Betrayal

“We’re her daughters,” Hayley said. “We need to know.”

“We have a right to know,” Taylor added.

“She’ll tell you when she’s ready,” he said, putting some dishes in the sink. His face was red. It was possible he was even more in the dark about what had just transpired than his kids.

“You ca

Taylor got up and stood in the kitchen doorway. She didn’t want her dad to leave, too. This was all too important. He had to listen.

“Dad,” she said, “someone set up Sava

Kevin, who clearly had had enough of the confrontation, wasn’t sure he heard Taylor correctly. “What do you mean? Did the sheriff tell you that?” he asked.

By then, Hayley was standing next to her sister in the doorway. They were like bookends, making the space completely impassable. Kevin Ryan, who had faced off with serial killers, had never met a force with as much determination as his girls right then. They were going to get the last word, no matter what.

“No,” she said. “Not really. But we know it’s true.”

“How do you know?” he asked.

Taylor’s eyes fastened onto her father’s. With a final sigh, she said simply, “Ask Mom.”

Chapter 22

WITH SOFT ROCK HITS PLAYING from the radio on the credenza behind her desk Monday morning, A

Office administrator Tatiana Jones pointed out a trending tweet when she got in:

Port Gamble is to die for #suckycityslogans

“Licorice tea time?”

A

“You’ll sort it out,” Tatiana said.

“I hope so. In this whole circus, everyone is forgetting about the murder of an i

Tatiana left, and A

Who has that much to say? A

Olivia’s calls were mostly to Port Gamble kids and to a few phones back home in the United Kingdom. Most of those were to her father and to friends. Or so A

The day she died, Olivia had made six calls to Bria

Right after Olivia’s final call, Beth had sent a text to Hayley and Taylor.

Bria

A

As she continued to pore over the printout, A

What the . . . ?

She reached over and turned off the radio, silencing the uber-a

Drew had dialed that number forty-eight times the week prior to the murder and four times that night.

What in the world? Something’s wrong here, she thought.

Just then, the phone rang with the news that the knife found at the Co

A

On the other hand, the Zodiac Killer brought a gun. The Night Stalker his own knife. Ted Bundy brought an entire kit of tools that he used in the commission of his unspeakable crimes. Serial killers, like Boy Scouts, come prepared.

If the kitchen knife they found had killed Olivia Grant, then it was possible the attacker didn’t plan her death after all. And if her killer was a novice, A

If so, case closed.

A

While screening a police chief’s calls in the middle of an investigation seemed well within character for a girl like Bria

Like her former best friend, Olivia Grant, Bria

THE ONE BRIGHT SPOT IN THE WORST WEEK ever came in the form of the report from Olympia’s crime lab. As A

A

The police chief swiveled away from her computer, picked up the phone, and dialed Kim Lee’s direct line at the mill office. She’d been through enough with the loss of one daughter, her husband, and the foreign-exchange student who’d been living with them until that bloody Halloween night. As tragic as the past ten years had been, A

“Kim, A

A small beat passed before Kim spoke. “Yes, this is Kim. Is everything all right?”

“Yes, it is. I just wanted you to know—”

Kim cut A

“Yes, I know,” A