Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 122440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 612(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122440 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 612(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
Harlow saw where he was going with his simple statement. It was true. There were one or two people on the committee who valued their status and would feel they would be the laughingstock of the Sierra if it came out that Knightly was named after a rooster.
“If I knew you were close with Giselle, then others did as well,” Alek continued. “And now Helen’s gone, under mysterious circumstances. You were as close to Helen as she’d let anyone get.”
Strangely, she wanted the comfort of Wilder. He was her first thought, and that bothered her. She’d always faced every crisis on her own or with her friends. Was she actually considering that Alek might be onto something? It seemed far-fetched, but Stella was having her serial killer dreams. That might line up with Alek’s theory.
“I would hate to think someone was killing people because of me.” The thought made her sick. She had enough guilt simply because she hadn’t been able to persuade anyone in authority to take a good, hard look at her father. He’d destroyed a lot of lives, and no one had believed her.
Alek took the photograph she held out to him. “I didn’t think what my speculation would sound like, Harlow. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“No, I think we all should be considering every possibility. Just know that if I’m the connection, I consider you a friend. You’d be on the list.” That worried her, and it should worry him as well.
“As would the girls in your circle. I haven’t seen Raine at all lately. What’s going on there?”
“We were climbing together, and she was bitten by a rattlesnake. She came off the boulder and landed on her bad leg. Rush operated, and they’ve got her in Rainier’s medical facility. They took her there by helicopter. It was close, and they were set up for orthopedic surgery.”
“That poor girl. She just can’t catch a break with that leg. I thought she was doing so much better.” Alek tucked the package under his arm and turned toward the door. “Please tell her everyone’s thinking of her and sending good vibes.”
“I’ll do that. Enjoy the photo.”
Harlow saw him out and then carefully locked the studio door after him. She wanted a little alone time to think about Alek’s idea. She never would have entertained such a thing had it not been for the fact that they’d had more than one serial killer in or around Knightly, and one had been a close friend. Now someone, outside her circle of close friends, had considered the same theory. That felt—ominous.
If it were a serial killer, how would they make the deaths look like random accidents? Were they injecting venom into the victims after they disabled them? It could be done, but it seemed as if the ME should be able to find evidence of that on at least one of the victims.
After contemplating for some time, Harlow came to the conclusion that the fatalities weren’t really connected in any way. She had to go back to the idea that something venomous had killed all three of the deceased. Something new. Possibly a new species. It seemed highly unlikely, but not entirely out of the realm of possibility.
They weren’t that far from a semisecret government facility. Military. Were they conducting experiments there? Had something escaped? Or was it some biochemical product that got away from them? Those seemed much more likely possibilities.
The girls were getting together with Raine that evening. It would be a good topic to discuss. Raine would have something to occupy her brain. She needed stimulation, whether her doctors wanted her to have it or not. At least Rainier, despite the lockdown, had agreed that they could visit Raine. It was a huge concession, and Harlow knew it was due to Shabina’s persuasion.
Harlow liked that Rainier gave in to Shabina when something was important to her. She hoped Wilder would be similar and not want to dictate every little thing between them. If he did, a relationship between them simply wouldn’t work out. On that thought, she immediately shut down the line of negative self-sabotage. She was determined to try with Wilder, and coming up with hurdles that hadn’t even presented themselves was no way to start a relationship. More determined than ever, she locked up her studio and took her dog for a short run before returning home to get ready for girls’ night at the medical facility with Raine.
* * *
—
“I could get used to a helicopter being at my beck and call,” Zahra announced, and flopped down into one of the extremely comfortable chairs their hospital didn’t have in the patients’ rooms.
“You just liked the pilot,” Vienna said. “I noticed he invited you up front with him and not any of the rest of us.”