Page 51 of Girl Betrayed

“What?”

She gestured to the bumper-to-bumper traffic. “Road rage is usually his thing.”

“Oh … right,” Dana replied, immediately fretting at her thumbnail again.

Claire fought a smirk. It was kind of fun watching the perfect Dr. Dana Gray squirm. But she didn’t want to torture her mentor. They’d been through a lot in the past two years. Claire’s addiction and entanglement in the Card Killer case had strained their relationship, but in the end, Dana had stood by Claire. She was the one who always showed up. Not her parents.

Claire knew they’d been called after the incident at Passages, but she wasn’t holding her breath for them to contact her. They’d made it clear they’d washed their hands of their “death-obsessed” daughter long ago. The truth was, Dana and Jake were all she had.

And if they had each other now, she’d try to be happy for them. She was about to say so when Dana pulled into an unfamiliar parking lot.

“We’re here,” she announced, parking in front of a towering limestone cathedral.

With St. Ann’s looming in front of Claire, all thoughts of her friends’ budding relationship faded away. Claire’s skin prickled with nervous excitement the way it always did before her group therapy sessions. The prospect of better understanding herself was thrilling to Claire. And she especially enjoyed knowing she wasn’t alone when it came to disturbing thoughts.

Some of the things the others shared were horrible and haunting, but they gave her hope that she could climb her wayback out of the crippling depression and addiction that had almost swallowed her whole.

“You ready?” Dana asked.

She nodded and opened the passenger door, leaning into the blustery morning air.

Inside, Claire searched the crowd for familiar faces. A sudden pang hit her square in the chest when she realized she was looking for a face that wouldn’t be there.

Congressman Hayes had been someone who’d given more hope than anyone else. She’d seen the darkness inside him. It reached out to hers like a twin flame. They hadn’t spent too much time together, but he was someone who’d truly seen her and hadn’t looked away.

She’d known that their acquaintance would be brief, but still, she was unprepared for the pain of parting this way.

Continuing to observe the group of people milling about the cavernous rectory attached to the church, Claire’s unease grew when she realized there was another missing face in this crowd.

Max, where are you?

He was the real reason Claire had been eager to show up today, but he was nowhere to be found. She was straining to see over the group when she spotted a wave of blood red hair streaking toward her. “Betty!”

35

Dana watchedthe red-haired girl Claire spoke to in hushed tones with unbiased curiosity. There was something intimate about the way they leaned into one another while they whispered that sparked her interest. Especially since Claire had been so stringent with her personal space with Dana and Jake.

Just then Dr. Dvita walked over to her.

“Who’s that girl Claire is speaking with?” Dana asked.

“She goes by Betty.”

“Claire mentioned her when she was under hypnosis. She was with her and Max the night Hayes was killed.”

“That’s right.”

“Has anyone questioned her?”

“Yes, of course. The police did, and I spoke to her as well.”

“And?”

“She said she didn’t see anything.”

“You believe her?” Dana asked.

“Are you suggesting I shouldn’t?”