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
Jurek consulted the statements and reports in his files. “We’ve done preliminary interviews with employees at the center and Tullock’s ag operations,” he said. “We’ve reinterviewed Marv Lander and Fran Penner, the senior employees who found the bodies, and we’re checking with deliveries, contract people, those who service the Tullocks’ grounds and pool. And there’s the babysitter.”
“The babysitter?”
“Janie Klassyn. She’s been sitting for the Tullocks watching Neal and Linda for several months.”
“Really?” Sloan removed her glasses, thinking. “Janie would know a little something about the inner workings of the Tullock household.”
“That figures,” Jurek said.
“Okay, when we finish here, you and I will interview Janie.”
Seventeen
Santa Ana, Orange County, California
Present day
Marisa Joyce Narmore.
She was thirty-two years old and lived in a town house in Santa Ana on Williams Street, not far from the 55 freeway, a cream-colored unit with an attached two-car garage in the back.
Emma studied the building, thankful that Greg Clifton had come through, phoning her with the contact information for the mystery woman.
“Thanks, Greg,” Emma told him. “I’ll call her and clear things up.”
“And we’ll keep this all confidential, right?” Greg said.
“Totally confidential.”
Only thing was, Emma had no intention of calling Marisa Joyce Narmore.
No, she wanted a face-to-face session to get answers.
It had taken a couple of days to plan, but Emma had adjusted much of her schedule and obtained approval to leave for appointments outside of school for the better part of today. Then she made the drive to Santa Ana, zeroing in on Marisa Joyce Narmore’s address.
She parked two blocks away. She walked by the town house complex and around the back, seeing no sign of a green Ford Focus. Searching the area a few more times, getting a read on Narmore’s unit, Emma reflected on how she had to fight every step of the way to get the life she now had. And now, she had to fight again to protect it; protect Ben and Kayla from whoever wanted to destroy it.
She took the note from her pocket and looked at it:
SOON IT WILL BE 20 YEARS. YOUR DAY OF RECKONING IS COMING.
Her jaw muscles bunched.
Who was Marisa Joyce Narmore and what did she want?
Emma had her suspicions but the fact was she didn’t know. Whoever Marisa was, Emma was not going to let her ruin everything she had worked so hard to build. In the darkest years of her life she had learned a thing or two about surviving. Experience had taught her that when someone is trying to take you down, you get in their face fast, hard and smart.
It was now or never.
Emma went to the address, walked up the few steps to the solid door and rang the bell.
Immediately, a dog’s barking sounded from inside.