Page 79 of The Last Girl

An even colder shiver raced through Vera. “Yeah. Thanks.” Maybe that was exactly what whoever did this wanted. Anyone involved with the case would expect that Vera and/or Bent would come to the scene. The idea sat like a block of ice in her gut.

Bent’s voice drew her attention toward the door. He’d gotten a call. Vera joined him there and hoped this was something useful and not more trouble.

When the call ended, he said, “We need to get back to the office.”

Vera’s shoulders sagged. “What now?”

“The sister of our vic, Sandy Owens, is here to see me.”

“Seriously?” Vera shook her head. “Under any other circumstances I would be surprised, but somehow I’m not.” Vera followed him out the door.

This case was sounding more and more like a family reunion, except everyone in attendance ended up dead.

32

Vanderbilt University Medical Center

1211 Medical Center Drive

Nashville, 2:00 p.m.

Alicia felt her fingers move.

Her breath caught. She tried to open her eyes ... to see. But her lids still would not open. Damn it! She had to wake up! She had to get out of here!

Deep breath. She focused on wiggling the fingers of her right hand. They worked! She felt the movement.

She tried the other hand. Those fingers moved too! Her heart beat faster. The monitor keeping track of her heart rate beeped more quickly.

Okay, if she could move her fingers, why couldn’t she open her eyes?

Focus, Ali.

Her heart ached worse than her head. Seth had called her Ali, and now he was dead. And it was somehow her fault. She had to work harder to wake up ... for the baby.

A deputy, a woman, came in several times a day and spoke to her. She frequently assured Alicia that they were doing everything possible to figure out what had happened at the cabin. Alicia wanted to tell her. She tried so hard to open her eyes or to speak, but she couldn’t.

You can do it!

Focus. She had to focus. To concentrate on opening her eyelids.

She had to wake up and tell them.

A new kind of pain welled so quickly inside her that she couldn’t breathe.

Thomas was dead ... They all were.

33

Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department

Thornton Taylor Parkway, 3:45 p.m.

Vera would have known this woman was related to Sandy Owens even without the introduction. The two looked so much alike.

Rebecca, Becky, Owens Lancaster was a year older than her sister Sandy. She, too, lived in the New Orleans area but well outside the city. She had been trying to get in touch with her sister and was worried sick. Sounded familiar. When she got the message from Bent’s office, she made arrangements for someone to look after her kids and headed here.

“When was the last time you heard from your sister?” Bent threw out the first question. He was the one behind the desk and with the title sheriff, so it made the most sense.