CHAPTER ONE
Liberty, Louisiana
Monday, June 3, 2013
10:00 A.M.
Katherine McCall stood at the broken front gate and stared at the words that had been spray-painted in black across the yellow clapboard siding. Simple. Ugly. A warning.
We know u did it
No surprise there. Kat shifted her gaze. The once sunny yellow had turned forlorn. The white trim was peeling, the gardens overgrown and overrun by weeds. She pictured it as it had been the last time shed seen it, ten years ago. The cute gingerbread cottage with the white picket fence, gardenias in bloom, their fragrance potent in the June sun.
Not her childhood home. No, that had been a grand estate on the Tchefuncte River. Plantation grand—with white columns and a double gallery, a sweeping expanse of lawn with ancient live oaks and century-old magnolias. A swimming pool and cabana. A guesthouse and tennis courts. A home befitting the owner of McCall Oil.
No, this had been her sister Saras cottage. Her first home, her pride and joy.
As it had turned out, the only home Sara would ever own.
Regret and grief washed over Kat, as piercing as a fresh wound. If she hadnt been such a selfish little shit back then, maybe Sara would be alive today. Maybe her murderer wouldnt have had the opportunity.
Kat reined in her thoughts, the regret. She couldnt change the past, no matter how hard she fought accepting it, no matter how far or fast she ran from it.
Being back in Liberty was an acknowledgment of that.
Kat unlatched the gate and stepped through. Shed thought she would never return. She had promised herself she wouldnt.
Yet here she was. The scene of the crime. The place her life had come to a bloody, screeching halt.
She started up the walkway, heartbeat quickening. Breath coming fast and thin. Kat forced herself to keep moving, to put one foot in front of the other. She reached the porch steps. Three of them, though it could have been a hundred by the way she dreaded climbing them.
She did anyway. Crossed to the front door. With unsteady hands, she fit the key into the lock, turned it and stepped into the foyer.
Cousin Jeremy had opened the cottage and had it cleaned for her. The smell of the polish and cleaners still hung in the air. She closed the door behind her but didnt move.
Her gaze went to the spot where shed found Sara. In a crumpled heap, blood pooled around her in the shape of an amoeba.
An amoeba. Kat remembered thinking that. She had just studied the single-cell organisms in science class.
She stared at the floor, unable to tear her gaze away. The blood had subtly stained the honey-colored wood, creating a faint but permanent shadow.
Or was that her imagination?
The doorbell sounded.
Startled, she jumped, then, hand to her chest, peeked out the sidelight. A man. Dark hair. Good-looking. Holding up a badge.
The sight of it knocked the breath out of her.
“Miss Katherine, Im afraid youre going to have to come with me.”
“Ms. McCall? Sergeant Luke Tanner. Liberty P.D.”
Kat gazed at him, suddenly seeing the resemblance. Now, there was a name she had never wanted to hear again.
She nodded and opened the door. “Hello, Sergeant. Did you say Tanner?”
“Yes, maam.”
“Any relationship to Chief Stephen Tanner?”
“His son.”
“Perfect.” The sarcasm slipped past her lips before she could stop it. “Sorry, your dad and I have some uncomfortable history together.”
“Funny, he and I do as well.”
She surprised herself and smiled. “How can I help you, Sergeant Tanner?”
He motioned to the graffiti across the front of the house. “I heard from Mrs. Bell across the street that youd had a little trouble already, thought Id stop by and check it out.”
“Iris Bells still alive? I thought she was a hundred ten years ago.”
Kat could see he wanted to smile but thought better of it. His brown eyes crinkled at the corners. He cleared his throat. “Probably just kids, but well be keeping a close eye on the house, stepping up drive-bys and the like.”
“I appreciate that, Sergeant Tanner. And Im sure Iris Bell will be stepping up her surveillance as well.”
Again, he struggled not to smile. “This is a small town, Ms. McCall, everybody knows everybody and their everything. To that end, you might as well call me Luke.”
“I remember you now. Local football hero. You were off to college before I got to Tammany West High.” She cocked her head. “You were a bit of a hell-raiser, am I right?”
He laughed. “So now you understand my comment about bad history with my dad. We all carry our pasts around on our backs.”
“Or written on our foreheads,” she said. “A bloodred ‘M on mine.”
He glanced toward the graffiti, expression serious. “Yes, well, dont hesitate to call if something comes up.”
She followed him onto the front porch. He stopped when he reached the stairs and turned back to her. “I dont know why you came back to Liberty, Ms. McCall, but little towns have long memories. People dont forget. Youd be wise to keep that in mind.”
She watched him drive off. How could she not? She had the longest memory of them all.
Sara McCall
2003
Four days before the murder
Sara stood on the front porch, waiting for Kat. She glanced at her watch. Just past four thirty. Any moment, her sister would come trotting around the corner. Bubbling over about how well softball practice had gone. Playing Miss Innocent to the very hilt.
But she hadnt been to practice. Not today. Not once. Lying little sneak.
On cue, Kat arrived, baseball bat propped on her right shoulder. She was smiling.
Not for long. Sara struggled to control her anger. She shook with it. Deep down. All the way to her core.
She needed her wits about her when she confronted her sister. Kat was going to pitch a holy fit. It could get really ugly. If she let it.
Calm, Sara. In control. Youre the adult.
The truth was, she didnt have the heart for this right now. She didnt have the energy. Not with everything else going on. But she didnt have a choice. She was Katherines guardian.
“Hi, Sissy,” Kat called, jogging up the steps.
“How was softball?”
If Kat heard the sarcasm in her tone, she didnt show it. “Great. Im getting really good.”
“Yes, you are.” Sara held out her hand. “Ill take the bat.”
She looked confused but handed it over. “Whats up?”
“Jigs up, kiddo. Youre grounded.”
“What! Why?”
“Why? Lets try that youve been lying to me. I found out everything, Kat. What youve been doing and who youve been doing it with.” She paused, watching as the reality of what she was saying sank in. “Hes twenty years old. Youre seventeen. No.”
Kats expression darkened. “You cant tell me what to do or who I can see.”
“The hell I cant. Im your guardian and thats exactly what Im doing.”
“Thats not fair!”
Sara almost laughed. “Tough. Lifes not fair.” And boy, did she know it. If it was, their parents wouldnt have died and she wouldnt have been saddled with raising an obnoxious teenager.
“I hate you!” Kat shouted. “Youre ruining my life!”
Sara didnt even flinch. It wasnt the first time her younger sister had shouted those words at her. She was certain it wouldnt be the last. “Stop with the drama, Katherine. If anyones lifes being ruined, its mine.”
“Then emancipate me.”
They had been here before, as well. “Emancipate yourself. Youre seventeen.”
“Then I wont get my money.”
“Thats right, little sister. So, either go without ‘your money or live by my rules.”
“I wish Id died with Mom and Dad! Then I wouldnt have to live with you!”
It took every scrap of Saras self-control not to shout back that she wished that too. That she wanted her life back. That caring for Kat had become like a prison sentence.
But she didnt. She loved her sister—at least the kid she used to be. In the past year, that girl had disappeared and this creature had taken her place.
“Wow, Kat, I love the way youre playing the victim here. Youre not the one whos been lied to for weeks. Girls softball? You didnt think Id find out eventually? Ive got to hand it to you, though, our trip to the sporting goods store to get everything you needed was pretty convincing.”
“Thanks.”
Sara wanted to slap the smirk off her face. “What were you doing all those afternoons you were supposedly at practice? Were you with this Ryan boy? Or that group of kids I told you to stay away from? Theyre bad kids, Kat.”
“You dont know anything about them!”
A breeze stirred the azalea bushes beside the porch. In full bloom, they provided a brilliant shock of color; from the magnolia blossoms on the tree to her right floated a sweet, almost lemony fragrance.
Sara breathed in the colors, the smell, using natures beauty to calm her. She was the grown-up here, she reminded herself. Kat had been through so much.
“Kit-Kat,” she pleaded, using their mothers pet name for her, “Im worried about you. The girl I know doesnt do things like this. Talk to me. No problems too big we cant work it out together.”
Kats face softened, tears filled her eyes. “You dont know what its like. All the other kids have their moms and dads. And mine—” She choked on the last, a tear rolling down her cheek.
Saras heart hurt for her. She held out a hand. “I know what youre going through. Im going through it, too.”
“You dont know. I was twelve when they died, you were grown up.”
Just out of university, at her first teaching job. Barely on her own two feet. “But I still needed them, too. I miss them every day.”
“Whyd they have to die?”
She started to cry and Sara took her in her arms. “I dont know. And I wish I could change things, but I cant.”
“Im sorry I lied to you. Its just that—” She sniffled, her face against Saras shoulder. “The only time Im happy is when Im with my friends. They understand me. They make it … stop hurting. Thats why I lied about where I was.”
Something in her sisters tone didnt ring true. A cloying quality. Sara frowned as a suspicion wormed its way into her head: Was she being played?
Kat went on. “You dont know them the way I do. Theyre really good kids. Please dont take them away from me, too.”
Saras resolve wavered. Shed heard things from the other teachers about the group. They had warned her to keep Kat away from them. But that was all secondhand information. There was a reason the courts didnt allow hearsay as testimony, right?
Sara glanced across the street. Old Mrs. Bell stood on her front porch. Listening to every word. Or trying to.
“I tell you what, Kit-Kat, have them over here. Let me get to know them. If theyre the kids you say they are, Ill feel comfortable letting you hang out with them.”
“Really?”
“Sure.” She smiled. “I just have to know youre safe.”
“Youre the best!” Kat hugged her. “Can they come over tonight?”
“Youre still grounded, Kat.”
“But you just said—”
“That Ill give your friends a chance. And I will. After you do your punishment.”
“No!”
“Two weeks. And Im taking your phone, car and computer.”
“You cant do that! How am I supposed to get to school?”
“Ill drive you.” Kat looked horrified. “And the answers still no about you and this Ryan dude. Hes too old for you.”
Before her sister could squeal her protest, she dropped the final bomb. “Cousin Jeremy suggested I start drug-testing you. And I think hes right.”
“What?” The one word conveyed outrage and innocence. “I cant believe you dont trust me!”
“Are you kidding? Really?” Sara folded her arms across her chest. “If youve got nothing to worry about, whats the problem?”
Kat stared at her, her face an open book as she stuttered and searched for the right response.
She had been playing her. Little brat.
“Give me your car keys.” She held out her hand. “Now.”
“I lied before. I wish you were dead. Then I wouldnt have to put up with your shit!”
“Want to say it a little louder? I dont think all of Liberty heard you.”
“I wish you were dead!” she screamed, turning toward the street. “You hear that, everyone? I wish my stupid sister were dead!”
Kat threw the car keys. Sara reacted just in time not to take them square in the face. They grazed her cheek before hitting the wall and dropping to the floor. It stung; her eyes teared up and she brought her hand to her cheek.
But instead of apologizing, Kat stormed past her into the house. A moment later, she heard a door slam.
Sara sank onto the porch step and dropped her head into her shaking hands. What was she going to do? She was frustrated. Overwhelmed and exhausted. And it wasnt just the situation with Kat. It seemed every part of her life had spun out of control as well, situations that made dealing with a rebellious teenager a piece of cake.
Mom, Dad, whyd you have to go out that night? Whyd your path have to cross that drunks?
She couldnt do this alone. But who could she trust? It seemed like everyone had either turned against her or had their own agenda. If ever she could have used a miracle, it was now.
Copyright © 2013 by Erica Spindler