Page 18 of See How They Hide

She came here of her own free will, Kara decided.Withsomeone she didn’t fear, or tomeetsomeone she didn’t fear.

Or perhaps...a bait and switch? Shethoughtshe was meeting a specific person, but instead she met her killer. “Okay,” she said.

“Any brilliant conclusions?”

“Not really, and it doesn’t matter.”

“What are you thinking?”

“She either trusted the person who killed her, or she came here to meet someone she trusted. Either way, her killer knows her well. And based on what we’ve learned from her roommate and colleagues, she had no close friends at all—outside of Riley Pierce, who was in France at the time of the murder.”

“The killer could have stalked her and learned her habits.”

Maybe, Kara thought, but that didn’t explain why Jane would walk two miles from her apartment to meet someone.

There was something here that Kara wasn’t seeing. Maybe not at the crime scene, but something else. Kara couldn’t wrap her head around Jane’s psychology, about why she had made the decision to leave her apartment on Saturday night. It wasn’t logical. But, as she knew from the team shrink, it might not be logical to them, but it would be logical to the victim.

Maybe she couldn’t process the information because she was tired, hungry, and crabby.

“Let’s go,” she said.

“You’re still thinking.”

“Yep. I’m missing something. But if you can find a place with a good cheeseburger? Maybe I’ll figure it out.”

7

Santa Fe, New Mexico

Chris’s house was dark, though it was too late for him to be working and too early for him to be sleeping. His small Jeep sat in the carport. Riley parked the rental car behind it and turned off the ignition.

Her heart pounded in her chest as she considered what she might find inside. What if he had been exposed?

If they had found Chris, was Thalia also in danger?

Why did she care? Thalia had used her, manipulated her, convinced her to go along with her plan. And when Riley had finally had enough, when she broke, Thalia was furious.

“Without you helping me in Havenwood, more people will die. You’re selfish, Riley. I’m so disappointed in you.”

Selfish. Maybe, but so what? Didn’t she deserve to be free? Or was she still required to pay for the mistakes of her past?

Riley closed her eyes. Chris had always been kind to her, always seemed to understand her when Thalia didn’t. Still, she was scared. Not that Chris would do anything to her, but of what might happen when Thalia found out that Jane was dead. That Thalia might blame her.

And Thalia might be right. After all, Riley had run away. Not only from Havenwood, but from Jane. No matter how many times Riley told herself she was goingtoFrance, she was really runningfromher past.

The memories were there, even when she ignored them. Memories had weight, and they weighed her down. She’d tried to tell Thalia how she felt, but the words were never enough. She had never forgiven herself.

Silence was sometimes a crime.

Ultimately, Riley was Calliope’s daughter, and Thalia hated Calliope. No surprise that the hate bled out to encompass Riley. The sins of the mother...sins of the daughter.

Riley breathed deeply, opened her eyes, and stared at Chris’s house, willing him to open the door and smile at her. She watched for signs of life, found none. She should go in.

She couldn’t move.

Chris understood better than Thalia, as much as the quiet man could. He’d helped her, provided shelter and money and worked with Jesse to establish her new identity. Riley had wanted to stay here, in Chris’s remote, beautiful home in the mountains about Sante Fe, and she thought Chris would have agreed.

Thalia said no.

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