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Back Lying Next to Me Save as PDF
Chapters (87)
  1. TITLE PAGE
  2. COPYRIGHT
  3. DEDICATION
  4. CONTENTS
  5. START READING
  6. CHAPTER ONE
  7. CHAPTER TWO
  8. CHAPTER THREE
  9. CHAPTER FOUR
  10. CHAPTER FIVE
  11. CHAPTER SIX
  12. CHAPTER SEVEN
  13. CHAPTER EIGHT
  14. CHAPTER NINE
  15. CHAPTER TEN
  16. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  17. CHAPTER TWELVE
  18. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  19. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  20. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  21. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  22. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  23. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  24. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  45. CHAPTER FORTY
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  54. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  55. CHAPTER FIFTY
  56. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  57. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
  59. CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
  60. CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
  61. CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
  62. CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
  63. CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
  64. CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
  65. CHAPTER SIXTY
  66. CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
  67. CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
  68. CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
  69. CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
  70. CHAPTER SIXTY-FIVE
  71. CHAPTER SIXTY-SIX
  72. CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
  73. CHAPTER SIXTY-EIGHT
  74. CHAPTER SIXTY-NINE
  75. CHAPTER SEVENTY
  76. CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE
  77. CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO
  78. CHAPTER SEVENTY-THREE
  79. CHAPTER SEVENTY-FOUR
  80. CHAPTER SEVENTY-FIVE
  81. CHAPTER SEVENTY-SIX
  82. CHAPTER SEVENTY-SEVEN
  83. CHAPTER SEVENTY-EIGHT
  84. CHAPTER SEVENTY-NINE
  85. CHAPTER EIGHTY
  86. EPILOGUE
  87. ABOUT THE AUTHOR

His voice is soft. He’s not whispering, but I get the impression that he’s talking in a low voice so as not to disturb anyone. Maybe his little girl?

“I hear you have identified a person of interest,” he says. “I’m still processing everything and wondering what I’m going to do now. Just wanted to call and thank you for everything. You were always special to me. Your entire family was.”

He’s thinking of Kip. Not me. I know it. He’s remembering how our father took him and Kip fishing on Neah Bay every year from junior high school to the summer Kip enlisted in the military. I went a couple of times when I was older. But it really was The Adam and Kip Show all the way. I was merely an add-on, the awkward girl with a crush on my big brother’s best friend.

For no reason I can name, I listen to the message two times more before deleting it.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

LEE

The Kitsap County Coroner’s Office sits on a hill above a landscape quilted by rows and rows of shiny new cars, just off Auto Center Way in Bremerton. I drive up to the parking area alone. Montrose is ferrying his kids in three different directions before he comes in, since as he put it “Tuesday is Monday this week” and his family’s all upside down.

I’m thankful for the simplicity of my life.

To the left as I pull in I see some navy recruits working out on a field adjacent to the complex. I think of my brother whenever I see the young faces of the men or women who serve our country. They join for many reasons. Some to fight. Some to get out of a bad situation here at home. Others do it because struggling for something is the fuel for their very existence. Like Kip. He was that way. A fighter.

My heart stops as I recognize a maroon Buick parked in a visitor’s spot.

Frank and Helen Flynn are here.

I have no idea why they’d come. Adam has already identified Sophie, and there is no need for them to put themselves through an experience like that.

The coroner’s assistant, Celia Greene, meets me after Security lets me inside the building. She’s in her twenties, with cropped blond hair and what looks like a dozen earrings on each ear. Just below her neckline peeks the top half of a calligraphic tattoo. I can’t make out what it says, and I know I’ll try later when I go to sleep. I’m like that. A puzzle solver who never misses an episode of Wheel of Fortune, something I’d never admit to anyone out loud.

“Good God,” she tells me without as much as a hello, “the victim’s father is a real ass.”