Page 160 of Everything She Feared

“No, thank you. You’ve done so much for us and it means the world to me, but I’ve got some things to do.”

Val smiled at Sara.

“I’ll get Bingo and give you guys some space.” Val hugged Sara. “If there’s anything, anything at all, just call me.”

Moments later, after Val and Bingo departed, Sara called Rose Aranda.

“What more do you know?”

“From what I gather, they’re working into the evening.”

“Oh, my God, are they coming to arrest her tonight?”

“Not likely. They don’t have the formal charge ready yet.”

Sara released a creaking sob, as if she were breaking.

“They’re going to charge my nine-year-old daughter with murder! I can’t lose her!”

“Sara, hang on.”

“What if we left, right now? We have friends in Canada. Or we could go to Mexico?”

“Sara. You’ve got to hang on. First, we’ve got to see what they’re going to do, okay? I’ll be over first thing in the morning. We can fight this.”

Sara collapsed into a chair at the table.

Was it Dr. Mehta? Did she go to police? What does it matter now? This is the hardest thing. Is God taking Katie from me? Just like Nathaniel. Just like Dad. God is punishing me for who I am, for being part of what they did to all those people.

She looked at the tattoo that covered her scar.

Because I was there.

The stairs squeaked.

Katie appeared at the bottom of the stairs, startling Sara.

“I’m in big serious trouble, aren’t I, Mom?”

Sara swallowed and went to her, every nerve ending tingling.

“Yes.”

81

Seattle, Washington

Elbow on his desk, phone pressed to his ear, Detective Larry Grotowski took notes and glanced at the time.

Still early evening.

He had an apple in his desk to snack on before he got something more substantial later. This was going to be a long night. He was on the line with the lead investigator from Delta, British Columbia, who was detailing the case of the boy who died when Katie Harmon was present two years earlier.

“It happened at the Elmside Heights Community Pool.” Detective Dennis Sandler read from Delta’s case file. “The boy’s name was Myles Henry Zuter. Age seven. I’ll give you his DOB.”

Zuter and his family were from Switzerland. They were visiting family in Delta when they went to the pool. The boy was big for his age and was known to have teased, some said “bullied,” other children, Sandler said.

Katie Harmon, aged seven, was with her mother. They were from Seattle and were visiting friends in Delta.

---