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“God, this is horrible.” Erin squeezed her eyes shut briefly. When she opened them, they glistened with unshed tears. “The one person who would know what to say, how to comfort us, is gone.”

“Mr. and Mrs. West,” Josie said. “We can come back later. We understand how difficult a time this is.”

Carter lifted his head, shaking it slowly from side to side. “No. Stay. I’d rather get this over with so you can find the bastard who killed her. Chief Russell said it was arson. When I first showed up that day, I thought it was an accident. I told Mom for years that all that hoarding was a major fire hazard. Plus the place would go up like a tinderbox, and it would be near impossible for us to maneuver through the house.”

“Chief Russell also advised us that it was arson,” Josie told him.

“Yeah. Anyway, the state police investigator will be taking over for our department, but when I saw you that day on the street, you said she was already dead. Already dead when the fire started? I don’t understand. What the hell happened?”

Josie’s philosophy about giving bad news was to rip off the Band-Aid. There was no sense in building up to it. She said, “Your mother’s cause of death was strangulation.”

She didn’t go into any more detail than that, nor did she mention the Last Kiss Killer. It was far too early in the investigation to share more specifics than what she’d just told him.

The color drained from Erin’s face. Carter took in the news silently, his mouth hanging open.

“Strangled,” he said.

“Yes,” Noah confirmed.

“Like when that killer came after her,” Erin whispered as tears rolled slowly down her face.

“You think it was him?” asked Carter. “The Last Kiss Killer?”

“We don’t know that for sure,” said Noah.

“The cameras,” Carter said. “She had security cameras at the front and back doors. Dean and I put them in for her. Her phone was destroyed in the fire, right? But you can still get the videos from the camera company, right?”

“That’s correct.” Josie wiped at the sweat gathering at the nape of her neck. The sun beat down on them and as the day went on, the air grew hotter. “We did get them. Unfortunately, no one except your mother shows up on them the evening before and the morning she was killed.”

“Son of a bitch!” Carter sobbed into his hat again. When he looked back up at them, his eyes were wild, almost unfocused. “It’s the Last Kiss Killer. He’s gotten away with so much for so long. He’s sneaky. It has to be him. He strangled her. She had bruises around her neck for weeks afterward. We told her not to give that interview. Dean and I told her to let it go. There was no reason to dredge it all back up. Now look. One day later, someone strangles her and burns down her house. It’s him, isn’t it?”

“Carter,” Erin said softly. “The girls.”

Carter lowered his voice. “But you’ll look into him.”

“Of course,” Noah answered. “We’re going to follow every avenue of investigation, every possibility.”

“It’s him,” Carter insisted. His large hands twisted the ballcap. “It has to be. It’s the only thing that makes sense. Who else would do such a thing to her? We told her not to talk to that reporter, but she insisted. Kept repeating that Bible verse about there being a time for everything. The real famous one.”

“Ecclesiastes,” Erin supplied.

“She said it was her time to speak and that God would judge the righteous and wicked. She thought her faith would save her. All those years of praying and devoting her life to the church, and where did it get her?”

“Carter,” Erin admonished.

“What?” he snapped. “It’s true. I told her to come stay with us for a few days and she said no. Oh God, I can’t believe this.”

Trying to steer the conversation toward the information they needed, Josie said, “We were hoping you could provide us with a list of your mom’s friends.”

“Just go to the church,” Erin replied before Carter could open his mouth. “Everyone she associated with was at the church. Although who knows? Maybe that Fisher guy would know better.”

Twenty-Three

“Don’t go there,” Carter told his wife.

“Mooo—ooomm!” one of the girls called from inside.

With a lingering glance at her husband, Erin excused herself. Josie felt the heavenly blast of cold air from inside as she slid the door open and closed.