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Drake added, “And we’ll go get takeout for dinner.”
With one last glance at Noah, Josie followed Trinity back inside, carrying Trout along with her. Once seated at the kitchen table, she put him onto the floor. He immediately flopped down and laid across her feet. Either he was still having anxiety or he was sensing hers—or both. He had an uncanny ability to sense when she was distressed or sad, even when she wasn’t fully cognizant of it herself. Josie looked down and watched his little chest rise and fall with each breath. It wasn’t a mystery where her anxiety came from this time. Noah. Explosion. Those two things should never go together. With a small shudder, she tried to tear her mind away from what could have happened right in their backyard, instead keeping her attention on Trinity, who sat across the table, her laptop open.
“You were going to tell me what you were working on,” Josie said. Her throat felt scratchy. She wasn’t sure if it was the combo of smoke and fire-retardant chemicals or if it was the tickle of unease. How neither Noah nor Drake had been injured just now was a miracle. Without being too obvious, she worked through a breathing exercise that her therapist had taught her. Dr. Rosetti had more breathing exercises than Pennsylvania had trees, it seemed, and none of them worked for Josie. Not yet, anyway. Well, the one where she breathed in for a four-count, held it for a seven-count, and let it out for eight seconds helped a tiny bit, but Josie wasn’t entirely sold.
Still, she sucked in a breath, mentally counting to four, and then held it for seven seconds.
Trinity raised a brow at her. “The men are fine.”
Josie exhaled slowly, silently counting to eight. “I know.”
She repeated the exercise, keeping her eyes on her sister. They were identical twins but as always, even in casual clothes and minimal makeup, Trinity seemed to have a sheen that Josie could never replicate. Her shoulder-length black hair was shinier and bouncier than Josie’s locks. Her skin had a healthy glow, whereas Josie often looked pale and tired from too much work and too little sleep. Also, Trinity’s face was unblemished whereas Josie had a scar that ran from her right ear, down her jawline, and under her chin. It was old and faded but still noticeable.
Trinity said, “Sometimes it’s harder to focus on what actually happened than on what could have happened, huh?”
Josie nodded. Trout let out a stuttering sigh. She could feel his little body relaxing against her feet as she worked through another four-seven-eight breath.
In the middle of the table, Trinity’s cell phone buzzed. A name flashed across the screen: Hallie Kent. Trinity looked at it longingly. “Go ahead,” Josie told her.
Snatching up the phone, Trinity muttered a thank you and swiped answer as she left the room. Josie had gone through several rounds of her breathing exercises by the time Trinity returned. She felt marginally better.
“Sorry,” Trinity said. “That’s the source for this new case I’ve been working on.”
Josie motioned to the chair Trinity had vacated earlier. “Sit. Tell me about it.”
Trinity plopped back down. “Do you really want to hear about this?”
Josie nodded. “Of course. Between your show and my job, it’s even harder to carve out this time together. Let’s not waste it.”
She almost added that they’d already lost so much time together in their lives. Although they were twin sisters, they’d only known about their true relationship for six years. Their parents, Christian and Shannon Payne, lived two hours away. When Trinity and Josie were three weeks old, Shannon had left them in the care of a nanny. A woman from the Paynes’ cleaning service, Lila Jensen, had set their house on fire and abducted Josie. Everyone believed that Josie had perished in the fire, so no one looked for her. Lila brought Josie to Denton and used her as a way of getting back together with a former boyfriend, Eli Matson. She told Eli that Josie was his daughter. Back then, they didn’t have DNA testing and Eli hadn’t had any reason to believe Josie was not his daughter. He’d loved her fiercely and raised her as his own until his death when Josie was six years old. After that, Josie had been left in the care of Lila, who was evil and abusive. It was Lila who’d given Josie the scar. Eli’s mother, Lisette, who Josie always believed was her grandmother, had fought to get custody of Josie, finally winning when Josie was fourteen, and bringing some peace and stability to Josie’s life.
It wasn’t until Josie and Trinity were nearly thirty years old that a murder case Josie had been assigned to solve unraveled the tangled skein of Lila’s many lies and brought them together as sisters. Back then, Trinity had been a reporter for their local news station, WYEP. Now, she had her own show on national television calledUnsolved Crimes with Trinity Payne.
Trinity said, “This woman—Hallie Kent—sent in a request to the show that we look at her foster sister’s death. She first contacted us months ago—last summer—but she’s been really persistent. The team that handles our submissions didn’t even tell me about it at first because it didn’t look like much.”
“You said death,” Josie said. “Not a murder?”
Trinity’s eyes sparkled. “That’s where it gets interesting. It was ruled an accident by the county medical examiner but Hallie and pretty much everyone in the town, including the police, have always believed it was murder. No one has been able to prove it.”
Josie frowned. “That’s not an unsolved case, Trin. What if it really was an accident? What will it do to her family if your investigation turns up the same result?”
“What if I don’t get the same result? What if there is something everyone’s missed and we have a chance to catch a killer?” Sensing Josie’s discomfort, Trinity added, “Or our investigation puts the question to rest once and for all, and Hallie Kent gets the closure she’s been looking for these past ten years. If it turns out to really be an accident, we don’t run it as a show, that’s all. I really want to help this woman if I can. Besides, she lives an hour away in Everett County.”
Josie arched a brow. “That’s the real reason you and Drake decided to drop by for a visit.”
Trinity pouted. “That is not the reason, dear sister. We came to see you two. I can’t help it if Everett County is close.”
Josie laughed. “Sure. Okay.”
Trinity pointed a perfectly manicured nail in Josie’s direction. “Please. There have been plenty of times we’ve visited only to have you get called into work on some big, important case. You’re always on call!”
Josie rolled her eyes. “I’m not always on call, Trin.”
She was tonight, though, but she didn’t say that out loud. Denton’s investigative team consisted of Josie, Noah, Detective Gretchen Palmer, and Detective Finn Mettner. Noah and Gretchen were off. Mettner was working the evening and night shift, and Josie was on standby in case he caught more cases than he could handle. Josie was hoping he had a quiet night. She hoped they’d all have a quiet night with no more explosions.
The back door flew open, admitting Noah and Drake. The faint smell of fire still clung to them. “We were thinking,” said Drake. “That we should all go out together.”
Noah patted his singed hair. “I’d get a shower first, of course.”
