Page 2

Noah had told Josie that she was reading too much into Wren’s reluctance to talk about her old school. Josie’s childhood had been a nightmare. Then she’d joined the police department. She witnessed the worst humanity had to offer on a daily basis. It was hard not to see crime and depravity everywhere.

“I’ve never seen her stumped like this,” Drake said.

Noah waved a hand in the air, as if trying to get Josie’s attention. When she didn’t respond, he told Wren, “You did it. You broke her.”

Josie blinked and then scowled at him. “Could you keep it down? I’m trying to overthink this.”

Wren laughed. The sound was so light and free that it caused a warm, fuzzy explosion in Josie’s gut. She caught her husband’s eye and knew that he’d registered it, too. They shared a secretive smile. She was glad to see him so relaxed, enjoying himself without the telltale tension he’d been carrying in his shoulders ever since his abduction last year. His hazel eyes twinkled with amusement. Josie gave a dramatic sigh and held up her hands, index and middle fingers crossed. “The English paper toilet clog is the lie.”

There was a flicker of something vulnerable in Wren’s eyes, lasting no more than a second before she grinned and shook her head. “Nope! It was the mascot pedicure!”

Drake said, “Wait. You and your mom really had a cat named Chlamydia?”

Wren shrugged. “We got her from a neighbor who had to move to a nursing home. Mrs. Kletzel. Chlamydia was like eleven years old so Mom couldn’t rename her. I actually didn’t know she was named after an STD until eighth grade health class.”

For a moment, Wren’s gaze dropped to her lap. She worried her lower lip between her teeth like she often did when her mom came up in conversation. Her mother had died in a car accident when Wren was nine. Prior to that, she’d raised Wren on her own, avoiding questions about her father, Dexter McMann. What Wren hadn’t known was that she was a result of a one-night stand and that her mother had never told Dex about her. He found out he had a daughter when child services contacted him to ask if he wanted custody of her.

“So your neighbor gave you and your mom Chlamydia?” Drake said.

“Pretty much.”

They all dissolved into laughter. Josie’s heart felt full. Until now, she’d never fully appreciated the simple joy of hanging out with her family, playing games and laughing. Wren had made their family complete in ways Josie could never have anticipated. She hated the loss that had brought the girl into their lives, but she was incredibly grateful that she and Noah had the privilege of becoming her guardians.

“Who’s next?” Wren asked excitedly.

“I’ll go against Drake,” said Noah. “You can play the winner.”

Stomach growling, Josie stood. “I’m going to check on the food that my sister was supposed to bring in a half hour ago.”

Drake chuckled. “Good luck with that. Twenty bucks says she’s in there watching clips of the interview she did today on her laptop and she hasn’t even turned on the oven.”

“There’s no way I’m taking that bet,” Josie said.

Her twin sister was a renowned television journalist with her own show, Unsolved Crimes with Trinity Payne. She was every bit as obsessive about her work as Josie. She and Drake lived in New York and visited Denton every chance they got. This past week, however, they’d been in town for reasons that had nothing to do with family. It had taken over a year for Trinity to track down the sole survivor of one of Pennsylvania’s most elusive serial killers. It turned out Sylvia West had quietly relocated to Denton after her harrowing near-death experience thirteen years earlier. Trinity had spent the last two and a half years trying to convince the woman to go on camera and tell the world about her encounter with the Last Kiss Killer.

Her persistence paid off. Earlier that day, Trinity had finally gotten the ungettable interview. She’d been buzzing with excited energy since she returned.

As expected, Trinity stood in front of one of the kitchen counters, laptop open in front of her. She held a potholder in one hand. Next to her computer was a baking tray and a stack of boxes Josie had taken out of the freezer a half hour ago, unopened. Just as Drake predicted, the oven was off. At Trinity’s feet lay Josie and Noah’s Boston terrier, Trout. His soulful brown eyes were fixed on Trinity. He didn’t even acknowledge Josie, too busy waiting to see if any food would magically fall from the counter. Or if Trinity would sneak him some delicious morsel. She was the worst when it came to giving him people food.

Trinity was so engrossed in the interview that she didn’t even hear Josie walk up behind her. From over her sister’s shoulder, she saw footage of Sylvia West sitting in a chair in the middle of the dining area of one of Denton’s most popular restaurants, Lannan’s Grill. They didn’t normally open until four p.m. so it hadn’t been an issue for Trinity to conduct the interview starting at noon. The camera sat to Sylvia’s left at a forty-five-degree angle. She was in her mid-fifties, though she didn’t look it. Her face had few wrinkles and her skin was still supple. Her pale blonde hair was swept away from her face into a neat bun at the base of her skull. A pink silk blouse matched her lip gloss. A gold cross hung from the necklace she wore. She was beautiful in an elegant, ethereal way. Josie knew that her sister was just out of frame, across from Sylvia.

“You were home alone,” Trinity said. “Can you describe, for our viewers, what happened?”

Sylvia took a deep breath, shoring herself up. Lifting one hand, her trembling fingers traced her throat. “It was one in the morning. I was just sitting in my living room, in my chair. I fell asleep watching TV. I remember waking to something tight around my throat, hurting, cutting off my air. I couldn’t understand what was happening, just that I couldn’t breathe and it hurt.” Both her hands fluttered around her throat. “He was behind me and put something—tied something around my neck. Then he started squeezing, pulling. It got tighter and tighter.”

“That must have been terrifying.”

Sylvia nodded. “I’ve never experienced anything like it. The disorientation. The shock. The pain. Like I said, I didn’t understand what was happening at first. But once I did, I grabbed at whatever he’d wrapped around my throat. To this day I have no idea what it was but it was thin. A cord of some kind maybe? I don’t know. I started to fight, to kick and flail and just tried to get away from him. It wasn’t really something I thought about. My body just reacted. I don’t remember much. Just fighting, trying to breathe, just thinking get away, get away, get away.”

Josie leaned closer to her sister until her mouth was only inches from Trinity’s ear, and said, “So much for Frozen Appetizer Sampler Night.”

Two

With a yelp, Trinity jumped and slammed her laptop closed. Trout, taking Trinity’s startled reaction as an alarm, sprang to his feet and started barking. Josie laughed as she bent to scratch between his ears and calm him down.

Trinity pressed a hand to her heart and glared at Josie. “You scared the hell out of me! Why are you sneaking up on people?”

“I was hardly sneaking up on you,” Josie replied. “You were just engrossed in that interview. Earbuds are a thing, you know. With Wren living here now, we try to keep the house a depravity-free zone.”