Excerpt, Twisted Road #4
More and more, Harlow found herself having a difficult time understanding human nature.
It didn’t make sense to her that someone like Raine would be ostracized by her family.
But then every single one of her friends, like her, had a reason for living in the Sierra.
The mountains were a place of peace for them.
It had been a deliberate choice to form their own family, and she felt lucky to be included with the women and their spouses.
Raine frowned in concentration as she contemplated the question of whether the person targeting agents would be considered a serial killer.
“Technically, I suppose he would be if he plans several murders and carries them out. A serial killer typically plans and carries out more than two murders. Each victim is separate from the others with a cooling-off period between. Most serial killers are driven by the psychological thrill or derive pleasure from the kills. Someone setting up agents to die, but not doing the actual killing, might not come under that same heading.”
“He’d most likely be motivated by money,” Harlow murmured, mostly under her breath. People did horrible things for money.
Zahra shoved food around her plate with her fork. “Would Zale or Rainier be described as a serial killer? They’ve had to kill many times.”
Harlow’s gut tightened in instant rejection. What would that make Wilder? She shook her head. “Absolutely not. Do you have any idea how much good they’ve done?” She was a little embarrassed by her outburst and once more turned her attention to the food on her plate.
“What is it, Harlow?” Raine asked, her voice gentle. “Tell us.”
Harlow was used to remaining silent. She’d talked about her life with the senator and her mother but was always careful to keep any details to herself. She pushed back against the seat, her eyes meeting Stella’s. “Is it possible you feel a serial killer through me?”
“You?” Stella’s eyebrows shot up. “Are you thinking of Wilder?”
“Of course not. Wilder’s like Zale and Rainier.
He works for the government and believes he’s saving lives.
In any case, I’m not really around him that much.
It isn’t like he hangs out with me.” She might wish he did, but she had no idea what she’d do with him if he did.
She wasn’t a woman to have relationships.
She knew she would sabotage it. She just didn’t trust, and she had every reason not to.
The women exchanged long looks. “Seriously, Harlow? When he does work for Rainier, he always manages to be wherever you are,” Zahra pointed out.
“Harlow,” Raine interrupted. “Who do you think Stella could be feeling through you?”
Harlow dropped her hands below the table to twist her fingers together. What she was about to voice would be considered the worst of betrayals in her family. “It’s entirely possible my father is a serial killer.”
There was an astonished silence. Vienna shook her head. “Why would you think that, Harlow?”
Raine sent Vienna a quelling look. “I understand why you might be considering that Stella is having nightmares because she’s close to you. Has she met your father?”
“Thankfully, no.”
“You wouldn’t accuse your father of such a thing if you didn’t have good reason,” Raine continued.
“My father was a serial killer,” Stella said. “You know that. If your father is, it has nothing to do with you.”
Harlow sighed. “Stella, you changed your name. Your entire life. You came here to start over, where no one knew who you were. You know as well as I do that the taint would follow you forever if you hadn’t done that.
My father is a senator. He wants to make a bid for the presidency.
Until all this came out, he had a very good chance of succeeding.
Everyone knows his name. He loves the spotlight and spends every moment basking in it as often as possible.
Worse for me, he used his family to get where he is, touting American family values. ”
She fell silent, pressing her hand tightly against the hard knots forming in her stomach.
She couldn’t even look at Zahra. Zahra had never said one word to the other women about what Harlow’s father had done to her.
She had always been friendly and acted grateful to Harlow for rescuing her, but Harlow had felt so much shame.
Sometimes it was difficult to even look at her.
Remembering. Her father had attacked Zahra, believing she wouldn’t say a word even to Harlow.
To Harlow, he was a monster and always would be.
“It’s possible,” Stella said reluctantly. “I just know the nightmares aren’t letting up.”
Raine was silent, studying the information she pulled up on her laptop while the others sipped at tea and ate scones.
“If I look into deaths during that first time period, two months ago, only three were recorded. There was a car crash, the vehicle forced off the road, and the two men in it died. Drugs were found in the car. By that I mean they were transporting a ton of powder. It’s likely they were chased—there were bullet holes in the car—but before anyone could retrieve the drugs, if that was why they were forced off the road, the sheriff showed up. ”
Stella shook her head. “That doesn’t sound like a serial killer, although I suppose it could be. It sounds more like a drug deal gone wrong.”
“The third death, and we all know her, was Giselle Gentry. She owned half the real estate in Knightly and was on every board she could sit on. But she was seventy-six and had a live-in caretaker. She fell and hit her head. It didn’t appear to be foul play.”
“That doesn’t fit either,” Stella said, “although it appeared to be an accident.”
“The only thing of note in the ME’s report was that a possible explanation was that she was bitten by something she was allergic to and went into anaphylactic shock and fell. It was the fall that killed her.”
Harlow frowned. “Lawyer was bitten by something, but we couldn’t identify what it was.”
“That doesn’t sound like a serial killer,” Stella said. She shrugged. “I honestly have no idea.”
There was nothing more to discuss on the subject; they simply didn’t have enough information, so the talk turned to other more pleasant things—their pets.
Instead of this easing the tension in her, Harlow felt more than ever that a huge storm was brewing and she and her friends were going to be caught right in the middle of it.