Page 108 of Everything She Feared

“Right, right.” Croft tapped his palm to his cheek, staring at the two phones Pierce had set back down beside him. “She forgot it. We’re not as young as we used to be.”

Pierce and Benton asked Croft questions for several more minutes before wrapping up the interview and thanking him.

Walking to their SUV parked on the street, they saw a woman in her fifties, passing by on the sidewalk with a leashed white cairn terrier.

“Oh, hi,” she said. “Is everything okay with Gil?”

“Excuse me, who are you?” Pierce asked.

“I’m Mave Garland. I live two doors that way. Are you with the senior outreach group?”

“No. Why’re you concerned?”

“We, I mean, the neighbors, sort of watch out for Gil. His children live across the country. He’s getting more forgetful. He’s likely going to lose his driver’s license. He hasn’t been the same since Dolores, well, you know.”

“What about Dolores?”

“She passed away almost a year ago now. Who did you say you’re with?”

49

Seattle, Washington

Twisting her purse straps, Sara waited with Katie in Dr. Mehta’s reception room, listening to the tranquil bubbling of the aquarium.

Katie stood before the tank watching the brilliantly colored fish darting and gliding in the glowing water.

Sara was thinking of Nathaniel, his gentle kindness, his good heart. And her parents, so selfless, so giving and loving.

She looked to Katie.

She must have their goodness in her, like Mom said.

Sara tensed at her own horrible memories of driving in the rain, the thrashing, the screams, churning with the unbearable truth in the attic of her home.

Katie must have her family’s virtues. Sara repeated the thought, as if it were a plea, herrealfamily’s virtues. Or had she inherited the worst of her family’s history? And after the incident with the boy in Vancouver, after Anna’s death, and being plagued with bad thoughts—is Katie trying to tell me with her drawing what really happened on the cliff?

Is she confessing?

Sara didn’t know where to turn or what to do. That’s why she’d requested to see Dr. Mehta privately in advance of today’s session with Katie.

“Sara?” Nadia, the receptionist, gestured to the open door down the hall. “Sally will see you now.”

“Thank you.”

Nadia then went to Katie at the tank. “Want to help me feed them? We can give them names, how about Nemo for that one and...”

Dr. Mehta met Sara at the door, holding her folded glasses in one hand.

Her office was softly lit and filled with bookcases, art pieces, ferns and plush chairs.

“Have a seat, please.”

After they sat, Dr. Mehta smiled.

“You wanted to talk?”

“Yes. I think you’re helping Katie.”

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