Page 44 of The Followers

Tell me you guys saw the picture Molly posted of the stepdaughter on her stories yesterday! I mean, it had to be the stepdaughter, right? It was Clover and a brown-haired girl and the caption said “Love my two girls!” Gag.

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DM from user012367 to FannyPackLuvr:

Did u get a screenshot of the pic of Molly’s stepdaghter if so can u send it 2 me

FannyPackLuvr replied:

I totally did! I’ll send it one sec

User012367 replied:

Thx

twenty-one

When life takes an unexpected turn, reevaluate. You might find a path you never considered before. It might even be a better path—but you’ll only know if you take it.

@InvincibleMollySullivan

Liv’s phone woke her from sleep. She grabbed it from her nightstand and stared at it, blinking her gritty eyes. A Pittsburgh area code.

“Olivia Barrett?” The voice—a man’s, deep and a little gruff, seemed familiar, but Liv couldn’t place it. “This is Kent Rasband. I was the detective on your sister’s case nine years ago.”

After weeks of waiting, she finally had him on the phone. Clearing her throat, she sat up and tried to sound alert. “Detective, thank you for calling.”

“Sorry it took a while to track me down. A couple years back I moved to Philadelphia and joined the force there.” He still sounded like Pittsburgh, though, and his accent brought back memories. She could see him in her mind’s eye—Mr. Clean in a dark suit.

“Did you see the picture I sent that other detective?” Liv asked, jumping right in. “I don’t remember his name.”

“Jim Granzinelli, and yes, I did see it. He filled me in on the whole thing—that you think you found Sam Howard. He’s married to some kind of Instagram lady?”

She nodded, encouraged. “Did he tell you that I found that picture in Sam Howard’s house? And that I took the original photograph?”

“Yes—”

“So I’ve found him.” Liv couldn’t keep from blurting it out. “What do we do now?”

He paused for a long moment. “Ms. Barrett. I’m not sure you have all the information about your sister’s case.”

The grave tone in his voice stopped her. “What do you mean?”

“I’m sorry Detective Granzinelli didn’t look in the file for you, because that coulda saved you a whole lot of trouble. But the bottom line is this: Sam Howard didn’t kill your sister.”

His words felt like bricks, landing on her. “I don’t understand.”

Detective Rasband sighed. “I’m sorry to be the one to explain all of this to you. I assumed your grandmother told you, but I remember she sent you to stay with your aunt and uncle. She never talked about it when you came back?”

“No,” Liv said, anger simmering. Gran had left Liv and Ollie to deal with the tragedy on their own. Maybe because she was grieving, or to protect them, but Liv had felt abandoned.

“Well, I’m sure she thought that was for the best. You’d been pretty traumatized already. When I took your statement—that was rough on you. You remember?”

She did. And just like that, she was back on the night of her sister’s death, watching Sam Howard storm away across the lawn. How could it have been anyone but him?

“Tell me what happened to my sister,” she managed to say. “Please.”

“Of course.” His voice was gentle. “Kristina was found in her apartment by a neighbor, deceased. That neighbor reported hearing a commotion from the apartment throughout the night, including a gunshot, but unfortunately that neighbor had her own issues with the law, so she didn’t call right away. Eventually, her conscience got the better of her and she went to Kristina’s apartment. The door was ajar, and that’s when she found your sister and called 911.”