Birmingham, 6:30 p.m.

“Hey,” Kerri called as she entered her sister’s kitchen. “Sorry I’m late.” She forced her lips into some semblance of what she hoped was a smile. She couldn’t talk about what she’d just learned. Not until she was alone with Tori.

She had to be strong. Keep it together.

Diana and Jennifer Whitten—Jen—were seated at the island. Jen was like another sister. She and Diana had been best friends for as long as Kerri could remember. Sadly, Jen was the only person Kerri knew who had worse luck with men than her. She’d been married and divorced three times. Kerri had long ago lost count of her numerous and often short-lived relationships. Everyone had their weaknesses, and men just happened to be Jen’s.

“No worries. Tori’s playing video games with the boys,” Diana said. “You want a beer?”

Kerri shook her head, barely holding herself together. The last thing she wanted to do was fall apart in the middle of her sister’s kitchen. Diana had enough hurt of her own to suffer. “Thanks, but I just want to get home.”

Jen frowned. “If you’re not willing to have a beer with us, things must have been really shitty today.”

Jen had always been on the blunt side. It was one of the things Kerri and Diana loved about her. At the moment she had no idea how right she was. “Really, really shitty,” Kerri confessed, her voice brittle.

Diana pressed her fingers to her lips for a moment as a realization sank in. “It’s the Myers girl. She took a turn for the worse?”

Kerri nodded stiffly. “She died.”

Everything inside Kerri had expanded and swollen to the point she felt ready to choke to death. Her heart thumped so hard she could scarcely think. Between the Talley house and here she had called Falco and given him the news. He was coming over as soon as he finished for the day. He would help navigate the new direction this tragedy had taken. Tori would need them both.

“Oh my God.” Jen was off her stool and rushing around the island to give Kerri a hug before the words stopped ringing in the air. “I am so sorry, sweetie. This is hard, I know.”

Diana joined the hug. “We’ll get through this. Tori will be okay.”

Kerri closed her eyes tight to hold back the emotion burning there. If she allowed the tears, she might not be able to present a picture of strength for Tori. Tori would need her to be strong. The girl’s death was awful, awful, awful. There was no way to change that. But she did not want this to damage Tori and her friends in some irreparable way. It was bad enough as it was.

When they’d pulled away from each other and settled around the island, Diana said, “Maybe Tori should stay home from school for a few days.”

Kerri shook her head. “I’m not sure if that’s the right move. Rumors are rampant at school already. All three girls are under scrutiny. And Renae Talley is going the distance to cover for her daughter.”

“What do you mean?” Jen asked.

Steadying herself, Kerri went over her visit with Renae and then the confrontation in the street with Sykes and Peterson.

“That bitch,” Jen growled. “How dare she make out like her daughter is more innocent than Tori.”

Diana gave a dry laugh. “Hear, hear.” Her expression turned somber. “Are you worried? I mean, really worried?”

“Of course I’m worried,” Kerri admitted. “Not about what I know so far, obviously. But about what I don’t know, and I don’t know a lot. Which is why I’m really worried.”

Jesus Christ, how could this be happening?

“Why are you worried?”

Kerri turned to find her daughter standing in the wide doorway between the living room and the kitchen. Oh hell.

“Hey, sweetie,” Diana said, “would you like a Coke or something?”

Tori shook her head, the fear on her face breaking Kerri’s heart. “No. I want to hear why my mom is worried.”

Kerri stood and walked toward her daughter. “I’m so sorry to have to tell you this, but I just learned that Brendal didn’t make it.”

One, two blinks. “So, she’s dead.”

Kerri nodded. “I’m sorry, yes.”

Tori started to tremble, and Kerri grabbed her just before her knees gave out. Her daughter clung to her and cried so hard her slim body shuddered. Kerri hugged her close and stroked her hair, all the while whispering soothing assurances. Diana and Jen wrapped their arms around the both of them, and they all cried together for a bit.

“Who died?” one of the twins demanded.

Diana pulled away. “Ryan, where’s your brother?”

“Tell me,” the older-by-two-minutes twin repeated. “What happened? The last time you were all crying like this, it was Amelia.”

River came up next to his brother. “What’s going on?”

Tori pulled free of her mother and turned to her cousins. “She died. Brendal died. And everyone thinks I had something to do with it.”

“No,” Kerri argued. “No one thinks you had anything to do with what happened.”

Tori swiped at her eyes with the back of her hand. “Yes they do. Even Sarah’s not talking to me right now. They think it was me. And now Brendal is dead.”

Kerri tried to pull Tori into her arms once more, but she drew away. “No one—NO ONE,” Kerri emphasized, “believes you had anything to do with Brendal falling.”

“I wish I was the one who had died.”

Tori rushed out of the house. Kerri started to go after her, but Diana held her back. They watched as Tori loaded into the Wagoneer.

“She’s upset. Not thinking. She didn’t mean what she said.” Kerri looked from Diana to Jen and back.

“Kerri,” Diana said, her expression dead serious, “don’t even go there. You take those words as if you know she meant them. Do you hear me? Take no chances.”

Her sister was right.

Tori was in a very dangerous place.

Kerri had no idea how to help her. But she would move heaven and earth trying.

Devlin Residence

Twenty-First Avenue South

Birmingham, 7:15 p.m.

“I don’t want to talk.” Tori tossed her backpack on the sofa and headed for the stairs.

“I’m sorry,” Kerri said, “that wasn’t a request. We are going to talk.”