told him. “We’ve only been here a million times.”
“Quarter million, tops,” he argued.
The beach was two hours from the Gomersalls’ house in Goleta, a favorite overnight trip.
That, of course, was Before.
“I figured you’d be heading up there to SLO.” There was an undercurrent to his voice. It was going to be one of those conversations.
“So you saw the press conference.”
“Hard to miss.”
“Did they get my best side?”
“You looked great.”
Silence descended, growing heavier and heavier. Finally Lou couldn’t help herself. “He’s got her, Bri. I know it’s him.”
Brian’s voice was a sigh. “Lou…”
“And this time I’m in on it from the start. Someone’s seen this guy—”
“Lou.” He didn’t want to hear. He never did. “You’re going to get yourself arrested.”
There was anger now, even though she could hear him trying to soften it.
“Better wish me luck, then,” she said brightly. Warningly.
He backed off. And it ended like it always did.
“I just want you home.”
“I just want Abby home.”
The same argument. The same impasse.
Brian didn’t believe. She had to believe enough for both of them.
THE GRAPEVINE
Series: A Lost Highway Mystery, Book 1
Genre: Psychological Thriller
Release: June 2026
Format: Print, Digital, Audio
Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Bookshop.org
From bestselling authors Alexandra Sokoloff and Craig Robertson, The Grapevine is a thrilling mystery featuring a quirky and relentless female protagonist, perfect for fans of Gillian Flynn and Karin Slaughter.
How far would you go to find your missing child?
Lou Gomersall’s going as far as it takes. And there’s no turning back.
When her nineteen-year-old daughter Abby disappears, Lou embarks on a reckless road trip in the family RV, scouring the highways and back roads of California. Through desert and mountains, into the woods, and to the ocean’s edge.
A year later, the police don’t believe Lou’s theory that four other missing young women have been taken by the same elusive predator. So, when another college sophomore vanishes, Lou jumps on the fresh trail, enlisting millennial #vanlifers, Gen Z entrepreneurs, boomer RVers, homeless sages, truck stop prostitutes and everyone in between in her do-or-die mission to rescue Abby …
Or kill the man who took her.
About the authors
Alex is an award-winning American novelist, screenwriter, and writing instructor. A California native and UC Berkeley alum, she began her professional journey in theater and moved on to Hollywood, writing scripts and novel adaptations for major studios. Her acclaimed Huntress/FBI crime series (Huntress Moon–Shadow Moon) has won praise and awards for flipping traditional thriller tropes, with a haunted FBI agent hunting a female serial killer who eliminates predatory men.
Craig, a Scottish crime writer from Stirling, previously worked as a journalist covering major world events—including 9/11 and the Omagh bombing—and won acclaim in crime fiction with novels often set in Glasgow. His debut Random earned a CWA John Creasey Dagger nod; subsequent works have been longlisted or shortlisted for major UK crime awards. He also co-directs the Bloody Scotland and Bute Noir crime festivals. Craig and Alex’s co-written new Lost Highway mystery/thriller series debuts next month. They miraculously survived the process – still married and haven’t killed each other!