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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

I process her words. “And two steaks?” I ask.

She gives me a nod. “Yeah. Both of them were still in there. It made me wonder when I read the news story. It didn’t seem to add up.”

She is right. It doesn’t.

“The sandwiches were from IGA in Hoodsport,” she continues. “I think that’s probably where the steaks came from too.”

I ask if there was anything else that seemed unusual.

“I know Mrs. Warner was drinking wine when she was taken. The bottle was in the refrigerator. It was a sauvignon blanc, a screw-top. I used it last night to make some steamers the kids and I dug down the beach.”

“Is the trash still in the cabin?” I ask, hoping to fix what I know now is a lapse in the investigation. The idea of a mistake makes me sick to my stomach. Teresa Dibley sees the switch in my demeanor from interested to concern, but she doesn’t remark on it, and I’m grateful for that. I’m starting to sweat too.

She shakes her head and sets down her now-empty glass and motions that Clark is taking his sister too far from shore.

“One more thing,” she says, getting up. “The wastebaskets and the trash can under the kitchen sink were all empty. Liners gone too. I thought that was strange. Why take the trash with you if you’re going to leave the food behind?”

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

LEE

Montrose and I are eating our lunch and playing bingo with the sex offender registry, parole records, and notes on recent LE contact with locals as we try to find who might have taken and assaulted Sophie Warner. There are four nearby whose crimes include rape. Two of those used a weapon. Only one of those held a woman captive.

According to the reports, Jim Coyle, forty-nine, lives barely two miles from the cabins in Lilliwaup. He is a truck driver for a small freight line based out of Port Townsend in nearby Jefferson County. He was arrested for kidnapping when he was twenty and sentenced to seven years. The incident involved a longtime girlfriend who had just broken up with him. He wanted one more chance, but she refused. He held her at gunpoint for more than four hours before releasing her. He claimed their sexual relations the day before had been consensual, but the young woman insisted otherwise.

At least at first.

Coyle pleaded guilty and served his time. Two years after his release, however, his victim appeared on national TV and told the world that she was sorry. She’d found God and wanted to make amends.

“He didn’t hurt me,” she told a chubby, bald TV psychologist. “It was partly my sin too.”

Semiexonerated or not, we decide to pay him a visit.