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
Moving deeper into the park, noticing the occasional satellite dish, she checked numbers affixed to the trailers until she found #36.
No vehicle was visible. It looked old, was a dirty shade of white with steel vertical siding and a metal roof. The front offered a small patch of grass, where flies circled fresh coils of excrement at the dirt edge.
Coming around to the side, Lucy heard a ceramic clink, then noticed the woman tending the flower box on the rickety wooden porch landing.
The woman looked from her work to Lucy.
She was the same age, heavyset, cigarette stuck in the corner of her mouth, lines carved into her face.
She stared at Lucy, her eyes narrowed, her memory traveling through time, passing disbelief, before arriving at an agonizing truth, then alarm.
The cigarette fell from her mouth.
Lucy said, “Hello, Skull Sister.”
Fifty-Three
Cielo Valle, Orange County, California
Present day
Kayla was in the kitchen texting her friend Haley when her dad and Emma left to walk Tug in Sky Park.
Got the house to myself. It’s now or never.
After the door closed, she said goodbye to Haley and hurried upstairs to their bedroom. She checked her phone. It was fully charged. Good.
I’ll go through Emma’s journal, photograph every page. I’ll read through them all, then decide what to do.
Kayla reached the top of the stairs, that one phrase of Emma’s journal echoing in her head.
“No one knows the truth about me, that I—”
Kayla strode into the walk-in closet, went to Emma’s trunk, reached down, grasped the area rug and slid the whole deal aside. She pressed her heel down on the loose board, crouched and maneuvered her fingers along and then under its edge and then she removed the panel.
She switched on the flashlight of her phone.
Sweeping the dark, deep gap, Kayla gasped.
There was nothing there.
She got down on her stomach so she could lower the phone deeper into the gap, combed the darkness again and again—and found nothing.
Her breathing stirred the dust, it whirled in the light.
Oh my God, Emma must know. When the rubber band broke, she must’ve suspected something and moved it.
Beads of sweat pooled on Kayla’s forehead.
Stay calm. Be cool. Think.
Fifty-Four
Lufkin, Texas
One week ago
Slowly crushing out her cigarette under her sneaker, the woman in the trailer park continued staring at Lucy.
“How did you find me?”
“Not important, Rita. That’s your name now, right? Rita Ruth Purvis?”
The woman’s expression told Lucy she was correct.
Rita Purvis looked at her for a long time, then said: “Turn around and go back to where you came from.”
“We need to talk.”