Chapters (57)
- Books by Gregg Olsen
- Dedication
- Prologue
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Forty-Eight
- Forty-Nine
- Fifty
- Hear More from Gregg
- Books by Gregg Olsen
- A Letter from Gregg
- Acknowledgements
“The lazy way to respond to someone,” I say, looking over at Sheriff who sends a thumbs up or a smiley face to most of what I text to him.
“Right,” Marley says, “but also passive. You see, Ellie was actually the alpha here. It was Ellie who encouraged Tyra, supported her. I expect a psychologist looking into their relationship would see what was really going on.”
Sheriff looks up from his papers, lowers his eyeglasses. “I don’t get it. Tyra was hating her mother all on her own.”
“Okay,” Marley says. “Look here, at this exchange, where Ellie’s replies are all emojis.”
I wish my mom would die.
:)
She treats me like crap.
>:(
I wish she would just die.
Happy Dance.
“Throughout all this time, Ellie was encouraging her,” I say. “Feeding Tyra what she needed to hear. I suspect she was living in her own fantasy world of wanting to see how far someone could go. How far with a gentle and persistent nudge?”
“Okay, but what does it have to do with our case?” Sheriff asks.
“Turn to page 245,” Marley says.
“Already there,” I answer.
“First,” he goes on, “the highlight reel.” He opens the folder marked Joshua. “This one has photos too. Let’s start with the timeline. Joshua and Ellie meet online two months before the murder of her parents, overlapping what happened to Tyra’s mom.”
“How did they meet?” Sheriff asks.
I take this one. “On a social media site for kids whose parents don’t understand them.”
He rolls his eyes. “What? Does it have 100 million members?”
“Make that 2.5 million,” Marley says.
“I thought he was forbidden to be online. Her too.”
“You don’t have teenagers, Sheriff,” Marley replies. “Kids find a way.”
“So they connect on the site and start talking,” I go on. “His parents are too controlling. His dad is a religious freak. Her dad is the same. Her mom is clueless. And so forth. Innocuous at first as they try to one-up each other on how bad their dads and moms are. Then the relationship started to move to a romantic vibe.”
Ellie: I feel so lonely. So trapped.
Josh: Hate that you feel that way.
Ellie: Wish I could be with you.
Josh: Rents won’t let me date until I’m 21.
Ellie: Oh God. Mine are the same way!
“She makes a mention of Tyra’s mother’s purported accident a couple days after the incident,” I note, pointing out the text.