Page 31

Laurie paused, waiting for the applause to dissipate before adding, “Holly will now be signing copies at the table near theback of the store. We’ve got quite a large crowd here today, so we ask that you have your cameras ready if you’d like to take a photo with Miss Sparks and be mindful of allowing time for those in line behind you.”
Holly moved through the aisles to the back of the store, thinking again of the message her mom had left on her answering machine that morning. The last time her mom had stayed with her was when she got home from the hospital after Jared’s attack, when her mom had been terrified of losing her only living daughter. But after Holly recovered, her mom had gone back to Spokane and continued their old relationship, making up excuses why she couldn’t visit. This time it was that Holly’s stepdad didn’t like to be alone, so she couldn’t make the signing. It was always something. But Holly knew the real reason was there were too many painful reminders of Meg in Seattle for her mom.
Holly was still moving toward the signing table when a tall man striding toward her caught her eye. His white hair was in sharp contrast to his black trench coat, shoulders beaded with raindrops that still pattered against the bookstore’s roof.
“Andy.” Her mouth lifted into a smile. When he got closer, she greeted him with a warm hug. It had been over a year since she’d last seen him, though she called him periodically with questions related to her true crime writing and to find out if there were any breaks in Meg’s case, which, sadly, there never were. “Thank you for coming. You didn’t have to.” She shook her head. “I know how busy you are.”
A shadow crossed Andy’s face, replacing his easy grin with something heavier. “Actually, I came to tell you something. I thought it should be in person.”
The room around her seemed to freeze, like a VHS tape on pause. She searched his blue eyes. Andy still served on the Green River Task Force, although the team was smaller than it usedto be now that the GRK’s killings were much less frequent. Had they finally caught the Green River Killer? Meg’s killer?
Holly had never convinced Andy that Meg was a Green River Killer victim. Like Jared, Andy clung to the belief that Meg had simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time—another casualty of random, brutal violence. Holly disagreed. While she hadn’t ruled out the Green River Killer as her sister’s murderer, she suspected another predator was out there, and Meg could be one of his victims. Frustratingly, Andy didn’t buy that theory either.
Laurie grabbed Holly’s elbow, her French-manicured nails glinting in the fluorescent light. “You’ve already got a huge line at your signing table.”
“Just a second,” Holly said, keeping her eyes on Andy. “What is it?”
Laurie cast a worried glance over her shoulder. “The crowd’s getting antsy.”
Holly lifted a finger to her publicist. “I’ll be there soon. Just give me a few minutes.”
Laurie pursed her lips, shooting Andy an annoyed glance before leaving them alone.
“It’s Jared.”
The floor swayed beneath Holly’s feet.
Andy watched her publicist walk away before turning back to Holly. “The parole board approved his early release.”
The room seemed to drop in temperature, an invisible chill sweeping through the air.
“We’re ready for you, Holly,” Laurie called from the back of the room, annoyance permeating her voice.
Holly kept her eyes on Andy, mentally reliving the moment in the courtroom when she pointed to Jared as her attacker, the man who’d tried to choke her to death. From the pure hatred that seeped through his eyes as he stared back at her frombehind the defendant’s desk, there was no doubt in Holly’s mind he wished he’d finished the job.
Laurie’s voice sounded again from the rear of the store. “Maybe it will help if we all call Holly’s name together. Ready everyone?”
Holly swallowed, ignoring the chant of her name from the growing line readers that wrapped around the bookstore.Holly. Holly. Holly.
“When does he get out?” she asked.
“He already is. He got out yesterday.”
Chapter 17
HOLLY
Holly stared at her computer screen beside the main floor window of her Lake Union houseboat. She could afford more, but she liked the feeling of being on the water. At least she used to, when she knew Jared was behind bars in a maximum-security prison. Now, she wished she lived in a high-rise condo with twenty-four-hour security.
She took a drink from the large glass of wine she’d poured after getting home from her book signing. In the last hour or two, she’d written three sentences. Something fluttered outside her window, and her body stiffened. She jerked her head to see a seagull landing on the adjacent dock.
She closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her nose. Less than three weeks remained before she had to turn in her manuscript portraying the life and death of Roxy Vega, the lead singer of the up-and-coming Seattle rock band, The Screaming Violets. In November of 1988, Roxy’s body had been discovered in a dumpster of a Seattle alley. After a night out with friends, she’d been on the way back to her apartment when she’d been brutally beaten and strangled to death by a homeless ex-felon.
Holly checked her word count and took another drink from her wine. She was never going to finish her draft if she kept letting her mind wander to her ex-fiancé. Ever since Andy told her about Jared’s release, she’d been on high alert.
Her gaze drifted to the rust-red pipes and towers of Gas Works Park, the skeletal remains of the old gasification plant across the lake as a float plane came down for a landing. Holly lifted a crime scene photo off the stack of papers beside her keyboard and found the handwritten notes she’d taken yesterday after replaying her recorded interview with Roxy’s mother.
Holly started to read her words when an image of Jared being led out of the courtroom after his sentencing flashed in her mind. She envisioned his menacing grin as if it were yesterday. Even though he’d been convicted of first-degree assault, he’d wanted her to know it wasn’t over. She hadn’t won.