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Back Lost Hills Save as PDF
Chapters (49)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  3. DEDICATION
  4. Contents
  5. CHAPTER ONE
  6. CHAPTER TWO
  7. CHAPTER THREE
  8. CHAPTER FOUR
  9. CHAPTER FIVE
  10. CHAPTER SIX
  11. CHAPTER SEVEN
  12. CHAPTER EIGHT
  13. CHAPTER NINE
  14. CHAPTER TEN
  15. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  16. CHAPTER TWELVE
  17. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  19. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  21. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  22. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  23. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  44. CHAPTER FORTY
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  48. Author’s Note and Acknowledgments
  49. About the Author

He was haggard, his hair askew, his eyes bloodshot, and he wore the wrinkled clothes from the previous night. His skin was pale, as if he’d been bled dry. Over his shoulder, Eve saw an unmade bed and a pizza box from Domino’s and a liter bottle of Coca-Cola on the floor.

“Have you found my kids?” he asked, his voice low and hoarse. He stepped out of his doorway and went to the railing, making it clear he didn’t want to have this conversation inside his room.

“No, but we’ve arrested a suspect and searched his home. We found this.” She held up her phone to show Cleve a picture of the pink camera. “Can you tell me what this is?”

Cleve nodded, his chin trembling. “It’s Caitlin’s camera. I gave it to her as a birthday present a year ago.”

“We found some pictures on it. Can you tell me when and where they were taken?”

She handed him the phone and let him scroll through Caitlin’s pictures. All the shots were from a picnic at a lake with her brother, her father, and a golden retriever. There was only one picture of Caitlin, the one with the wet dog shaking off beside her. Caitlin was laughing and turning away, holding her hands up in a futile attempt to protect herself from getting wet but loving it all the same. It was a picture of pure happiness. Now it was a picture that brought heartbreak. She thought he would have cried if he had any tears left. Instead, his body shook with emotional dry-heaves.

“Caitlin took these pictures in August at Lake Yosemite. It’s a park up in Merced.”

“Did she ever tell you that she’d lost the camera?”

He shook his head. “She might have told her mother but Caitlin wouldn’t have said anything to me. She would have been worried about me being hurt or upset that she’d lost her birthday present.” He handed the camera back to her, his hand shaking. “Who did you arrest?”

“His name is Lionel Coyle. He’s a plumber who did some work at Tanya’s house.”

“What did you arrest him for?”

“Murder,” Eve said, the word catching in her throat.

Cleve nodded, went back into his room, and closed the door softly behind him.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Eve left the Good Nite Inn and drove the two blocks west to the Lost Hills station. The public parking lot was filled with satellite news trucks from the local TV channels. News of Coyle’s arrest must have leaked. She drove past the trucks, through the gate, and into the lot reserved for official vehicles.