popcorn against the trunk. Beer foamed white, splashing over him. Glass cut and scratched his hand, drawing blood. Lenny heard murmurings of fright elsewhere in the park.
Kirk spun back, sucking the blood from his fingers. ‘We’re not done. You got that? Ashlynn’s dead. People gotta pay.’
‘I hear you, Kirk,’ Lenny said softly. ‘What’s next?’
‘We need to teach Tanya Swenson a lesson. The little bitch ran away and left Ashlynn there. Get her out of school tomorrow, Leno. Bring her to the football field for me. We’ll make sure she gets a message to take home to her daddy.’
‘I don’t know, man.’
‘Do it!’ Kirk snapped. ‘I’ll be waiting.’
‘Okay. Sure. Whatever you say.’
‘Then we deal with Olivia Hawk.’
Lenny paled. ‘She’s in prison,’ he protested.
‘The judge will let her out.’
‘Yeah, but why bother with her? Everybody says she’s going to be locked up for life.’
‘Then we’ll give her something to think about while she rots,’ Kirk said.
Lenny’s palms were sweating again. He felt himself growing aroused at the thought of Olivia. She was the only one he wanted, with her pouty lips and the brown hair that always fell over one eye. When she talked in class, she was so intense. So sure of herself. She was amazing. He wondered what it would be like to sleep with someone like that, but she barely knew who he was.
That didn’t stop him from fantasizing about her.
Following her.
‘Do you really think Olivia killed Ashlynn?’ he murmured to his brother.
Kirk’s eyes narrowed. ‘What are you talking about, Leno?’
‘It just doesn’t seem like something she would do. Not her.’
‘How the hell would you know?’
‘I don’t, man.’
‘She did it,’ Kirk insisted. ‘That bitch shot Ashlynn. End of story.’
6
‘Do I get to tell the judge that I’m not guilty?’ Olivia asked.
Chris shook his head. ‘Not yet.’
‘So what do I say?’
‘For now, nothing. Leave it to me.’
‘But people should know that I didn’t do it,’ his daughter protested. ‘Why can’t I tell them?’
‘You will. Later. This is just a detention hearing. If it lasts five minutes, that’s a long time. If the judge releases you, which I expect he will, we’ll work through some paperwork, and then I’ll take you home.’
‘Great. Jail still sucks.’
‘I know.’
He didn’t add that an overnight stay in jail was nothing compared with the prospect of twenty-five years.
‘Florian Steele probably has the judge in his back pocket,’ Olivia said. ‘He won’t let me out.’
‘Yes, he will. It’ll be okay, but keep your cool in there. Don’t say anything, don’t do anything, and
‘Yeah, I know.’
Chris added, ‘The county attorney thinks we should consider having you stay in jail for your own protection.’
‘No way. Not a chance.’
‘I didn’t say that’s what we’re going to do, but he’s right about keeping you safe. I’ll hire someone to watch the house in St. Croix, and once we get there, you stay put.’
‘So what, I’m a prisoner at home, too?’ Olivia asked. ‘I can take care of myself, Dad.’
‘No, you can’t.’
His daughter made a face at him, but she didn’t argue.
‘Did you tell Mom I didn’t do it?’ she asked.
‘I did.’
‘What did she say? Did she believe me?’
‘Of course, she did.’ Chris had no intention of sharing Hannah’s secret doubts. Olivia didn’t need to hear them.
He checked his watch. They needed to be in court in less than fifteen minutes. ‘Listen, I don’t think you shot Ashlynn, but I also think you’re
‘I don’t know what happened, Dad. Really.’
‘Let’s start at the beginning. Who knew you were meeting Tanya out at the ghost town that night?’
‘Nobody.’
‘Did you see other cars? Did you see or hear anything to suggest that someone else was in the town?’
‘No, we didn’t hear anyone. Nobody was around until Ashlynn showed up.’
‘Where did she come from?’
‘She said she was heading back to Barron and got a flat tire.’
‘Did she say where she’d been?’
‘No.’ After a pause, she added, ‘Ashlynn told us she’d been driving for hours.’
‘Hours?’ Chris asked.
‘That’s what she said. I figured she was lying, but—’ Olivia stopped, biting her lip.
‘Why did you think she was lying?’
‘I thought maybe she’d been in St. Croix.’
‘Why would she be there?’
‘That’s the way it’s been for the past year. Raids and sneak attacks between the towns.’
‘Was Ashlynn part of that?’
‘I don’t know. She was from Barron. They’ll do anything to hurt us.’
Chris still wasn’t convinced that his daughter was giving him the whole story. ‘What did you do after you dropped the gun and left Ashlynn in the park?’
‘I went home and went to bed.’
‘Did you talk to your mother?’
‘She was already sleeping. She sleeps pretty heavy because of the chemo.’
‘So she didn’t hear you leave or come back?’
‘I guess not.’
‘Did you tell anyone about Ashlynn? Did you send someone to help her?’
‘No.’
‘Why not? You said she was stranded out there.’
Olivia shrugged. Whenever she talked about Ashlynn, her face went cold. ‘I wasn’t going to help her,’ she said.
‘What time did you leave Ashlynn in the ghost town, and what time did you get home?’
‘It was around twelve-thirty when I left, and I got home ten or fifteen minutes later. It’s not far.’
Chris put the facts together in his head. Olivia left Ashlynn Steele stranded at half past midnight. Alive, with a gun at her feet in a deserted park, miles from either Barron or St. Croix. Five hours later, before dawn, Tanya Swenson finally confessed to her father what had happened overnight, and Rollie Swenson called 911. The sheriff’s department found Ashlynn in the park, dead of a single gunshot to the forehead. The revolver was missing. The
