Page 141 of Our Daughter's Bones

“But you didn’t tell him everything.”

“No. I knew the police would look into my disappearance. I left clues. I left Erica’s phone and the money at the gas station, knowing it would lead you to believe that I was being blackmailed.”

“But Eddy saw you.”

“He threatened me. Told me to tell Hannah to stop poking her nose in Bishop’s business, or he’d be seeing me again.”

“You also switched out your pills to throw us off.”

She nodded stiffly. She stared into empty space, mindlessly rubbing the scar on her face—the remnants of her betrayal.

The plan was to be found in Bill Grayson’s cabin after Max tipped off the cops. Abby had never intended to return before. But Max didn’t know that. Bill would be arrested for the entire thing, which was poetic justice, seeing as he was responsible for what happened fifty years ago.

Abby Correia would return as the town hero. The girl who endured torture and abuse to get her friend justice.

“But you made one big mistake.”

“Yes.” Abby’s face pinched in horror. “I didn’t know that therewasa Club 916. I went to Bill’s cabin, and David Falkner was there. The rest is… history.”

She fell silent. Abby reminded Mackenzie of a Pollock painting, igniting confusion and anger inside her. She was a jumble of random explosions of evil and bereavement. One moment, she was a narcissist with a superiority complex; the next, she was a girl who had been chained, raped, and tortured. She was both those things at once.

There was not only wildness and violence, but also raw pain.

“Aren’t you going to arrest me?”

She looked so young. Just an ordinary girl, but with bruises all over her body only hinting at what they’d done to her. It scraped Mackenzie’s heart.

“You don’t seem very upset about it.”

A smug smile tugged up Abby’s lips, but didn’t reach her eyes. “What jury is going to throw me in jail after what happened to me?” She flinched at her own words. “It would have been better if you never figured it out, but there’s no such thing as bad publicity, Detective Price. I might not be the town hero I had hoped to be. But I amsomething. I’ll forever be on the map now. Just one Google search away. No one can ignore me now. I could be an activist later in life. I could get my own reality show. Maybe someone will make a Netflix documentary or a true crime podcast. The possibilities are endless. This is what is called making the best of a bad situation. In the end, it all worked out.”

Mackenzie replied to the text message she had received. Within seconds, Nick walked into the hospital room, with Justin behind him, and arrested Abby for Erica’s murder.

Seventy-Seven

October 15

The concept of “objectivity” was flawed. There was nothing truly objective in the world. Everything was gray. Including justice. Nothing was clean cut. It was roughened with circumstance, luck, and prejudice.

Mackenzie looked at the pictures of Erica, Abby, Daphne, and Chloe clipped to the board. One young woman’s neurotic ambition killed an innocent girl, but brought justice to two other lives and potentially saved many more.

Was it worth it?

Sully’s gigantic head blocked the board. With a satisfied grin, he quipped, “Well, the case is closed. Samuel Perez’s confession has helped. He’ll plead guilty to all the charges. Nathaniel is going to fight it out in court, but I don’t think he’s getting off with the evidence against him. I’m going to buy my mustache a new comb now that this shit is over.”

Lieutenant Peck brooded in a corner, reading the reports Mackenzie and Nick had prepared. If Abby had a decent lawyer, they’d argue that the confession be tossed out of court, as she was still traumatized and on painkillers. But Mackenzie and Nick had proved that there was no evidence that Abby was ever being blackmailed or threatened. They’d also retrieved her backpack at David’s cabin. Inside it, they’d found the missing strap and beads from Erica’s leather band, with her initials on them. They’d fallen off during their fight—and Abby had made the mistake of keeping them. A new forensic technique using advanced spectrometry showed that there was bloodstain on it less than two years old. Mackenzie wondered if Abby’s plan had been to leave the beads in Bill Grayson’s cabin before she was “found” there, to implicate him further in Erica’s murder.

“Good job,” Peck said.

“Thank you,” Nick replied.

Peck licked his lips. “I know I wasn’t the easiest. My loyalty toward Lakemore got in the way of doing the right thing. Samuel was a friend, and I can’t believe he… I’m sorry.”

“Noted,” Nick said curtly and picked up his coffee. “Now, if you don’t mind, I have to explain this entire thing to Mrs. Perez.”

“Dismissed,” Sully said. “Drinks tonight! To celebrate!”

They dispersed out of the room. Mackenzie and Nick headed toward their offices.