Page 8 of Silencing Stolen Whispers (Kinsley Aspen #2)

William Scriven's face lost all color. He blindly reached to the side for a chair, his knees giving way as he sank down.

His hands shook intensely as they moved to cover his face.

A sound escaped him, not quite a sob, but the lead-up to one.

It sounded like a wounded breath that couldn't find its way back out.

Katherine, on the other hand, remained standing. Her fingers gripped the back of a chair, knuckles whitening from the intensity of her hold. For a moment, she appeared as if carved from stone.

“Deceased?” Katherine’s voice was barely audible. “Murdered?”

“Yes,” Kinsley replied, confirming the woman’s correct conclusion. “Hannah’s body was discovered by Dorothy Whitaker, the owner of the cabin.”

“How?” William managed to ask after lowering his arms. His hands now rested on his stomach, as if he were about to be sick at any moment. “How did she?—”

“The preliminary examination suggests blunt force trauma to the head,” Kinsley explained, keeping her voice steady. “We're waiting on the medical examiner's full report, but it appears she died sometime between ten and two last night.”

Katherine swayed slightly as her body finally absorbed what her mind was still trying to understand. She cleared her throat and slowly pulled out the chair from the table. Once she had carefully lowered herself, she met Kinsley’s gaze.

“Have you made an arrest?”

“Not yet.” Kinsley took her seat, though Alex walked around the table.

Neither Katherine nor William paid him any attention as he pulled the blinds closed to give them privacy.

“That's what we're working to determine. We need to ask you some questions that might help us understand who might have wanted to harm your daughter.”

Katherine’s shock was fading as she covered her mouth with a trembling hand.

She blinked rapidly, but she couldn't stop her tears from falling and streaming down her cheeks.

By this point, Alex had moved around the table to join Kinsley.

Sitting beside her, he reached for the box of tissues in the middle of the table and then slid it toward Mrs. Scriven.

“When did you last speak with Hannah?”

Though it was Kinsley who asked the question, Alex was the one who reached into his suit jacket and pulled out his small notepad. He flipped the cover, his pen poised over a blank page before Katherine uttered a word.

“Um, I believe it was sometime last week,” Katherine replied after she had taken a tissue from the box. She dabbed underneath her eyes before finishing her response. “I was checking in to see…to see how she…”

Katherine suddenly stood up and hastily headed for the door. She swung it open and vanished down the hall. William made no attempt to follow his wife. He was struggling to keep his composure.

“Katherine phoned Hannah the weekend before last.” William leaned back in his chair in defeat.

It would be a while before both he and his wife came to terms with what had happened to their daughter.

“Sunday evening, I believe. We had a brief call about her progress with studying. It was short and to the point. Hannah was focused. There were no distractions out there.”

“Distractions?”

“Nick. Bailey. Hannah’s apartment issues,” William replied, waving a hand as if the two names and location explained everything.

Fortunately, he provided more details. “That friend of hers asked her to move out sooner rather than later. Granted, we told Hannah she could stay with us until she was hired somewhere after passing the bar. We were worried that not having another option would push Hannah closer to Nick, but luckily, that wasn’t the case. ”

“I take it that you were aware Nick Ryder recently broke things off with Hannah?

" Alex asked, glancing up from his notepad while waiting for William’s answer.

Kinsley had continued to monitor the hallway, and she relaxed slightly when she spotted Katherine making her way back to the conference room.

“Sometime in April or May, we were told.”

“It didn’t come as that much of a surprise,” William said with a sneer that faded once Katherine reentered the conference room. His concern was evident. “Are you?—”

“I apologize,” Katherine stated, cutting off her husband as she reclaimed her chair. Her eyes were bloodshot, her mascara and eyeliner practically gone, and she was a shade lighter than when they had first made their introductions. “What was your last question?”

“Nick Ryder, ma’am,” Alex reiterated, sitting a bit straighter in his chair.

“He wasn’t good enough for Hannah.” Katherine’s tone was clipped, and Kinsley realized they were about to lose control of the interview.

Anger was starting to set in, and it wouldn’t be long before they were asked to leave.

“We told her time and time again that she should focus on her studies. It was only a matter of time before she came to her senses.”

“Mr. Scriven, you mention Bailey was a distraction. Why would?—”

“…find my own way, thank you.” The words were muffled, but loud.

There was no missing the grand entrance of Bailey Scriven.

She must have blown past Diana without so much as a glance.

It was obvious that she was still very emotional and almost certainly in shock.

Maybe the combination was what fueled her to burst open the door and verbally attack her parents.

“This is your fault. All of it. You know that, right? Hannah wouldn’t be dead right now if you hadn’t pushed her to rent a cabin in the middle of fucking nowhere. You?—”

“Enough!” Katherine stood from her chair as she glared at her surviving daughter. Her body was practically vibrating with barely contained emotion. “Not here, Bailey. Not here.”

Bailey’s eyes, so unnervingly like her dead sister's, were fixed on her mother with what could only be termed pure hatred. In that same gaze, there was also desperation.

“You drove Hannah to her death, Mom,” Bailey whispered with undeniable anguish. “With your relentless expectations. And Dad, you did nothing to stop her.”

William stood up from his chair and reached for his daughter, but Bailey raised her hand to stop him and stepped back into the doorway. She never once took her accusatory glare off her mother.

“Hannah was contemplating something illegal.” Bailey was speaking to Kinsley and Alex, even though her parents were listening carefully. “Yes, illegal. You see, there’s a woman who comes into the pub once a week. And get this—she takes the bar exam for other people.”

Kinsley kept her expression neutral, though Alex had gradually moved his chair back from the table. He was worried that the emotional situation might escalate, and he wasn’t wrong.

Bailey had just revealed some crucial information, yet she had timed the announcement perfectly. She could have easily given them such important details earlier this morning.

“Your perfect daughter was so scared of failing you that she was willing to break the law she had spent the past seven years studying day in and day out,” Bailey said with a disgusted sneer. “You pushed, and pushed, and pushed…without any concern for her wellbeing.”

“We only wanted what was best for her.” Katherine's composure finally cracked. “And you must be mistaken, because Hannah would never?—”

“You don't know what Hannah would have done!” Bailey shouted as she took a step forward. Her sudden lunge caused Alex to rise from the chair, but he made no move around the table since Bailey stopped herself. She paused to wipe her tears before delivering her final barb. “You never knew her, Mom. Never! You only knew the version of Hannah that you created—the one who would make partner by thirty and carry on the precious Scriven legacy. And now? Well, now you’re both stuck with me.”

With that final visceral statement, Bailey left the room. Kinsley monitored her exit until William followed, desperately calling out to his daughter. Katherine stayed behind, struggling to wrap up the interview.

“Mrs. Scriven, I’m going to leave my contact information,” Alex explained softly as he slipped his notepad into the inside pocket of his jacket in exchange for his business card.

He placed it on the table before clarifying that the medical examiner would identify Hannah’s body through different means so as not to cause the family any more unnecessary stress.

“If you can think of anything else that might help the?—”

“I want to make the identification.” Katherine cleared her throat while adjusting her suit jacket. “Hannah deserves that much. I’ll be there later this afternoon, if that’s alright.”

Before either Alex or Kinsley could respond, Katherine abruptly walked out of the conference room. She turned left down the hallway instead of right, not following her husband or daughter.

“Rock, paper, scissors,” Alex muttered in disgust, leaving his business card on the table. “Bailey stopped somewhere along the way. I’m betting that location is relevant to our investigation.”

The rock, paper, scissors offer was valid. One of them would need to access the footage from the public traffic cameras, which would mean spending a significant part of the day dealing with the municipality.

“I’ll do it,” Kinsley reluctantly responded as she grabbed her purse and adjusted the strap over her shoulder.

She suddenly wanted the day to end, and she didn’t mind sharing her thoughts on the matter.

“I’m holding out hope that Bailey was just sitting in her car for a really long time before deciding to ambush her parents like that. I just…that was hard to watch, Alex.”

The Scrivens' perfect family facade had fallen apart. Instead of supporting each other, they were blaming one another. Kinsley couldn’t help but see the similarities between the Scrivens and the Aspens.

After having a front row seat to resentment’s finale, she made the conscious decision that the Aspens wouldn’t repeat the script.