Chapters (61)
- Cover
- Praise
- Dedication
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
- 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
- From the Missing Journal of Candace Swain
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- From the Journal of Candace Swain
- Thirty-Nine
- Forty
- Forty-One
- Forty-Two
- Forty-Three
- Forty-Four
- Forty-Five
- Forty-Six
- Forty-Seven
- Letter Found in the Journal of Candace Swain
- Forty-Eight
- Acknowledgments
- Booklist
- Excerpt
Taylor had died here. Right here, outside, alone, and Lucas hadn’t been able to save her.
He stared at the lounge chair where he’d found her, almost saw her again, her bare arm hanging over the edge, her eyes half-open.
Maybe she didn’t die alone.
Where had that thought come from?
Suicide made sense. Sure, the timing was suspicious, but it would be confirmed at the autopsy. Unless it was inconclusive. Or they suspected accidental drug overdose so that’s what they would see. None of this sat right with him. He hadn’t wanted her to die. He’d only wanted answers.
Answers he’d known Taylor had.
He tried the back door.
It was unlocked.
He didn’t hesitate. He went inside, hoping no one saw him.
The house was dark because of the closed blinds. It reeked of cigarette smoke.
He pulled on the latex gloves that Regan had left at his house after she handled the letter he received. He meant to throw them out, but when he saw them this morning he reconsidered, thinking they very well might come in handy.
He went back to the rear door and wiped the knob. Just in case. He wasn’t planning on taking anything—he just wanted to see if there was any connection he could find to Candace’s murder.
Even though Taylor had died outside, he assumed the police had gone through the house when her body was found. To make sure nothing was turned on, like the stove, no potential dangers, no visible drugs, no other victims.
Why was she outside in the middle of the night when it was so cold?
The police would follow up at her work, with her neighbors, just for the report, even if they thought she overdosed. Verify she had been at work, see if they could trace where she’d gotten the drugs, find out if anyone had been with her. Try to figure out her state of mind to help determine if this was an accident or suicide. And if someone had been with her, left her to die? That might be considered manslaughter.
Regan could find those answers faster, and Lucas would ask if she’d followed up with the detective. Lucas hadn’t been called, which surprised him. Did they not care? Or was a drug death not a priority? Right now he was wondering why—when it had been forty degrees that night—she hadn’t been inside her house when shooting up.