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“Seriously? Renae and Sarah are our friends. I wanted to check on Sarah.”
“Maybe that’s the way of it,” Sykes said, “but you know better than this.”
“I didn’t talk to Sarah.”
Peterson was out of the car, standing in the huddle now. “You cannot do this shit, Devlin. Stay away from the Talleys and the Cortez girl and her folks.”
“What the hell?” She looked from Peterson to Sykes. “You two know me better than this. It was a quick visit. No big deal.”
“But it is a big deal,” Sykes countered. “Brendal Myers just died. Until we can rule out foul play, this is a homicide case.”
Sykes had lost her atdied.
Brendal Myers was dead.
Regret, horror ... fear all twisted inside Kerri.Dead.Those poor parents. Air forced its way into her empty, starving lungs. This was the worst possible news.
Kerri had to get to Tori before she heard this some other way.
As she drove away, leaving the two detectives glaring after her, she recognized she could no longer put off calling Tori’s father about the situation. He had a right to know. But first she had to call Falco.
She needed to hear his voice.
Swanner Residence
Twenty-Third Avenue South
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.”
