BooksBarbecue
Back Safe in My Arms
Chapters (51)
  1. Cover
  2. Praise for Sara Shepard
  3. Also by Sara Shepard
  4. Dedication
  5. PART ONE
  6. —
  7. One
  8. Two
  9. Three
  10. Four
  11. Five
  12. Six
  13. Seven
  14. Eight
  15. Nine
  16. Ten
  17. Eleven
  18. Twelve
  19. Thirteen
  20. PART TWO
  21. Piper
  22. Fourteen
  23. Fifteen
  24. Sixteen
  25. Seventeen
  26. Piper
  27. Eighteen
  28. Piper
  29. Nineteen
  30. Twenty
  31. Twenty-One
  32. Twenty-Two
  33. Twenty-Three
  34. Piper
  35. Twenty-Four
  36. Twenty-Five
  37. Piper
  38. Twenty-Six
  39. Twenty-Seven
  40. Twenty-Eight
  41. Twenty-Nine
  42. Thirty
  43. Thirty-One
  44. Thirty-Two
  45. Thirty-Three
  46. Piper
  47. Thirty-Four
  48. Epilogue
  49. Acknowledgments
  50. About the Author
  51. What’s next onyour reading list?

It hurt to tell her child no, but any interaction right now felt dangerous. There was the buzz online, for one. The comments the other parents posted weren’t pure vitriol—some of them were more like backhanded compliments: I have to say, she’s much prettier than most women and Ugh if I didn’t have ovaries I’d have skin like that too—but she wasn’t ready for the stares, or for Arthur to feel uncomfortable in any way. Also, after she talked with Ronnie yesterday afternoon, she’d received a voicemail from Detective Allegra. In his message, he asked if she could “check in” with him, as he had a few more questions. About what, Andrea wasn’t sure.

According to the Facebook group, Piper was still unconscious in her hospital room. It rocked Andrea’s core. Unconscious. That meant a coma. That meant something had shaken up her brain. And she’d been right there.

Even worse, the Piper news had spread to the state level; also yesterday, someone from an ABC news affiliate had sent her an email request for an interview. This is Joanna from Channel 10 in San Diego, the message read. Apologies if I’m overstepping here, but I’ve been informed you might have something to say about the director who was attacked at the preschool in your town. Can you please reach out at your earliest convenience? Would love to hear your side of things.

And yet—and yet—this reporter hadn’t made a reference to Andrea being a Vandermeer. Surely, if a reporter had contacted Andrea’s mother, all the press would know by now—meaning it was certainly the blackmailer who’d called Cynthia. Carson?

Arthur slid off the bed and headed for the master bath, and the sound of his urine stream hitting the toilet reflected off the hard surfaces. He was probably peeing all over the bowl and the floor, but Andrea didn’t care. She grabbed her phone and pulled up the Instagram page she’d found for Carson. Up came glamour shots of a vegan meal he’d had the night before, along with a bunch of kissing-face emojis. Then, Andrea noticed he’d posted something on his Instagram Stories. She tapped it, and up came a photo of the same vegan dinner. This disappeared, and next Carson’s face appeared—he was smooshed next to another man at a fancy restaurant. With his shit-eating smile, Carson certainly didn’t look that destroyed that his boss was clinging to life in intensive care.