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In stunned silence, Holly watched him move toward her. She’d seen him angry before, but not like this. The thought surfacedunexpectedly—Maybe giving him a key was a mistake.But almostas quickly, she pushed it aside.He was frustrated, that was all. Anyone would be, given the circumstances.
When he got closer, she noticed the glassy sheen on his eyes. “Have you been drinking?”
He shrugged. “I had a few beers on my way home.” His gaze landed on the cake, noticing it for the first time. “What’s this? Did I miss something?”
Holly stared at the blown-out candles. She’d planned to have it all cleaned up before Jared came over, but it was too late for that. Plus, they’d be married soon, so she might as well tell him.
“I celebrate Meg’s son’s birthday every year.” She lifted her gaze to meet Jared’s glazed eyes. “This year he’s six.”
Five years ago, when Holly had gone to the group home to retrieve the few belongings Meg had left behind, she found the adoption paperwork. She hadn’t even known about her sister’s pregnancy. Because it had been a closed adoption, Holly had no way of finding out who’d adopted Meg’s baby boy, even though she’d tried.
His mouth twisted into a frown. “And you think that’s healthy?”
She felt a jab in her chest at his insensitive response.He’s just had a bad day and too much to drink.“If eaten in moderation,” she replied, trying to lighten his mood.
He didn’t laugh—or smile—at her quip. Instead, his brown eyes narrowed. “You don’t even know his name. Hell, you don’t even know if he’s alive.”
Holly’s shoulders stiffened. That was enough. “Go home. And when you’re sober, I expect an apology.”
“Holly.” Jared cocked his head to the side. “Come on. Seriously? I’ve had a shit day.”
“Go home, Jared. If you need me to drive you, I will.”
He scoffed. “Don’t be so dramatic.” He turned, but instead of moving toward the door, he strode toward her spare bedroom that she’d converted into an office. He paused beside the open doorway and looked inside. “Fine. I’ll go.” He spun around. “But when we move in together, this room has to go. I’m not having a shrine to the Green River Killer in my house. You’re not a detective. If Major Crimes couldn’t solve your sister’s murder, you sure as hell can’t.”
Holly’s face burned hot. When she first told Jared about Meg, he’d seemed so supportive. Did she even know him at all? She swallowed over the lump in her throat.
Her fiancé stood at the end of the short hallway, his face softening as he saw her bristle from his remarks.
“Get out.”
“Look,” Jared said. “I care about you, and I’m sorry about what happened to your sister. But you need to move on. The Green River Killer didn’t start killing until two years after Meg was murdered.”
Holly disagreed. She just couldn’t prove it yet. But she wasn’t going to argue with Jared about it tonight. “Please, go home.”
Jared flashed her a look of disappointment before cocking his head. “I’m only telling you this because I’m worried about you.” He pointed inside the room at the wall covered by a large map of King County where she’d marked every location of unsolved cases involving young women found strangled in the last five years. “This iscrazy, Holly. It’s obsessive.”
A heavy silence filled her small apartment as he swiped his coat off her couch and left without saying goodbye. After he left, Holly exhaled and turned the deadbolt.
Maybe it is,she thought, sitting back down at her kitchen table.But so what?Wouldn’t anyone be obsessive if their sister’s murder remained unsolved five years later?
Yes, making a cake and blowing out candles for a nephew she’d never met was strange. But he was all she had left of her dead sister, aside from a shoebox filled with Meg’s things. And aside from her mother, who didn’t really count. For as long as Holly could remember, Meg and her mother had always been at odds. While Holly was obsessed with finding out who killed Meg, her mother had chosen to forget Meg had ever existed. It’s why her mom had moved to Spokane with her new husband—Seattle was full of too many reminders of Meg’s short, troubled life.
After taking another bite of cake, Holly ran her thumb along the thin gold band on her left ring finger. She knew Jared had an edge—a temper—but tonight had been the first time he’d ever lost it like that, punching a hole in her wall. The first time he’d ever reminded her of her father.
Maybe she and Jared were taking things too fast.
She shot a look over her shoulder at the fist-sized hole Jared had left in her living room drywall, then shook the thought away.He’s stressed out from work, and he’s worried about me.That’s all. He’s nothing like my father.
Jared got drunk only occasionally. He had a stable job, wanted to have a family, and promised to be a good father to their future kids. Jared would stick around and be a part of their kids’ lives in a way that neither of their own fathers had been.Although, she thoughtas she swallowed her cake,picking bad men does run in my family.
She scraped the last of the frosting off the plate with her fork.Every year, she made a different kind, hoping to at least once make her nephew’s favorite. With her other hand, she grabbed the framed photo she’d brought to the table with the birthday cake.
She smiled at the photo of her and Meg in front of their parents’ Ford Pinto. Her thirteen-year-old sister wore overalls, and Holly’s arm was slung around her younger sister’s shoulderas she laughed at something Meg had said. Even though Meg was three years younger, she towered over Holly’s petite frame. Holly’s long dark waves were a stark contrast to Meg’s pale blond hair. Those were happy times for the most part, dampened only on the occasional night when her father went into a drunken rage, which grew increasingly frequent in the year after this photo had been taken. Looking back, she’d realized that her mother and Meg had taken the brunt of her father’s anger, while Holly had hidden away in her room writing love stories with fairy tale endings and articles for made-up travel magazines, imagining she was anywhere else.
The following summer her father had drunkenly slapped Meg one night, and Holly’s mother ordered him out of the house—the last time any of them saw him. A few months later Holly left for college in eastern Washington, and not long after that, Meg got into so much trouble in high school that their mom sent Meg to live with their overly strict aunt and uncle in a neighboring suburb. Before Meg ran away and was placed in a group home. Before she got pregnant and put the baby up for adoption. Before she started working at a seedy strip club. Before Meg was murdered.
With a heavy heart, Holly set the photograph beside the cake. In another life, she, Meg, and Meg’s son could’ve celebrated their birthdays together. She got up from the table, leaving her empty plate, and moved down the narrow hallway to her “obsessive” home office.