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Chapters (43)
  1. DEDICATION
  2. PROLOGUE
  3. 1
  4. 2
  5. 3
  6. 4
  7. 5
  8. 6
  9. 7
  10. 8
  11. 9
  12. 10
  13. 11
  14. 12
  15. 13
  16. 14
  17. 15
  18. 16
  19. 17
  20. 18
  21. 19
  22. 20
  23. 21
  24. 22
  25. 23
  26. 24
  27. 25
  28. 26
  29. 27
  30. 28
  31. 29
  32. 30
  33. 31
  34. 32
  35. 33
  36. 34
  37. EPILOGUE
  38. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  39. BACK AD
  40. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  41. BOOKS BY JENNIFER BROWN
  42. CREDITS
  43. ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

My father found out about my mom’s past. He found out she was sleeping with Bill Hollis. He found out she was pregnant, and that she had hidden the pregnancy from him and given the baby to Brandi. He found out everything. He burned down the movie set to ruin her. Only that didn’t work.

And now she was gone and he was the only one who knew everything. The only one. Not even Bill Hollis knew everything. Not at the time she was killed.

The police had a statement that I had gone to my friend’s house and he and Mom were going out on a date night.

Dad had lied about where he’d been when my mother was murdered. Why? And why would he pretend to know nothing about Bill Hollis when they actually had a lengthy history? Why wouldn’t he point the police to the Hollises, who had threatened them both?

Maybe because he knew Bill Hollis wasn’t the one who did it. Maybe because he knew how guilty he looked, and pretending to be in the dark about her affair was the one thing he hoped would keep the police from discovering the missing motive that they needed to bring charges.

You don’t have anything.

Maybe he really had killed my mother.

And he’d kept the evidence like a sick, murdering freak.

22

I KNEW IT was getting late, and Chris and I had spent entirely too much time together over the past two days, and things were weird between us now, but I was going crazy, pacing my room and scouring the letters over and over, all the while becoming more and more furious. It was the deepest betrayal I could think of—murdering your wife, keeping it from your daughter, pretending like you loved the woman all this time. I wanted him out of my life. I wanted him locked up forever. I wanted him gone. Mom never got a chance to live her life; why should he?

It felt like someone was sitting on my chest. As far as I was concerned, I was an orphan now. My entire life a lie. I had nobody.

I needed to talk to Chris.

Can I come over?

Why?

I need to talk.

You had 2 days to talk. What’s different now?

I’m going to take that as a yes.

I drove to Chris’s at record speed, only remotely worrying that I might get pulled over. A part of me would welcome the trouble. I would welcome the chance to have a normal person’s problems for even just five minutes.