by Cate Holahan
Detective Watkins kept her look of strained interest. “So, you thought she deserved to die.”
“Of course she didn’t deserve to die.” Jenny stopped picking her nails and folded her hands in front of her, as in prayer. She couldn’t let emotion lead her into a confession. “I’m sorry that Rachel is dead. I really am.” Jenny’s throat tightened around the harsh truth. A tear she didn’t realize she’d shed tumbled from her cheek onto the table, leaving a damp circle on the surface. “All I am saying is that maybe we’re all a little responsible when we turn a blind eye. I don’t know. Maybe if Rachel and I had been better friends to one another, things would have been different for all of us.” Jenny looked directly into Detective Watkins’s brown irises, the mirror in many ways of her own eyes. “Maybe women should do more to help other women.”
Detective Watkins stared at her like she could see the words materializing in the space between them. She seemed to look through them to Jenny’s face, trying to decipher some coded message. Jenny knew, though, that she’d said nothing definitive. As much as she wanted Detective Watkins to understand, she couldn’t risk the courts holding her responsible for Rachel’s death, too. She had her daughter to get back to.
Jenny palmed the book and then pushed the chair back from the table. “Thanks, Detective.”
Detective Watkins stood. “Wait. I need to know …”
Jenny looked directly in the woman’s face. “You know how Rachel died. Louis killed her. He couldn’t control his anger. He went out to talk to her about his case. They clearly fought and he killed her. Then, when he realized that Ben wasn’t going to be his patsy, he decided that he could make up a contemptible story and pin it on me.” Jenny shrugged. “You shot at the right man, Detective. Rachel’s murderer is dead.”
Detective Watkins blinked, seemingly processing the picture while simultaneously scanning for signs that it had been altered, perhaps sensing something off. In her own way, Jenny decided, she’d told her the truth.
She turned toward the guard and pointed to the door, asking permission to leave. The steel door buzzed open. Its loud alert heightened the wail of white noise in her head. Jenny closed her eyes and counted to ten, like she was waiting out a contraction. The worst of the sound would subside. But, for the rest of her life, she would hear that scream over the waves.
ALSO AVAILABLE BY CATE HOLAHAN
Lies She Told
The Widower’s Wife
Dark Turns
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY
Cate Holahan, author of the USA Today bestselling psychological suspense novel The Widower’s Wife, is an award-winning journalist and a former television producer. She currently lives in New Jersey with her husband and two children.
This is a work of fiction. All of the names, characters, organizations, places and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to real or actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2019 by Catherine Holahan
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Crooked Lane Books, an imprint of The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC.
Crooked Lane Books and its logo are trademarks of The Quick Brown Fox & Company LLC.
Library of Congress Catalog-in-Publication data available upon request.
ISBN (hardcover): 978-1-68331-972-6
ISBN (ePub): 978-1-68331-973-3
ISBN (ePDF): 978-1-68331-974-0
Cover design by Melanie Sun
Book design by Jennifer Canzone
Printed in the United States.
www.crookedlanebooks.com
Crooked Lane Books
34 West 27th St., 10th Floor
New York, NY 10001
First Edition: July 2019
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