“From the questions the woman detective asked when she interviewed Liza, I think the same thing,” Aubrey said grimly. “There is no way in the world they didn’t know what was going on under their roof.”
“I agree,” I said, and on that angry note, we hung up.
I heard later that Aubrey’s Christmas Eve service was very emotional, that many tears were shed, that despite the absence of Emily and Liza, who stayed home, it was a very touching event.
I didn’t go. I couldn’t stand one more emotional passage. I thought maybe Liza just didn’t want all the attention.
I’d never wrapped gifts on Christmas Eve before, or tried to imagine what I’d have for Christmas dinner the night before. I gave myself yards of slack, and we had a beautiful and peaceful morning after Phillip finally woke up on Christmas Day. We opened some presents. We enjoyed being together. My mother renewed her invitation to Christmas dinner but we turned that invitation down with little regret. None of us were in the mood for a barrage of questions, nor yet for ignoring what had happened the past few days. Ham and sweet potatoes out of a can and some traditional green bean casserole, plus biscuits, made a perfectly adequate meal, as long as we were together.
“How’s the baby?” Phillip asked. “How are you feeling?”
He seemed a little shy, as if there was something a little embarrassing about having a pregnant sister.
“I feel so much better now,” I said honestly. “The doctor is going to check me over tomorrow, she’s coming into the office specially so I can have some peace of mind, but I think I’m right as rain.”
“That’s what I want,” Phillip said. “I was scared—when I had any time to be scared of anything besides Clayton killing us—that you would be so upset that something would go wrong with the baby.”
“I can’t believe you could spare the energy to think about me,” I said. “You had plenty to worry about.”
He grinned. “Yeah, I did, didn’t I? But it’s like that play, All’s Well That Ends Well.”
You couldn’t say it better than that.
ALSO BY CHARLAINE HARRIS
AURORA TEAGARDEN MYSTERIES
Poppy Done to Death
Last Scene Alive
A Fool and His Honey
Dead Over Heels
The Julius House
Three Bedrooms, One Corpse
A Bone to Pick
Real Murders
LILY BARD MYSTERIES
Shakespeare’s Counselor
Shakespeare’s Trollop
Shakespeare’s Christmas
Shakespeare’s Champion
Shakespeare’s Landlord
SOOKIE STACKHOUSE / TRUE BLOOD NOVELS
After Dead
Dead Ever After
Deadlocked
Dead Reckoning
Dead in the Family
Dead and Gone
From Dead to Worse
All Together Dead
Definitely Dead
Dead as a Doornail
Dead to the World
Club Dead
Living Dead in Dallas
Dead Until Dark
HARPER CONNELLY MYSTERIES
Grave Secret
An Ice Cold Grave
Grave Surprise
Grave Sight
Cemetery Girl Trilogy (with Christopher Golden)
Inheritance
The Pretenders
MIDNIGHT, TEXAS NOVELS
Night Shift
Day Shift
Midnight Crossroad
About the Author
CHARLAINE HARRIS is a New York Times bestselling author who has been writing for more than thirty years. Born and raised in the Mississippi River Delta area, she is the author of the Aurora Teagarden mysteries, which are the basis for the Hallmark Movies & Mysteries Aurora Teagarden original movies; the Sookie Stackhouse urban fantasy series, which was the basis for the HBO show True Blood; the Shakespeare mysteries; the Harper Connelly mysteries; and the Cemetery Girl mysteries. Harris now lives in Texas with her husband. You can sign up for email updates here.
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Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Also by Charlaine Harris
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
ALL THE LITTLE LIARS. Copyright © 2016 by Charlaine Harris. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.minotaurbooks.com
Cover design by David Baldeosingh Rotstein
Cover illustration and handwritten type © Lisa Desimini
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-1-250-09003-4 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-250-09005-8 (e-book)
e-ISBN 9781250090058
Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact your local bookseller or the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at [email protected].
First Edition: October 2016
All the Little Liars Page 23
