Page 140 of Everything She Feared

“Yes it is and you’re a liar.” Laughing, Dylan looked over his shoulder at parents staring at their phones. Some were headed toward the group of kids. “It’s true.” He grinned. “You pushed her. You’re a murderer!”

“No!” Katie shrieked.

“Murderer!” one of the other boys chimed, chanting it over and over.

Katie pleaded for Dylan Frick to stop. She tried to escape but Dylan and his friends blocked her, taunting her.

“You leave this girl alone, young man!” A woman emerged, putting herself between Katie and her tormentors. “If you know what’s good for you, you’ll go home now! All of you leave her alone! Do you hear me?”

Sobbing hard, her teary vision blurred, Katie couldn’t see her defender clearly. She didn’t recognize her voice as the chastened boys returned to their families.

“You poor child.” The woman put her arm around Katie, squeezed a gentle, protective hug. “Those boys have no idea.”

Katie covered her face with her hands, struggling to stop crying.

“What happened?”

Rubbing her eyes, Katie now saw Val Rossi. She’d arrived breathless, fumbling for a tissue in her bag to brush at Katie’s tears. Able to see better now, Katie glanced around. The woman who’d rescued her had disappeared into the chaos. Two staff members from the school made their way to them.

“Hi, Katie, Ms. Rossi,” Alice Jenkins, a staff member often assigned to the pick-up and drop-offs, said. “Is everything okay?”

“I think some boys upset her.” Val surveyed the crowd and hubbub. “One of the parents, I think, chased them off.”

“Which boys?” Jenkins scanned the crowd. “Which parent chased them off? We can make a report.”

“I don’t see her,” Val said. “Katie, do you know who?”

She buried her head into Val and shook it.

“I want to go home,” Katie said. “Can we go?”

“You’re sure you’re okay?” Jenkins said.

Katie nodded.

“Alright. I think it’s best if we leave,” Val said to Jenkins while putting her arm around Katie’s shoulder. “My car’s this way.”

As Jenkins watched them leave the zone, she was nudged by her partner, who was reading the breaking news story on her phone.

“Maybe it had something to do with this, Alice?” she said, turning her phone so Jenkins could see the screen. “Anna Shaw’s death may not have been an accident.”

65

Seattle, Washington

Sara drove herTrailblazer home from her shift at the Jet Town Diner, grappling with the upheaval in her life.

My nine-year-old daughter has been fingerprinted and read her rights by police!

She stopped at a red light and took a deep breath.

The detectives said it was routine. The lawyer said it doesn’t mean they suspect Katie. But I don’t believe it. I can’t believe it. The police know something.

A horn sounded behind her. The light had changed.

As she drove, Sara’s thoughts shifted to what she’d discovered in the attic. That Magda had written to her family.

I need to ask Mom what Magda wrote and if she answered, and why they never ever told me.

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