Closer Than Blood

“I guess so. I mean, I know so.” In that moment Kendall could see clearly that the boy who killed the minister was really very much a boy, listening to his mother, deferring to her. Like he might have deferred to Tori.

“Tori lied to me,” he said.

“We get that, Parker,” Josh said.

“Specifically, about what?”

“She said I was the only one for her. That I was her soul mate. But she lied. I put a webcam in her bedroom ... I heard her talking tonight on the webcam.” He stopped and looked at his mother, who had taken a seat next to him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders.

“Go on,” Kendall said.

“There’s someone else. They were laughing at me.” He turned to his mother and started to cry.

“She was laughing at me, Mom.” Laura cradled her son.

“I’m sorry, honey. I’m so sorry.” Kendall couldn’t help but think of the connection between Jason and Parker. Both of their lives had been ruined at seventeen by Tori O’Neal.

“Please don’t hurt her,” Parker said.

“She’s going to have our baby.” Josh turned to Kendall and said in a low voice, “Jesus, this couldn’t get any better, could it?” Of course, like almost always, Josh Anderson was wrong. Laura pulled Kendall aside.

“What’s going to happen to Parker? Is he going to go to prison?” Kendall hated to answer. She could barely imagine what Laura was feeling. She sometimes wondered—though she would never say it aloud—if the burden on the parents of a killer was equal to the anguish of the parents of a victim. For the rest of their lives, those parents walk each footstep in shame. They wonder if they’d done something to create the monster. There is never, ever any closure.

“I can’t say how they’ll charge this, but he was a juvenile.” The hope was false, and Kendall knew it. More and more, prosecutors charged young people as adults. Parker was looking at serious jail time.

“He is a good boy. She was using him.” That was true, but it probably wasn’t enough.

“Laura, the prosecutor will surely consider those as mitigating factors.”

“He’s not lost forever,” Laura said. Kendall gripped Laura’s hand.

“No, no one is.”

“Wait a second!” A voice called over to Kendall, Josh, and Kaminski as they compared notes over what Parker had just told investigators. It was Dee Dee Landers.

“I remember now. You’re the guy I saw with Lainie or Tori at the El Gaucho last summer. You’re her boyfriend.” Kaminski took a step toward Dee Dee.

“Sorry, you must have me mixed up with someone else.” The slightly drunk brunette staggered on her heels, four-inchers that didn’t exactly do her any favors in the agility department.

“No. No. I haven’t,” she said.

“She’s had too much to drink,” Josh said.

“Let’s get her out of here so she can dry out.” Kaminski locked his arm on hers and started to take her out the door.

“Detective, wait a sec,” Kendall said, ushering them to the breezeway between the Olympic Room and the main clubhouse.

“I want to hear what she has to say.” Dee Dee nodded, a little wobbly, but in the affirmative.

“Yes. Thank you. Do I know you?” She looked at Kendall.

“Oh, yes. You’re Kendall. As I was saying—do you mind letting go of me?—as I was saying, I ran into you and one of those O’Neal twins last year. I talked with Lainie about it this fall when I saw her in Seattle. She didn’t remember, so it must have been Tori. The other twin. The one no one around here seems to like.” Kendall looked over at Josh and then locked eyes on Kaminski. Dee Dee would not be denied. She was not that drunk.

“I saw him on TV the other day. I know he’s the man that was in El Gaucho.”

In the dark of what she now knew was her sister’s car trunk, Lainie O’Neal began to reconstruct what happened to her. She’d met Tori in her condo’s garage.

“Let’s move this bag to the trunk,” Tori had said.

“I forgot to stop at Goodwill with these odds and ends.” Tori never thought her sister was the Goodwill type, but she helped her move the bag from the passenger seat to the trunk.

“Shove it in the back,” she said. Lainie bent over, and all of a sudden everything went black. Just like that. It was instantaneous. Tori had struck her. Hard. When she worked for the P-I she’d written a story about what to do if one is trapped in a trunk. She looked for the taillight to kick it out and wriggle her hand or foot to attract attention. She was so turned around she didn’t know which direction the back was. She felt along the top of the trunk for the other tip—the reason for her news story—look for the escape latch and pull. Found it. A flash of light. She was free. A sign in the parking lot told her where she was.

WELCOME TO GOLD MOUNTAIN

Drive Friendly.

Jesus, she thought, feeling the blood dripping from her head. This is the worst appearance by a schoolmate since Carrie went to her prom.

Kendall and Steven huddled with Lainie. It was obvious that something major was going on. Kitsap County deputies and detectives were swarming the parking lot. Penny Salazar told the band to play louder, but Ace of Base didn’t get better with volume. Penny was beginning to feel her theme had been a bit prophetic. But not in a good way.

“Parker confessed that your sister killed her husband,” Kendall said. Lainie steadied herself.

“It doesn’t surprise me, but it still hurts. Knowing that she could do something like that.”

“You’ll need to tell your father. It’ll be in all the papers.” Lainie said she would.

“This will kill him, you know,” she said.

“There’s more, Lainie. I think your sister killed some other people, too.” Lainie looked incredulous.

“What other people?”

“Jason, a boy in Hawaii, Zach . . . maybe even your mother.”

“That couldn’t be. You’re wrong about that.” Kendall felt so sorry for her, but she had to know. Eddie Kaminski, who caught the last few words of the conversation, offered to take Lainie somewhere if she wanted to clear her head.

“That would be nice. I really don’t feel like partying.”

Even an unbudgeted round of extra hors d’oeuvres barely captured the attention of the Class of ’95. There was too much drama in the parking lot. That was about to change when a second blonde in a little black dress showed up.

“Tori’s here,” someone said. All eyes went to the entryway.

“I’m Lainie and that bitch of a sister of mine whacked me.” Kendall looked over at Lainie and Kaminski as they started toward the door.

“You’re Tori,” she said to the twin who’d just arrived.

“That’s Lainie.” She pointed to the woman with Kaminski. The first blond twin shook her head.

“Oh, Tori, why are you saying that? Don’t you ever stop?”

“I am Lainie,” said the second, as she hurried across the room to face the other.

“I can’t tell the difference,” Kendall said.

“I am Lainie and I’m getting out of here,” she said, grabbing Kaminski’s arm and tugging.

“You’re not going anywhere!”

“Can someone calm her down? Please. This is embarrassing.” The bleeding blonde grabbed the other, but she pulled away. The contents of her Coach purse spilled onto the polished aggregate floor. Tubes of makeup, plane tickets, and a wallet tumbled out.

“I can prove she’s not me,” the second said snatching up the wallet.