Closer Than Blood

of Love” as Kendall and Steven surveyed the room. Most of the faces were familiar in the sense that, fifteen years after graduation, most still held on to the characteristics that marked them in high school. Blondes were still blond. Most athletes still looked reasonably trim. Maybe slightly beefier around the middle, but good.

“Not the train wreck we thought,” Adam said, carrying a glass of white wine from the bar and offering it to Kendall.

“Are you on duty or here for what passes for a good time in Port Orchard?” She took the glass.

“Good time, I guess.”

“Penny’s already overdoing it,” Steven said, indicating the primary organizer of the event. Penny wore a flowing low-cut gown that looked as if it used up the entire yardage at JoAnn’s fabric store in Port Orchard. Penny, they all knew, sewed her own clothes and never saw a “designer look” that didn’t invite her improvements.

“Michael Kors?” Kendall said.

“More like Bob Mackie,” Adam said. Kendall sipped her wine. She was exhausted from her trip and reeling from the disclosure she’d made to Steven. She didn’t feel like being anywhere close to the reunion festivities. But she had no choice. She’d agreed to it long ago. She’d already planned on coming up with an excuse for the next reunion. Let’s share the fun with other people, Penny. It would be wrong for me to be so selfish to do it again.

“Maybe we should mingle,” she said to Steven.

“All right, honey,” he said, squeezing her hand as if to tell her everything would be okay. Kendall’s phone buzzed and looked down at the screen. It was Laura Connelly.

“Hang on,” she said, turning toward the door to the patio that overlooked the golf course.

“I’ll take this outside.”

“Laura?” she asked as she found an empty place by the rail.

“Kendall, I’m sorry to bother you. But Parker and I need to see you. It’s about Tori and Lainie.”

“What is it? Did you say you found Parker?”

“Yes, and I’m scared, Kendall. I didn’t know who else to call.”

“That’s all right. You can call anytime.” The band started in on their version of Ace of Base’s “All That She Wants.” It was louder than the Celine cover, and Kendall tried to move to a quieter section of the patio, away from a couple who’d had too much to drink and were arguing about who had dumped whom first.

“I’m at a function right now,” Kendall said.

“I can’t get away.”

“You’re at Gold Mountain, right? We’re coming to you.”

“Why, yes. How did you know? Who is ‘we’?” The phone went dead. Kendall dialed Josh Anderson.

“Josh, I need you to get over here. Laura Connelly found her son, and she’s bringing him here. She sounds terrified.”

“I can be there in a half hour. Backup needed?”

“No,” said.

“This is a mom and a boy. We can handle it.”

“Got it. On my way.”

CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE

Bremerton

Lainie was sure she was dead. The world had gone completely dark. The last thing that happened—before she was dispatched into the darkness—was a sudden, sharp pain to her head. Had there been an earthquake? Had something fallen? As she was ruminating over what might have happened, Lainie O’Neal realized that she was alive. But where was she? She was curled up in the darkness. She was not bound, but free to move. Although any movement was difficult, the space was so confining. Am I underground? She continued to wriggle and shift her body as much as she could, all the while feeling around in the darkness. She touched something round. Hard. Her fingertips felt the grooves of what she knew to be tire treads. A spare tire. Lainie was in the trunk of a car. She shifted her body again and tried to roll in the opposite direction. She was sure that if she was in a trunk, she was facing the wrong way. Because the right way, she hoped, would have a pinprick of light. Wouldn’t it? Lainie stopped her efforts. She was getting nowhere. She knew there was only one more thing she could do to get help. She could scream.

“Help! Help!” The words came out of her mouth, but she was unsure just how loud they were. Inside the car trunk everything seemed wrapped in silence. She tasted blood on her lip and remembered that she’d banged her face against something as she fell into the trunk.

“Get me out of here!”

Deirdre Jericho Landers planted herself by the bartender stationed outside the Olympic Room. If she’d thought for a moment that the class reunion was a good way to get reacquainted with her high school pals, she was wrong. The reality of her senior year had just come sharply into focus. She’d only gone to South Kitsap for her senior year. She was a perpetual outsider. Despite all that she’d done to fit in, she was scooted aside by girls and guys with friendships that went from elementary school to adulthood. Dee Dee drank a gin and tonic at a bar in Gorst before her arrival at the reunion. She was between husbands and boyfriends and felt a little self-conscious. She wanted to take the edge off. Unfortunately, she followed that with a couple more once she arrived. She wasn’t an alcoholic, just a woman who was tired of being on the outside looking in.

“I know you,” she called over to Eddie Kaminski, standing by the door. Kendall looked over, surprised that Kaminski was there. Josh had likely given him the heads-up on Parker and he was there to keep his hand in the case. The boys’ club, she figured, would never really die.

“Sorry,” he said, barely looking at her.

“I’m not a member of the class.” Dee Dee looked him over. Closely. Her first thought was that he was handsome, fit, and the kind of guy she’d fallen for more than once. She wondered for a second if he seemed familiar because he was the type of guy she usually went home with. Masculine. Military. Sure of himself. She liked the vibe.

“No, I know you,” she said, rethinking her approach.

“Are you on TV or something?” He shook his head.

“Not really. Sometimes for my work.”

“What kind of work?” By then, Dee Dee had examined his left hand for a wedding band. Good. This one’s available.

“Police. Tacoma.”

“Tacoma?” The wheels were turning, but Dee Dee had had one too many drinks and they weren’t all going in the same direction.

“Have a good night,” he said, walking away.

Laura and Parker Connelly stood in the turnaround in front of the golf course clubhouse. Kaminski stayed put, waiting for Tori to show up. Kendall and Josh led mother and son to a quiet place near a lineup of golf carts. Laura’s face was pinched in anguish. She’d implored her son to do the right thing and he was there.

“She lied to me,” Parker said.

“Tori?” Kendall asked. Parker nodded.

“She totally used and manipulated Parker. She’s an evil bitch,” Laura said, obviously unable to hold back. Kendall acknowledged the mother’s anger but turned her attention to the teenager.

“Tell us, Parker.” Parker swallowed hard and took a seat on the back of a golf cart.

“She shot my dad. I shot him, too. But he was dead. I swear he was dead.” Josh moved in closer and Kendall motioned for him to back off. This wasn’t the time to intimidate. The kid was talking.

“I’m really sorry for what I did to that minister,” he said.

“What did you do to Pastor Mike?”

“I killed the dude. I shouldn’t have. But she told me that it was the only way we could stay together. She thought that you—” He stopped and looked directly at Kendall.

“You were going to ruin things with that stupid investigation into that Jason kid’s death. All of this is your fault.”

“Parker,” Laura said.

“You know that’s not true.” He buried his face in his hands.