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The Murder
Thirteen Years Ago
Friday, October 6
Nashville Zoo at Grassmere
Elysian Fields Road, Nashville, 8:30 p.m.
The zoo was closed.
No one was supposed to be here. Her mother would be furious that she hadn’t been honest about her plans. This was her mother’s number one rule: always tell the truth. Never lie to her.
But this time the rules could not stop Lucy Cagle. Not for any reason. Her mother wasn’t the only one who could uncover the facts in the deepest, darkest places they were buried. She wasn’t the only one allowed to ignore the rules when necessary. How many times had she heard her mother say that some things were worth the sacrifice?
Lucy had decided she would use her senior thesis to prove the apple never fell too far from the tree. Like mother, like daughter, and all that.
Her mother wanted Lucy to be a doctor like her father, and he was a great doctor. His work was important, admired ... noteworthy. But Lucy wasn’t interested in a medical career. She wanted to be an investigative reporter, like her famous mother. She wanted to be fearless and groundbreaking.
Tonight was her big chance.
Lucy shivered. It was oddly cool for an evening so early in October. She should have brought a sweater or a sweatshirt to pull over her blouse. She’d worn this low scooped neckline for him. It was impossible not to notice the way he stared at her chest every time they were together. He was like twenty-three; he should have gotten over such adolescent fixations by now. Lucky for her, he hadn’t.
Tonight was the night. He had promised to tell her all his secrets. She had led him on with the possibility that she would be his girlfriend. At first, he’d been reluctant. He’d pointed out several times that guys like him didn’t get girls like her. And she’d said all the right things. Innocently touched him in all the right places and pretended to be totally obsessed with him. How many times had she heard her mother say getting the job done wasn’t always easy or pretty?
If she were honest with herself, she would have to say this had been kind of easy. He was really handsome. Nicer than she had expected, and he made her feel things too.
Lucy rubbed at her arms. She had to stay focused. She had him on the edge now—the point of no return. He wanted her to know him ... all of him, including the family secrets he feared would put her off. They had spent so much time making out ... had almost gone too far a couple of times. He couldn’t be in the same place with her without going crazy, he insisted. She wasn’t exactly unaffected. Which was why she’d had to insist on many of their rendezvous being in public places like that car wash. Even then, it hadn’t been easy to ignore those unexpected feelings.
Sacrifice,she repeated silently.This was worth the sacrifice.
Lucy glanced around, suddenly angry that he wasn’t here already. He had told her he would be behind the giraffe house at eight. For half an hour she had been standing out here in the dark. He never made her wait like this.
She snatched her cell from her shoulder bag and was ready to call him and tell him off when she spotted headlights in the distance. She held her breath and watched as the lights bobbed, turning from Elysian Fields Road onto the narrow street that led into the zoo employee entrance.
Finally.
She shoved her phone back into her bag and stayed in the shadow of the trees, waited for him to park. The firm smack when his car door closed made her jump. No sound or light had warned her when the door opened, so she hadn’t noticed that he’d gotten out. Why hadn’t she noticed before that his interior light didn’t work? Weird. She shook off the creepy sensation.
Lucy took a deep breath and squared her shoulders.
“Are you hiding?” he called out, sounding a little amused and something else ... anxious, maybe.
Annoyance puckered her brow. Why would he ask such a silly question? Her car was parked not a dozen feet from where he’d parked his own. She rolled her eyes. Maybe he was as nervous as she was. Just because he was older didn’t make him immune to uncertainty.
Lucy suddenly wished she was immune. None of this had been as easy as her mother made it look. And, giving him a break, she supposed that spilling the family secrets wasn’t exactly a cakewalk either.
Another deep breath. Showtime. Lucy adopted a pout and stepped forward, away from the shadow of the trees. “You’re late,” she accused with just enough irritation, she hoped, to have him second-guessing himself.
He moved toward her with that sexy swagger of his. As he drew closer, she noted the grin. Despite her best efforts, she smiled, then gave herself a mental kick. This was serious. Not a game. This was bigger than some high school romantic adventure with an older guy. She had to remember that above all else.
“I’m here now,” he said, finally stopping so close that she could feel his breath on her face.
Steeling herself against an all-too-human reaction, she challenged, “Are you ready to do what you promised?”
As if to underscore her demand, a cold wind kicked up, sending a fresh wave of shivers along her skin. He had insisted that before they took their relationship any further, he wanted to be totally honest with her. He wanted to tell her all his secrets. She’d already told him all hers, she’d assured him, making him feel guilty for keeping his own. But she hadn’t told anything even close to the truth. He had no idea who she really was.
