Chapters (97)
- Cover
- Back Cover Text
- Praise
- Booklist
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- 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
- Fifty-One
- Fifty-Two
- Fifty-Three
- Fifty-Four
- Fifty-Five
- Fifty-Six
- Fifty-Seven
- Fifty-Eight
- Fifty-Nine
- Sixty
- Sixty-One
- Sixty-Two
- Sixty-Three
- Sixty-Four
- Sixty-Five
- Sixty-Six
- Sixty-Seven
- Sixty-Eight
- Sixty-Nine
- Seventy
- Seventy-One
- Seventy-Two
- Seventy-Three
- Seventy-Four
- Seventy-Five
- Seventy-Six
- Seventy-Seven
- Seventy-Eight
- Seventy-Nine
- Eighty
- Eighty-One
- Eighty-Two
- Eighty-Three
- Eighty-Four
- Eighty-Five
- Eighty-Six
- Eighty-Seven
- Eighty-Eight
- Eighty-Nine
- Acknowledgments & A Personal Note
- Excerpt
“Nikki wasn’t lying. I knew and I said nothing and did nothing. Oh God.”
“Now just hold on, I’m telling you she’s a lying little bitch!”
The air cracked because Telforde never saw or expected the stinging whip-snap on his face as Nancy slapped him. He cursed, pulled back. The wheel twisted and the truck swayed.
“What the hell?”
“Nikki’s right. It’s my fault she turned out the way she did—I can’t live with it. I gave my daughter to you, you ruined her, now four people are dead and she’s so damaged that—oh God!”
Nancy unleashed a torrent of punches and scratches until Telforde, one hand slipping on the wheel managed to seize her wrist.
“Get hold of yourself, Nancy! I swear I never touched her!”
“I want out now!”
Telforde still gripped her wrist, eyes wide on her, the road, then her. “Calm down!”
“I know what you did!” she screamed, pulling away, closing her right hand into a fist, driving it into Telforde’s groin, piston-like, again and again. The pain was blinding, Telforde yowled, his hand tensed on the wheel, jerking it left. Suddenly the pickup was vibrating, the road had disappeared and they crossed the grassy median to the moan of an air horn before they slammed head-on into an oncoming big rig.
It was late the next afternoon before investigators confirmed that Telforde Rahynes and Nancy Gorman were the two fatalities in the accident west of Winnipeg.
The truck driver, who was from Ohio, was not hurt and not at fault.
At the Manitoba Youth Centre, Irene brought Nikki into a room where several grim-faced people sat at a table, including her lawyer, an MYC director, two RCMP officers, two people from Child and Family Services, an MYC psychologist and a chaplain.
The chaplain broke the news to Nikki about her mother’s and Telforde’s deaths.
Nikki lowered her head.
Any thought to report Telforde Rahynes as a pedophile and rapist had died, too.
Condolences were offered from around the table.
Then the director said arrangements could be made for Nikki to receive a compassionate leave to attend her mother’s funeral under police escort, of course.
Nikki’s eyes watered but she did not cry. She shook her head.
“I don’t want to attend the funeral. She got what she deserved.”
Thirty-Eight
Cielo Valle, Orange County, California
Present day
This is so risky on so many levels but I’ve got to do it.
Kayla had cut school midway through the day—“I’m feeling sick,” she’d told her teacher—and went home where she would determine if Emma was being truthful about her past.