“I think I was wrong, though,” she said. “We should’ve stayed. Then I wouldn’t have miscarried.”
I said, “How can you know that you wouldn’t have miscarried even if you had stayed? Did they actually tell you that you were responsible?”
“They didn’t say it was our fault,” Daniel said. “They were just worried that Heather had gotten herself too stressed out by moving.”
In other words, they had implied that it was her fault.
“What is this center called?” I said.
Daniel sat straighter, his shoulders proud.
“The River of Life Spiritual Center.”
Something tickled at the back of my mind, followed by an uncomfortable feeling of dread settling in my stomach.
“Who runs it?”
“Aaron Quinn. He’s the director of all the programs at the center.”
Aaron Quinn. He said Aaron Quinn.
It couldn’t be the same man.
Heather’s voice was a whisper. “Most of the members call it the commune.”
The commune. I hadn’t heard that name in years. I hadn’t wanted to hear it ever again. I stared at Heather, trying to think, my heart thudding in my ears.
“Dr. Lavoie?” Heather’s blue eyes were full of sorrow and pain. “Do you think it’s my fault the baby died?”
It took a second for me to refocus my thoughts. You have a patient, and she needs your help.
“No, I don’t think it’s your fault. You made a decision you thought was best for your child—you were just being good parents.” I talked on for a minute or two, heard the comforting words coming out of my mouth. But all the while my head was filled with a dull roar, the sound of fate and life colliding. Because what I couldn’t tell them was that I knew Aaron Quinn.
I knew exactly who he was.
‘A harrowing tale of manipulation that got under my skin by the end of the first chapter.’
‘Stevens lights that fuse and lets it burn all the way to an explosive ending. A chilling, compelling read.’
‘Block off the weekend, grab a comfy seat, and prepare for the rocket ride of your life.’
‘A terrifying, chilling scenario that unfolds into a nightmare that had me keeping the light on at night.’
‘An astonishingly well-crafted debut novel.’
‘Grim and unsettling… utterly absorbing.’
‘Engrossing, terrifying.’
‘I had to remind myself to breathe. Simply terrifying.’
‘Frank, fierce, and sometimes even funny, this is a dark tale pinpricked with light-and told by an unforgettable heroine’
‘Thriller writers such as Kathy Reichs and Karin Slaughter had better watch out, they have a real competitor on their hands in Stevens… chilling suspense mixed in with disturbing psychological insight — and a real heroine.’
‘Stevens writes in a fresh, truly authentic human voice, gripping you and tearing your heart from the very first page to the last. Still Missing is one of the very few books I’ve read in a long while that I absolutely could not put down until I had finished it.’
‘It’s a knockout, a psychological thriller that pulls no punches… relentless and disturbing.’
‘Blistering debut… a grueling, gripping demonstration of melodrama’s darker side.’
‘Pulsates with suspense… [with a] jaw-dropping but credible closing twist.’
Also by Chevy Stevens
