Page 67 of Her Dying Secret

It was always so jarring now when he used her actual name. “Denton PD doesn’t have any missing officers, but Hillcrest PD does—the guy April Carlson dated before he disappeared three years ago. Officer Shane Foster.”

FORTY-EIGHT

I have to wait until the alone times to talk to her. If I don’t, I get in trouble. I want to stay with her and hug her forever, but he tied her up, and so all I can do is curl up against her like a cat. When I was a normal girl, I got to pet and play with her cat all the time. She said it could be mine. I want her to tell me about all the things we were going to do together when she takes me again. She’s told me a ton of times, but I never get tired of hearing it. I can eat anything I want. She said she won’t have to ‘restrict’ my food like Dad used to make her do. I’ll have a room. We’ll go to restaurants and parks. We’ll go shopping. I can watch TV. I might even have friends. I can go back to school even though, as she always reminds me, I have a lot to catch up on. I know I’m not like normal girls, but maybe I can be if I live with her again.

I feel her breath on top of my head.

“I thought you were going to come get me,” I say.

“I was, honey. I was. But something bad happened.”

My breath feels funny in my chest like there’s not enough air. “Something bad happened to Aunt April?”

“I’m so sorry, sweetie.”

His voice is mean and scary. “Don’t call her that. She wasn’t an aunt.”

“She was!” I yell. “I loved her!”

His fingers wrap around my upper arm, squeezing until the pain makes my eyes water. Mom shrieks, “Leave her alone!”

It’s too late. He drags me away. I try to fight but he’s so much bigger than me and when he’s angry, no one can stop him. “I told you to stay away from her.” He throws me down so hard my entire back hurts. Leaning down until his face almost touches mine, his spit lands on my cheek. “If you go near her again?—”

We both freeze. I hear footsteps. He does, too. His whole face changes and I know he’s going to fake being nice again. Before he walks away, he finishes his sentence in a whisper. “I’ll kill her.”

FORTY-NINE

Josie and Turner trudged up the trail as night fell. He walked in front, using the flashlight app on his phone to make sure they didn’t step in any excrement. Not that it mattered. Josie was pretty sure that neither of them could smell worse than they already did. Josie’s phone chirped with a message from Detective Heather Loughlin. Josie had called her before they’d left the scene.

I’ll get Foster’s dental records to Dr. Feist ASAP.

Josie tapped in a quick thank you and focused on Turner’s back. Her body ached everywhere—again—and she was starving. “Slow down,” she told him.

For once, he didn’t give her any shit, slowing his pace until he was beside her. The trail was narrow, though, and his arm brushed and bumped against her sore shoulder. She made him switch sides.

“What do you think?” Turner asked as he swung his phone’s flashlight back and forth in front of them. “Seth Lee thought or knew that April called DHS on him while Rosie was in school, and then he found out she was dating a police officer and figured she was going to tell him about the weird food restrictions he had with his little girl and so he killed the guy?”

Josie sidestepped a pile of shit. “Something like that. Seth has had delusions that some type of authorities have been after him for years. I’m sure that played into it as well. But I think April was also involved.”

Turner kept his eyes on the flashlight beam. “Because of the bracelet? How can you be sure it’s hers?”

“I can’t be sure,” Josie said. “But it makes the most sense. April told her mother that she lost the bracelet. She was extremely upset. So much so that when she supposedly found it, she never wore it again. Teresa Carlson also said that April was crushed when Shane Foster went missing, even though they had only been on a couple of dates. Heather interviewed April about Foster and also had the impression that April was devastated by his disappearance.”

“But she was actually devastated because she lost her bracelet while she helped Seth Lee bury him,” Turner said. “She never wore it again because she didn’t have it. Why would she help him cover up the murder of a police officer?”

Josie stumbled, her boot slipping in mud. At least, she hoped it was mud. Turner offered a hand, but she didn’t take it. “I don’t know that she would unless she had some part in it.”

Turner scoffed. “This guy got Mira Summers to do some crazy shit for him over the years, but I can’t see him manipulating April Carlson into killing a police officer, especially one she was dating. She called DHS the second that she thought little Rosie was going hungry. She wasn’t afraid of Seth.”

“But if she knew he’d murdered someone, that was her chance to get him out of Mira and Rosie’s lives forever. A custody dispute or even intervention by DHS would have only resulted in him taking Rosie and vanishing. She helped Seth cover it up because she had a part in it. Maybe it was accidental, I don’t know, but once she made the choice not to tell, she and Seth achieved assured mutual destruction.”

“She couldn’t turn him in without implicating herself.” The flashlight beam bobbed as Turner swatted at a mosquito. “Where does Mira fit into all of this? She got that note from April saying he’s here—which April would only know if she helped bury this guy—and saying ‘we have to tell.’ Obviously, Mira knew they killed Shane Foster. Hell, maybe she was involved, too.”

“I think she wanted to get Rosie away from Seth before anything about Shane Foster’s death came out. April gave her the brochure. She moved to Denton, got a job, a place, and started coming here. Maybe the meetings with Seth at the produce stand were like visitations—maybe that’s when she got to see Rosie. A year later, April moves out this way, to Newsham.”

“Looking for them,” Turner said. “Any of them. Seth, Rosie, Mira. Somehow Seth found out she was nearby and started harassing her, trying to get her to go away. Why didn’t she just tell then? Walk into a police station and say, ‘Hey, me and this nutjob my sister’s been dating killed a cop and buried him at a horse farm.’”

“Maybe she knew that she would be implicated in Shane Foster’s death—especially if she thought she’d accidentally buried her bracelet with him—but maybe she didn’t think she could prove Seth’s involvement. Or maybe she wanted to make sure Rosie was safe first. April knew what he was capable of. I don’t think she could stomach the thought of him having Rosie. Given what happened between her and Mira at the school, I don’t think she trusted Mira to do the right thing for Rosie.”

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