Page 81 of By the Time You Read This

In all, there are certainly signs that the girls and Alex might have beenvulnerable to reactive attachment disorder.

The signs to watch out for in young children are as follows:

1) Unexplained withdrawal, fear, sadness, or irritability;

2) Not seeking comfort or showing no response when comfort is given;

3) Failure to smile;

4) Failure to reach out when picked up;

5) No interest in peekaboo or other interactive games.

And so on.

We’ll never know if Isabel could have been saved from her life of violent, sadistic crime. It’s unlikely that she could have been, given her psychopathy.

But, when trying to understand Isabel, many people—I’m guessing herself included—describe her childhood as normal. I don’t think that was the case.

People say Isabel killed her parents because she was a psychopath—that she didn’t need a motive.

While that might be true to some extent, they were the ones who had fractured that relationship with their daughter.

I believe Tim and Becks Parker’s coldness, mental health issues, and distance created attachment disorders inall of their children, some more severe than others.

And while both Delaney and Raisa are successful, well-adjusted and productive adults, the lack of any fulfilling, permanent relationships in their lives are proof that none of the kids were spared.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Raisa

Day Three

“Where is she?” Raisa asked, nearly coming out of the chair beside Kilkenny’s hospital bed, ready to go confront her sister.

She could hardly believe that St. Ivany really had been able to find Delaney. Maybe she wasn’t so concentrated on flying beneath the radar anymore—now that Isabel was in jail and Delaney had been cleared.

Raisa surprised herself with her next question. “Is she all right?”

“Well, I didn’t actually find her,” St. Ivany admitted. Before Raisa could deflate, she added, “I got her address.”

“In Seattle?” Raisa asked. It wasn’t far away—it would be worth going to check out, even if they weren’t sure she was still there. She glanced outside, and realized the sky had fully darkened while she’d been busy reading. “In the morning, I guess.”

“First thing,” St. Ivany said, and then knocked against the doorjamb to signal her impending departure.

“Hey,” Raisa called. “Someone broke into my hotel room earlier. Ransacked it.”

St. Ivany’s brows shot up. “And you’re just telling me this now?”

Raisa shrugged. She’d been going nonstop since.

“Shit,” St. Ivany said, scrubbing a hand over her face. Then she headed directly toward the chair positioned in the far corner of the room and dropped into it. “Fuck, this has been a long couple of weeks.”

Raisa huffed out a sympathetic laugh. “Yeah.”

“Who broke into your room?” St. Ivany asked.

“The copycat? Protégé, whatever. Whoever killed Peter and Lindsey and Emily,” Raisa said. “They left a message on the wall. ‘Leave.’ No punctuation.”

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