WHO ATTACKED THE BABYSITTER?
Why had the intruder come after Marissa? Was it something to do with Teddy Ryerson, or the Ryerson family as a whole? Was it something to do with there being a babysitter? That made no sense at all, but these two bookended crimes over twenty years couldn’t be completely random, could they?
No. They were too similar. A knife wielded against a babysitter at the very same house. There had to be a connection. But what? Why?
Emma . . . Jamie had wrestled all night with whether she should alert her sister to what had happened. Emma had already mentioned that she didn’t like the Ryersons. She still seemed slightly bemused by the fact that Teddy and Serena were grown and that Teddy had twins of his own.
Her gut told her not to tell Emma anything that had happened last night. But on the other hand, if Emma found out from some other source, someone who might not know her full history . . . Jamie had a vision of Emma yelling, “It’s his eyes . . . his eyes!” and inwardly shuddered....
Books by Nancy Bush
CANDY APPLE RED
ELECTRIC BLUE
ULTRAVIOLET
WICKED GAME
WICKED LIES
SOMETHING WICKED
WICKED WAYS
UNSEEN
BLIND SPOT
HUSH
NOWHERE TO RUN
NOWHERE TO HIDE
NOWHERE SAFE
SINISTER
I’LL FIND YOU
YOU CAN’T ESCAPE
YOU DON’T KNOW ME
THE KILLING GAME
DANGEROUS BEHAVIOR
OMINOUS
NO TURNING BACK
ONE LAST BREATH
JEALOUSY
BAD THINGS
LAST GIRL STANDING
THE BABYSITTER
Published by Kensington Publishing Corp.
THE BABYSITTER
NANCY BUSH
ZEBRA BOOKS
KENSINGTON PUBLISHING CORP.
www.kensingtonbooks.com
All copyrighted material within is Attributor Protected.
Table of Contents
WHO ATTACKED THE BABYSITTER?
Also by
Title Page
Copyright Page
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Epilogue
ZEBRA BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
119 West 40th Street
New York, NY 10018
Copyright © 2020 by Nancy Bush
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales, or persons living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
To the extent that the image or images on the cover of this book depict a person or persons, such person or persons are merely models, and are not intended to portray any character or characters featured in the book.
If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the Publisher and neither the Author nor the Publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”
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ISBN: 978-1-4201-5075-9
ISBN-13: 978-1-4201-5076-6 (eBook)
ISBN-10: 1-4201-5076-6 (eBook)
Chapter One
Then . . .
Jamie stuck her head under the coffee table, with its deep sides that made it damn near impossible to reach the tossed cards from the Memory Game she’d been playing with Serena and Teddy, the Ryerson twins. They were in bed for good now, God willing. The seven-year-olds had had their last drink of water, their last story, their last everything. Jamie was honestly sick of them. She’d been babysitting them for eons and she was supposed to be at the Stillwell party tonight. She’d been invited by Cooper Haynes himself. Coolest guy in school. He’d smiled at her this afternoon and asked if she was going to be there. And she was only a sophomore and wouldn’t be able to drive until the summer, but he’d specifically asked her even though he was in her sister Emma’s class.
Emma was supposed to babysit the twins tonight. Jamie had begged and begged her older sister to take over for her. She’d promised her anything. Emma had wanted to know what the big deal was. To her, the party at the Stillwells’ was just another senior get-together for her class, of which she’d been to kazillions.
But Cooper Haynes had invited her, Jamie Whelan, specifically!
“Please, please, please,” she’d begged Emma, dramatically prostrating herself on her sister’s bedroom carpet.
“Jesus, what’s the big deal? There’ll be another one,” Emma said.
Jamie would rather cut out her tongue than admit that Cooper had asked her to go. Emma would laugh or make fun of her. Emma and Cooper were friends, had once even gone together for a short time when they were in junior high. If Emma knew of Jamie’s secret, secret crush, it would be all over the school.
“I want to go to this one,” Jamie said, rising into a squat, her hands in front of her in prayer. “Just, please, Emma. Take over for me.”
“Mom won’t let you go to a senior party anyway.”
“She doesn’t have to know. And I’ll get there somehow.”
“Oh, you will?” A smile played on Emma’s lips. She was the rebel and Jamie was the good girl, as far as their mother knew. And it was true, up to a point. Jamie worked on her grades and stayed in and babysat for extra cash because the Whelan family was damn near dirt-poor since Dad had his midlife crisis and took up with that bitch with the fake boobs and big hair and houseboat on the Columbia River. Jamie and Emma had visited him exactly once and it had been an epic fail.
“What do you need from me to make this happen, Emma?” Jamie asked, rising to her feet and shifting into business mode.
“Fifty dollars.”
“What?”
“I’ve got some things to buy.” She
