Once Forsaken (A Riley Paige Mystery—Book 7) Read online

  “Oh, Mom, not mom jeans, please!”

  “Well, I can’t wear what you wear. I’ve got to be able move around without worrying that my clothes are going to burst or fly off. No wardrobe malfunctions for me, thank you.”

  April laughed. “A pair of slacks, you mean! Good luck finding anything like that here.”

  Riley looked around at the available jeans. They were all extremely skinny, low-waisted, and artificially ragged.

  Riley sighed. She knew of a couple of stores elsewhere in the mall where she could buy something more her style. But she’d have to endure all kinds of teasing and nagging from April.

  “I’ll look for mine another time,” Riley said.

  April grabbed a bundle of jeans and went to the changing room. When she came out, she was wearing the kind of jeans that Riley loathed—skin-tight, ripped in places, with the navel fully in view.

  Riley shook her head.

  “You might want to try mom jeans yourself,” she said. “They’d be a lot more comfortable. But then, being comfortable isn’t your thing, is it?”

  “Nope,” April said, turning and looking at her jeans in a mirror. “I’m getting these. I’ll go try on the others.”

  April returned to the changing room several times. She always came back with jeans that Riley hated but knew better than to forbid her from buying. It really wasn’t worth a battle, and she knew she’d lose one way or another.

  As April posed in the mirror, Riley realized that her daughter was almost as tall as she was, and the T-shirt she was wearing revealed a well-developed figure. With her dark hair and hazel eyes, April’s resemblance to Riley was striking. Of course, April’s hair didn’t show the streaks of gray that had appeared in Riley’s. But even so …

  She’s becoming a woman, Riley thought.

  She couldn’t help but feel uneasy about the idea.

  Was April growing up too fast?

  She’d certainly been through a lot just during the last year. She’d been taken captive twice. One of those times she’d been kept in the dark by a sadist with a blowtorch. She’d also had to fight off a killer in their own home. Worst of all, an abusive boyfriend had drugged her and tried to sell her for sex.

  Riley knew that it was all too much for a fifteen-year-old to have had to deal with. She felt guilty that her own work had put April and other people she loved in mortal danger.

  And now here April was, looking remarkably mature despite her efforts to look and act like a normal teenager. April seemed to be over the worst of her PTSD. But what kinds of fears and anxieties still troubled her deep down? Would she ever really get over them?

  Riley paid for April’s new clothes and wandered out onto the mall balcony. The confidence in April’s walk made Riley feel less worried. Things were getting better, after all. She knew that right then Ryan was moving some of his own things into her townhouse. And both April and Jilly were doing well in school.

  Riley was about to suggest that they find a place to eat when April’s phone buzzed. April abruptly walked away to take the call. Riley felt a flash of dismay. Sometimes that cell phone seemed to be a living thing that demanded all of April’s attention.

  “Hey, what’s up?” April asked the caller.

  Suddenly April’s knees wobbled, and she sat down on a bench. Her face went pale, and her happy expression collapsed into pain. Tears began to roll down her face. Alarmed, Riley rushed over to her and sat down beside her.

  “Oh my God!” April exclaimed. “How could—why—I can’t—”

  Riley felt a jolt of alarm.

  What had happened?

  Was someone hurt or in danger?

  Was it Jilly, Ryan, Gabriela?

  No, someone would surely have called Riley with such news, not April.

  “I’m so, so sorry,” April said over and over again.

  Finally, she ended the call.

  “Who was it?” Riley asked anxiously.

  “It was Tiffany,” April said in a stunned, quiet voice.

  Riley recognized the name. Tiffany Pennington was April’s best friend these days. Riley had met her a couple of times.

  “What’s the matter?” Riley asked.

  April looked at Riley with an expression of grief and horror.

  “Tiffany’s sister is dead,” April said.

  April looked as though she couldn’t believe her own words.

  Then in a choked voice she added, “They say it was suicide.”

  CHAPTER TWO

  Over dinner that evening, April tried to tell her family what little she knew about Lois’s death. But her own words sounded strange and alien to her, like someone else was speaking.

  It doesn’t seem real, she kept thinking.

  April had met Lois several times while visiting Tiffany. She remembered the last time clearly. Lois been smiling and happy, full of tales about being away at school. It was just impossible to believe that she was dead.

  Death wasn’t a complete stranger to April. She knew that her mom had faced death and had actually killed when working on FBI cases. But those had been bad guys, and they’d had to be stopped. April had even helped her mother fight and kill a sadistic murderer after he had taken April captive. She also knew that her grandfather had died four months ago, but she hadn’t seen him in a long time and they had never been close.

  But this death was more real to her, and it made no sense at all. Somehow it didn’t even seem possible.

  As April talked, she saw that her family was also confused and distressed. Her mom reached over and took her hand. Gabriela crossed herself and murmured a prayer in Spanish. Jilly’s mouth hung open with horror.

  April tried to remember everything that Tiffany had told her when they had talked again that afternoon. She had explained that yesterday morning Tiffany and her mom and dad had found Lois’s body hanging in their garage. The police thought it looked like suicide. In fact, everybody was acting like it had been suicide. Like that was all settled.

  Everybody but Tiffany, who kept saying she didn’t think so.

  April’s father shuddered when she finished telling them everything she could think of.

  “I know the Penningtons,” he said. “Lester’s a financial manager for a construction company. Not exactly wealthy, but comfortably well off. They’ve always seemed like a stable, happy family. Why would Lois do such a thing?”

  April had been asking herself that very question all day.

  “Tiffany says nobody knows,” April said. “Lois was in her first year at Byars College. She was kind of stressed out about it, but even so …”

  Dad shook his head sympathetically.

  “Well, maybe that explains it,” he said. “Byars is a tough school. Even tougher to get into than Georgetown. And very expensive. I’m surprised the family could afford it.”

  April drew a deep sigh and said nothing. She thought that Lois had been on scholarships, but she didn’t say so. She didn’t feel like talking about it. She didn’t feel like eating, either. Gabriela had fixed one of her specialties, a seafood soup called tapado that April normally loved. But so far she hadn’t taken a spoonful of it.

  Everybody was quiet for a few moments.

  Then Jilly said, “She didn’t kill herself.”

  Startled, April stared across at Jilly. Everybody else was looking at Jilly, too. The younger teen had crossed her arms and was looking very serious.

  “What?” April asked.

  “Lois didn’t kill herself,” Jilly said.

  “How do you know?” April asked.

  “I met her, remember? I could tell. She wasn’t the kind of girl who would ever want to do that. She didn’t want to die.”

  Jilly paused for a moment.

  Then she said, “I know how it feels to want to die. She didn’t. I could tell.”

  April’s heart jumped up into her throat.

  She knew that Jilly had been through her own share of hell. Jilly had told her about how her abusive father had locked her ou
t of the house one cold night. Jilly had slept in a drainpipe, and then she had gone to a truck stop where she tried to become a prostitute. That was when Mom had found her.

  If anybody knew what it felt like to want to die, Jilly sure did.

  April felt a flood of grief and horror ready to erupt inside her. Was Jilly wrong? Had Lois felt that miserable?

  “Excuse me,” she said. “I don’t think I can eat now.”

  April got up from the table and rushed upstairs to her bedroom. She shut the door, threw herself down on her bed, and sobbed.

  She didn’t know how much time passed. But after a while, she heard a knock at the door.

  “April, can I come in?” her mother asked.

  “Yes,” April said in a choked voice.

  April sat up, and Mom walked into the room carrying a grilled cheese sandwich on a plate. Mom smiled sympathetically.

  “Gabriela thought this might be easier on your stomach than tapado,” Mom said. “She’s worried that you’ll make yourself sick if you don’t eat. I’m worried too.”

  April smiled through her tears. This was very sweet of both Gabriela and Mom.

  “Thanks,” she said.

  She wiped her eyes and took a bite of the sandwich. Mom sat down on the bed beside her and took her hand.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Mom asked.

  April gulped down a sob. For some reason, she found herself remembering how her best friend, Crystal, had moved away recently. Her father, Blaine, had been badly beaten right here in this house. Even though he and Mom had been interested in each other, he’d been so shaken that he’d decided to move.

  “I’ve got the weirdest feeling,” April said. “Like this was my fault somehow. Terrible things keep happening to us, and it’s almost like it’s contagious or something. I know it doesn’t make sense but …”

  “I understand how you feel,” Mom said.

  April was surprised. “You do?”

  Mom’s expression saddened.

  “I feel like that a lot myself,” she said. “My work is dangerous. And it puts everybody I love in danger. It makes me feel guilty. A lot.”

  “But it’s not your fault,” April said.

  “So how come you think it’s your fault?”

  April didn’t know what to say.

  “What else is bothering you?” Mom asked.

  April thought for a moment.

  “Mom, Jilly’s right. I don’t think Lois killed herself. And Tiffany doesn’t think so either. I knew Lois. She was happy, one of the most together people I’ve ever known. And Tiffany looked up to her. She was like Tiffany’s hero. It just doesn’t make sense.”

  April could tell by her mother’s expression that she didn’t believe her.

  She just thinks I’m being hysterical, April thought.

  “April, the police must think that it was suicide, and her mother and father—”

  “Well, they’re wrong,” April said, surprised by the sharpness in her own voice. “Mom, you’ve got to check it out. You know more about this kind of thing than any of them do. More even than the police.”

  Mom shook her head sadly.

  “April, I can’t do that. I can’t just go in and start investigating something that’s already been settled. Think how the family would feel about that.”

  It was all April could do to keep from crying again.

  “Mom, I’m begging you. If Tiffany never finds out the truth, it will ruin her life. She’ll never get over it. Please, please do something.”

  It was a huge favor to ask, and April knew it. Mom didn’t reply for a moment. She got up and walked over to the bedroom window and looked outside. She seemed to be deep in thought.

  Still looking outside, Mom finally said, “I’ll go talk to Tiffany’s parents tomorrow. That is, if they want to talk to me. That’s all I can do.”

  “Can I come with you?” April asked.

  “You’ve got school tomorrow,” Mom said.

  “Let’s do it after school then.”

  Mom fell quiet again, then said, “OK.”

  April got up from the bed and hugged her mother tightly. She wanted to say thank you, but she felt too overwhelmed with gratitude to get the words out.

  If anyone can find out what’s wrong, Mom can, April thought.

  CHAPTER THREE

  The next afternoon, Riley drove April to the Penningtons’ house. Despite her doubts that Lois Pennington had been murdered, Riley felt sure that this was the best thing to do.

  I owe it to April, she thought as she drove.

  After all, she knew what it felt like to be positive about something and not have anyone believe her.

  And April certainly did seem positive that something was very wrong.

  As for Riley, her instincts hadn’t kicked in one way or the other. But as they drove into a higher-class section of Fredericksburg, she reminded herself that monsters often lurked behind the most peaceful of facades. Many of the charming homes they passed on the way surely held dark secrets. She’d seen too much evil in her life not to know that all too well.

  And whether Lois’s death had been suicide or murder, there could be no doubt that a monster had invaded the Penningtons’ seemingly happy home.

  Riley parked on the street in front of the house. It was a large home, three stories tall and filling a fairly wide lot. Riley remembered what Ryan had said about the Penningtons.

  “Not exactly wealthy, but comfortably well off.”

  The house confirmed what he’d said. It was an attractive upscale home in a nice neighborhood. The only thing that seemed unusual about it was the police tape across the doors of the detached garage where the family had found their daughter hanging.

  The cold air bit sharply as Riley and April got out of the car and walked toward the house. Several cars were parked tightly in the driveway.

  They rang the front doorbell, and Tiffany greeted them. April threw herself into Tiffany’s arms, and both girls started sobbing.

  “Oh, Tiffany, I’m so sorry,” April said.

  “Thank you, thank you for coming,” Tiffany said.

  Their shared emotion brought a lump into Riley’s throat. The two girls seemed so young right now, barely more than children. It seemed horribly unfair that they should have to undergo such a terrible ordeal. Even so, she felt an odd hint of pride in April’s heartfelt kindness. April was growing up to be caring and compassionate.

  I must be doing something right as a parent, Riley thought.

  Tiffany was a little shorter than April, with a bit more teenaged awkwardness about her. Her hair was strawberry blond, and her skin was pale and freckled, which made the redness around her eyes from crying look more pronounced.

  Tiffany led Riley and April into the living room. Tiffany’s parents were sitting on a couch, separated from each other slightly. Did their body language reveal anything? Riley wasn’t sure. She knew that couples dealt with grief in many different ways.

  Several other people were hovering around, speaking to each other in hushed whispers. Riley guessed that they were friends and family who had come to help out however they could.

  She heard low voices and the rattling of utensils in the kitchen, where people seemed to be preparing food. Through an arch that led into the dining room, she saw two couples arranging pictures and memorabilia on the table. There were also pictures of Lois and her family at various ages set up in the living room.

  Riley shuddered at the thought that the girl in the pictures had been alive just two days ago. How would she feel if she had lost April so suddenly? It was a chilling possibility, and there had already been too many close calls.

  Who would come to her house to offer help and comfort?

  Would she even want anybody’s help and comfort?

  She shook off such thoughts as Tiffany introduced her to her parents, Lester and Eunice.

  “Please, don’t get up,” Riley said as the couple started to rise to greet her.

  Riley
and April sat down near the couple. Eunice had her daughter’s freckled complexion and brightly colored hair. Lester’s complexion was darker, and his face was long and thin.

  “I’m very sorry for your loss,” Riley said.

  The couple thanked her. Lester managed to force a small smile.

  “We’ve never met, but I know Ryan slightly,” he said. “How’s he doing these days?”

  Tiffany reached from her own chair to tap her father on the arm. She silently mouthed, “They’re divorced, Dad.”

  Lester’s face reddened a little.

  “Oh, I’m very sorry,” he said.

  Riley felt herself blush.

  “Please don’t be,” she said. “Like people say these days—‘it’s complicated.’”

  Lester nodded, still smiling weakly.

  They all said nothing for a few moments as a low buzz of activity continued around them.

  Then Tiffany said, “Mom, Dad—April’s mother is an FBI agent.”

  Lester and Eunice gaped, not knowing what to say. Embarrassed again, Riley didn’t know what to say either. She knew that April had called Tiffany yesterday to say that they were coming over. Apparently, Tiffany hadn’t told her parents what Riley did for a living until just now.

  Tiffany looked back and forth at her parents, then said, “I thought maybe she could help us find out … what really happened.”

  Lester gasped, and Eunice sighed bitterly.

  “Tiffany, we’ve talked about this,” Eunice said. “We know what happened. The police are sure. We’ve got no reason to think otherwise.”

  Lester stood unsteadily.

  “I can’t deal with this,” he said. “I just … can’t.”

  He turned and wandered into the dining room. Riley could see that the two couples there hurried to comfort him.

  “Tiffany, you should be ashamed of yourself,” Eunice said.

  The girl’s eyes were brimming with tears.

  “But I just want to know the truth, Mom. Lois didn’t kill herself. She couldn’t have done that. I know it.”

  Eunice looked at Riley.

  “I’m sorry you got caught in the middle of this,” she said. “Tiffany’s having trouble accepting the truth.”