Betrayal

“We found a shattered vase over in the den. Looks expensive. Do you know what happened to it?” A

Bria

“All right, an accident, then . . .” A

“Don’t think so,” Bria

No drama at a teen kegger? Not likely, A

“Showed you?” Bria

A

“Like . . . acting out what happened?”

“Not really acting it out, but pointing out where you were standing, how you found her, what you did.”

The three of them headed to the staircase just as Birdy’s team made its way down. As the teens hung back, Olivia’s shrouded body was rolled onto a folding gurney at the top of the stairs. Bo

“Bye, Olivia,” Bria

Moonlight poured all over the floor and onto Bria

The police chief studied the teenager. Like many girls with divorced parents, Bria

“You guys are going to clean up this mess, aren’t you?” she asked.

A

“Don’t you have a housekeeper?” Drew asked Bria

“Yeah, but she only comes three times a week. And she won’t be here tomorrow. She said her mom or someone in her family is sick. I doubt it, though. She’s a little liar.”

“Bria

Bria

A

“These okay?” he asked, grabbing a white sweater and a pair of brown-dyed Mek jeans from underneath a white ghost costume strewn over a chair on the other side of the room.

“Not those! I wore those yesterday.”

“It will have to do for now,” he said. “We can’t compromise the scene.”

“Can’t I just get something from over there?” Bria

“I’m afraid not. Maybe a little later. Let’s zero in on what’s important. Tell me what happened,” A

Bria

“Do you know if anyone else came up here?” A

“How would I know? I was the hostess. I barely had time to pee,” she said. “Let me think a sec. No, I don’t know if anyone else came up. Maybe Beth Lee. She and Olivia had a fight earlier in the night.”

“Do you know what it was about?” A

Bria

A

“Everyone’s jealous of Bree,” Drew said, tucking the clothes under his arm, and looking like he’d rather be just about anywhere else right then. A safe bet for sure.

“You said you kicked Olivia to see if she was asleep,” A

“The second time,” Bria

A

“Yeah, I think so.”

“Why did you kick her? Why not just tap her on the shoulder?”

Bria

A

“What about you, Drew?”

“Like I said before,” Drew answered, “I wasn’t here. I went home with everyone else. I didn’t find anybody dead. That’s all on Bree.”

Chapter 4

THE PORT GAMBLE S’KLALLAM TRIBAL Police Department had been housed in the same building for more than forty years. It was in the basement of what the locals called “the old post office,” a large wood-framed structure that at one time or another accommodated not only the post office but also the morgue, the town’s first hospital, and even the community theater. A

Chief Garnett had driven Bria

A

“I’m tired, and this whole thing has been a total nightmare,” Bria

A

“Is it your mother?” she asked.

Bria

“Do you want to wait for her?” A

“No,” she said. “I want to go to bed. But not my bed. My entire room needs to be taken to a landfill.” She put down her phone. “I was ready for a change anyway.”

“Is there anyone else I can call for you, Bria

Bria

“I know this has been a terrible ordeal for you.”

“It has been the worst. The worst ever. The party was so fun and then this happens. It just isn’t fair.”

“Murder is never fair, Bria

“I don’t need a lecture. Don’t misconstrue what I’m saying here, officer.”

“Chief, please,” A