“I picked wildflowers down here, remember?” Alice says.

I smile. “You put them in a vase on the kitchen table, and Laken had a sneezing fit.”

We both laugh. “And then my dad got mad because I’d been down here by myself.”

“He was afraid you’d fall in, Alice. It’s a pretty deep river, and there are waterfalls not far from here.”

“He worries about everything.”

“You’re his whole world, you know.”

“Yeah. I know. But I’m nearly twelve. He’s got to let up on me sometime.”

We stand still and listen to the water rushing by, carrying a chilly breeze with it. My nose and cheeks tingle. The path has wound back closer to the house. This bend in the river isn’t far from the end of the lawn. We can hear the deputies’ voices again.

“Maybe we should head back. You cold?”

She shrugs. “A little. Can we walk on the bridge first?”

There’s a little footbridge that allows access to the other side of the river. “Then we’ll go back, okay?”

Alice nods, and we walk slowly, as the bridge is icy, and stop at the halfway point. The gray water rushes beneath us.

“There’s something over there.” Alice points at what looks like a branch sticking awkwardly out of the bank on the other side of the river.

We step carefully across the bridge, Sadie trying to pull ahead, and I have to use both hands on her leash to hold her back. But as we get nearer, the stray branch comes into focus. Sadie is barking now, her hackles raised and quivering. Alice grabs me around the waist and buries her head in my shoulder.

It’s not a branch. It’s an arm.

CHAPTER 34 - Rita

CHAPTER 34

Rita

ANNALISE ROBB HAS BEEN FOUND, OR THE MOSTLY SKELETAL REMAINS of a young woman have. Sheriff Skinner and his team are pretty sure it’s her, based on the blond hair and the clothing found in the riverbank as well. But, of course, a formal identification will have to wait for the medical examiner to determine.

Chase has taken Mrs. Bradley and Alice into the house, trying to keep them calm and out of the way, while I assist the sheriff and his deputies. A forensic team has just arrived, and they’re carrying equipment down the hill toward the scene.

A blue tent has been erected over the site, and there’s a steady stream of officers trudging up and down from the river to the road, where vehicles line up like a parade.

I’m standing with the sheriff next to his vehicle. Snow has begun to fall softly, big fat flakes that settle on our shoulders and the tops of our heads.

“Detective Fuller and I did a cursory search of the main floors and the attic, but we haven’t been in the basement yet,” I say.