Secrets in a Still Life, Kari Ganske [best fiction books to read .TXT] 📗

doubt forced upon them by their parents to keep up appearances if the truth ever came out. Her disregard for Mike wasn't the reason his picture wasn't in the locket. Missy had pictures of her children—all of her children—in there.

"Your mother"—I took a breath as realization dawned—"is Missy."

Jodie started a slow clap, and I noticed something glinting in her hand. I squinted to bring it into focus.

A knife. A big kitchen knife. I felt my own face drain of color and willed myself not to faint. I had to keep Jodie talking until I found a way out of this mess.

"Some sleuth you are," Jodie said, taking a step forward. I took another one back. Pretty soon my back would be up against the fence. "You thought lazy, boring Mike would be capable of killing anyone? He barely gets off the sofa to go to the bathroom."

"Why?" I asked, keeping my eyes on the knife. "Why did you kill Missy?"

"Isn't it obvious? She lied to me my entire life. She let me believe we were sisters instead of proudly claiming me as her own. She brags all over town about Junior and Patsy, but she hides me behind secrets and lies. And all because she and Mike—excuse me, dear old Dad—were too stupid to keep it in their pants in high school. Like that was somehow my fault." Jodie began pacing back and forth as she spoke, her movements getting more and more animated. "She left me with that drunk woman instead. I never felt like she loved me—my grandmother. She either ignored me or yelled at me. I thought it was because I was an accident." Jodie laughed. "Which I guess I was. Just not her accident."

"What happened that day, Jodie?" I asked. Jodie must have been the girl I saw running on the forest path the evening of the murder. I wished I'd had the forethought to record this conversation on my phone. Too late now; I didn't want to risk a sudden movement by reaching for it.

"You heard her in that salon," Jodie said. "It was all Michael this and Patsy that and 'children are the most important thing.' God, I thought I was going to gag. I eventually got sick of it and stormed out. She followed me into the woods. When I yelled at her about the lie again, she had the audacity to get mad. She was mad at me! Can you even?"

I shook my head dutifully even though I didn't think Jodie was focused on me anymore.

"She told me I needed to find a way to get over it. The past was the past and all that bull. I suggested we could tell everyone the truth. That would help me get over it. She refused. Again. Then she tried to show me her locket." Tears fell from Jodie's eyes as she put on Missy's affect. "'I keep all my kids close to my heart,' she said. Puh-lease." Jodie swiped at the angry tears and gave a derisive laugh. "Like keeping my picture in a locket would make up for denying me all my life. She betrayed me—over and over and over. And was still betraying me, even after I found out the truth. I couldn't take it anymore. I-I didn't even realize I had the scissors in my hand until I swung them at her. They must have been in my apron pocket when I ran from the salon."

"I'm so sorry, Jodie," I said, meaning it. "The way she treated you was horrible."

Wasn't an excuse for murder—but I kept that thought to myself.

"That's right. It was horrible. And I'm not going to suffer one more day for her lies. So, I'm sorry, Alex, but you can't leave."

"I won't tell," I said quickly, taking another step away and feeling my back hit the wood of the fence. "Everyone knows there was no love lost between Missy and I. Frankly, I think you did Piney Ridge a favor. I promise." I crossed my heart with a finger. "I'm the best at keeping secrets."

"I don't know you, so I can't trust you. If only you'd kept your nose out of it, like Chief Duncan suggested. I'll work with their suspicion. I think you'll commit suicide over your guilt for killing Missy. How poetic that you do it right here at her house, on the very night of her memorial."

Jodie's dark eyes were now laser-focused on me, like a huntress on her prey. I shifted sideways down the fence as Jodie stalked me, knife raised in her hand.

I tried to focus, tried to see through my scared haze and concentrate over the thrum of the blood rushing in my ears and the roar of my racing heart. The moment I reached the corner of the fence, Jodie seized the moment and lunged. I held my breath and waited.

There was nowhere else to go.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 33

 

 

 

 

I ducked and rolled to the side as the knife passed my head. For once in my adult life, I thanked my Polish genes for my small stature. The knife got stuck in the fence, and as Jodie struggled to dislodge it—on a string of curses—I put my entire weight behind a kick to Jodie's knee. She fell to the ground, screaming in pain and holding her knee.

I ran blindly in the dark, trying to remember the location of the pool so I didn't accidentally fall in. I ran until I hit a solid object with an oomph. I ricocheted off and landed hard on the ground. A scream bubbled up in my throat. How did Jodie get in front of me? Hands reached down toward me. I clawed and kicked and scrambled and screamed.

Until a very familiar and very welcome voice broke through my panic.

"Alex. Lexi. Alex. It's me.