Page 54 of Killer Secrets

“Please,” I whispered. “Please believe me. I don’t want him to hurt you. I don’t want him to kill you. Just run away. Find a security guard or a police officer or someone so you can get out of here. Just go now!”

Slowly she hung the dress back on the rack and turned to face me. I was almost as tall as she was, and I saw the instant it occurred to her that I was big enough to hurt her if I tried. She pretended to be casual about it as she took a step back, but I could see she thought I was crazy, probably dangerous to myself if not to others. Part of her wanted to take my advice and run. Part of her—the part that loved her niece so dearly, the part that made her my father’s favorite victim—couldn’t just walk away and leave an unstable girl by herself in the middle of the store.

“Come on, honey,” she said. She swallowed hard, like she wished she’d never seen me, and took my hand. “Let’s go find your father. Whatever’s wrong, it’ll be all right. I’m sure he’s worried sick about you. Come on.”

Tears filling my eyes, I wrapped my fingers so tightly around hers, thinking maybe I could stop her, maybe she wasn’t up to dragging my seventy-five pounds across the floor. Her hand was so warm and soft. I dreamed of hands like that. Hands that didn’t cause pain. That preferred stroking over slapping. That didn’t leave marks and nightmares with every touch.

Then I looked up and saw him, and the ice of his hatred washed over me, numbing me. Defeating me. The little bit of courage I’d found was gone. He’d always said no one would believe me if I told stories about him, and he’d been right. But I’d been stupid enough to try.

And now I was in more trouble than I’d ever imagined.

—Excerpt, The Unlucky Ones by Jane Gama

Cedar Creek was aptly named, flowing from the woods with cedar trees greedily grabbing every bit of space they could and into Cedar Creek Park, where its banks had been cleared on both sides with a man-made beach on the east.

Mila went there to swim at least twice a week during the summer months, but the past week and a half had thrown her off schedule. This Saturday morning was the first chance she’d had both time and energy.

“You know, we could go the municipal pool,” Gramma said as she secured a pair of hot-pink swim goggles over her eyes.

“They don’t like swimmers at the city pool.”

“If you want to swim, you have to be there when the doors open at six. After seven, the only real exercise anyone can get is kicking at the obnoxious kids when they get too close, and kicking doesn’t scare off the kids the way it used to.”

“They haven’t been raised right.” Mila smiled faintly as she dropped her towel on the grass, then stripped off her T-shirt and shorts. Her black swimsuit was one piece—“modest enough for Granny,” Gramma had said drily—her water shoes were black, and her hair was pulled back in a tight braid. The only bit of color on her was a thin red stripe on her black goggles.

Gramma, on the hand, was a sight that screamed Summer! Her swimsuit, also one piece and Granny modest, was lavender and yellow and lime and electric blue, and her water shoes were pink-and-orange plaid. For a sixty-five-year-old woman, she looked impressively good. She was fit. Despite her penchant for baking and good food, her weight had never varied by more than ten pounds throughout her life, and while she admitted she had some sag, she insisted she’d earned it.

Men in her age range never seemed to mind a little bit of sag. Mila wished that she would start paying back the attention they gave her sometime.

“Did you see Sam yesterday?”

Together they walked into the water, tepid but relatively clear in the shallows, and they both turned to the right. Kids played around the beach, so they always swam upstream, enjoying the quiet.

“No,” Mila said, feeling a twinge of disappointment. “He worked late. But Detective Little Bear called and asked me another few dozen questions.”

“I like Detective Little Bear. If he was twenty years older…” Gramma grinned lasciviously. “He would still be too young for me, but I wouldn’t let that stop me. I wonder if he’s got a father or an uncle who’s single.”

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