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Back Their Last Secret Save as PDF
Chapters (97)
  1. Cover
  2. Back Cover Text
  3. Praise
  4. Booklist
  5. Dedication
  6. Epigraph
  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. Fourteen
  21. Fifteen
  22. Sixteen
  23. Seventeen
  24. Eighteen
  25. Nineteen
  26. Twenty
  27. Twenty-One
  28. Twenty-Two
  29. Twenty-Three
  30. Twenty-Four
  31. Twenty-Five
  32. Twenty-Six
  33. Twenty-Seven
  34. Twenty-Eight
  35. Twenty-Nine
  36. Thirty
  37. Thirty-One
  38. Thirty-Two
  39. Thirty-Three
  40. Thirty-Four
  41. Thirty-Five
  42. Thirty-Six
  43. Thirty-Seven
  44. Thirty-Eight
  45. Thirty-Nine
  46. Forty
  47. Forty-One
  48. Forty-Two
  49. Forty-Three
  50. Forty-Four
  51. Forty-Five
  52. Forty-Six
  53. Forty-Seven
  54. Forty-Eight
  55. Forty-Nine
  56. Fifty
  57. Fifty-One
  58. Fifty-Two
  59. Fifty-Three
  60. Fifty-Four
  61. Fifty-Five
  62. Fifty-Six
  63. Fifty-Seven
  64. Fifty-Eight
  65. Fifty-Nine
  66. Sixty
  67. Sixty-One
  68. Sixty-Two
  69. Sixty-Three
  70. Sixty-Four
  71. Sixty-Five
  72. Sixty-Six
  73. Sixty-Seven
  74. Sixty-Eight
  75. Sixty-Nine
  76. Seventy
  77. Seventy-One
  78. Seventy-Two
  79. Seventy-Three
  80. Seventy-Four
  81. Seventy-Five
  82. Seventy-Six
  83. Seventy-Seven
  84. Seventy-Eight
  85. Seventy-Nine
  86. Eighty
  87. Eighty-One
  88. Eighty-Two
  89. Eighty-Three
  90. Eighty-Four
  91. Eighty-Five
  92. Eighty-Six
  93. Eighty-Seven
  94. Eighty-Eight
  95. Eighty-Nine
  96. Acknowledgments & A Personal Note
  97. Excerpt

Her loathing was expressed perfectly in her new ring bearing an enraged skull. Sitting on her bed, Nikki twisted it around her finger.

Then she looked at the tiny pinprick on her hand and thought of the blood bond she’d made with Janie and Marie. She glanced at the photo strip of them together at the mall. She rose from her bed and went to her window. Tapping her ring on the sill, she thought how the three of them were united, as strong as the metal of their rings.

Their pact meant they would protect each other forever.

From her vantage she could almost see Old Pioneer Road.

No one knows anything and no one will ever know anything.

Fourteen

Eternity, Manitoba
2000

Whoever killed the Tullock family was still out there.

That fact churned in Abe Atkin’s gut as he and Bill Jurek watched the officers filing into the grand ballroom of the Eternity Community Lodge.

The same room where people had laughed, danced and celebrated events for years was now the command post for the investigation of the murders of Roy, Connie, Linda and Neal Tullock.

They were Atkin’s friends and, God help him, as chief of police he’d vowed to Jurek that they were going to find whoever was responsible, and they would do it letter-perfect, by the book. Under Manitoba’s provincial law, every municipality must provide policing by creating its own force, or by contracting policing from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Manitoba didn’t have a provincial force. And if an incident overwhelmed a local force, then officials could request the RCMP take over the investigation.

And that’s what Atkin had done.

He glanced at his watch—nearly 6:30 a.m. Less than twenty-four hours after the discovery on Old Pioneer Road and after Connie had breathed her last words, they were marshalling a massive investigation.

They’d set up at the lodge because it had the largest room available for what was needed. All of the curtains had been drawn, the doors secured, the parking lot closed to the public. Atkin gave it a few more seconds as officers settled in with coffees, juice, fruit and sandwiches at tables that were still arranged for last week’s minor hockey awards banquet.

In the room were twelve officers from Eternity’s service, another twelve loaned from neighboring towns and more than twenty Mounties, brought in from the Major Crimes unit in Winnipeg and detachments in the area. All chairs were turned to Atkin and the people on the stage sitting at a table.

Everyone looked ready. Atkin went to the podium, running his hand over his white hair and replacing his cap, his stomach straining the buttons of his white shirt. The light glinted off the metal maple leaves, crown and town seal on his shoulder boards.