grandmother is here,” the cop said. He sounded relieved, happy to be rid of them.
“Girls,” was the only word her grandmother got out as she came up the stairs. After that, she started to sob and took both of her granddaughters in an awkward embrace.
Oddly enough, it was that embrace that Chloe would remember.
The sight of the blood would become faint. The fat cop faded after just a few weeks, as did the surreal sight of the cuffs.
But for her entire life, Chloe would remember that awkward hug.
And the feeling of something deep inside cracking, and then breaking.
Had her father truly killed her mother?
Chapter One
17 Years Later
Chloe Fine climbed up the stairs of her new home—the home that she and her fiancé had hunted for, for months—and she could hardly contain her excitement.
“That box too heavy?”
Steven dashed up the steps beside her, carrying a box labeled PILLOWS.
“Not at all,” she said, hefting her own box, which read DISHES on the side.
Steven set his box down and took hers.
“Let’s trade,” he said with a smile.
He had been smiling a lot recently. Actually, there seemed to have been a permanent smile on his face ever since she had allowed him to slip an engagement ring on her finger eight months ago.
They marched together up the sidewalk. As they went, Chloe took in the sight of the yard. It wasn’t the big sprawling yard she’d always envisioned. In her mind, her house had a big open yard with trees scattered along the back. Instead, she and Steven had settled on one in a quiet neighborhood. But she was only twenty-seven; she had time. Both she and Steven knew that this was not the house they’d grow old in. And something about that made it even more special. This was to be their starter home, the place they would learn the ins and outs of marriage—and maybe where they’d work at having a kid or two.
She could see their neighbor’s house quite clearly. The lawns were separated only by a series of tall bushes. The picturesque white porch was almost identical to their own.
“I know I grew up here for the most part,” Chloe said. “But it just doesn’t feel the same. It feels like a different town.”
“I assure you, it’s exactly the same,” Steven said. “Well, give or take a few new housing developments like the one we are currently homeowners in. Good old Pinecrest, Maryland. Small enough so you’ll always run into people you don’t want to but just large enough to not have to drive an hour to a grocery store.”
“I miss Philly already.”
“Not me,” Steven said. “No more Eagles fans, no more Rocky jokes, no more traffic.”
“All good points,” Chloe agreed. “Still…”
“Give it some time,” Steven said. “This will feel like home soon enough.”
Chloe wished her grandmother was there in that moment to see this house. Chloe was pretty sure she’d be proud. She’d probably also waste no time in firing up the brand new oven in the kitchen in order to bake a celebratory dessert.
But she’d died two years ago, just ten months after Chloe’s grandfather died in a car accident. It would have been poetic to think she’d died of a broken heart but that hadn’t been the case; in the end, it was a heart attack that claimed her grandmother.
Chloe also thought of Danielle. Right after high school, Danielle had moved away to Boston for a few years. There had been a pregnancy scare, an arrest or two, and several failed jobs. All of that had eventually led her sister back here, to Pinecrest, a few years ago.
As for Chloe, she had gone to college in Philadelphia, met Steven, and started working toward her career of becoming an FBI agent. She had a few classes remaining, but the transition had been smooth. Baltimore was just a half hour drive to the west and all of her credits had transferred without a hitch.
The stars had seemed to align in some majestic way when Steven had managed to land a job in Pinecrest. As much as Chloe joked about not wanting to return to Pinecrest, something inside of her knew she’d always end up back there if even for just a few years. It was a dumb sentiment but she felt she owed it to her grandparents. Growing up, she couldn’t get out of this place fast enough and she felt that her grandparents had always taken that a little personally.
And then the perfect house had come along and Chloe had started to love the idea of being back in a smaller town. Pinecrest wasn’t tiny at all—a population of about thirty-five thousand made it a comfortable size as far as Chloe was concerned.
Also, she was excited to meet up with Danielle at some point.
But first, they had to finish moving in. The meager belongings she and Steven owned were packed into the back of the U-Haul that was currently parked askew in their small concrete driveway. They were now two hours into unloading the truck, in and out, back and forth, until they could finally see the back of the trailer through the last row of boxes and bins.
As Steven brought in the last of the boxes, Chloe began to unpack. It was surreal to realize that these were items from their separate apartments now being unboxed to share the same space they’d share as a couple. It was a warm feeling, one that made her glance at the ring on her finger with a confident smile.
As she was unpacking, she heard a knock on the front door—the first actual knock at their new home. This was followed by a woman’s high-pitched voice saying: “Hello?”
Confused, Chloe stopped unpacking and walked to the front door. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting to see but it certainly wasn’t a face from her past. Strangely enough, that’s exactly what she found waiting at the door.
“Chloe Fine?” the woman asked.
It had been eight years, but Chloe recognized the face of Kathleen Saunders easily enough. They’d gone to high school together. It was very dreamlike to see her here, standing at her front door. While not the best of friends in high school, they had been a bit more than casual acquaintances. Still, seeing a face from her past standing in the threshold of her future was so unexpected that it made Chloe feel dizzy for a moment.
“Kathleen?” she asked. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Living here,” Kathleen said with a smile. She had put on quite a bit of weight since high school but her smile was exactly the same.
“Here?” Chloe asked. “In this neighborhood?”
“Yes. Two houses over, to your right. I was coming in from walking my dog and I thought it was you. Well, you or your sister. So I came over and asked the man in the back of the U-Haul and he said to come on up and say hello. Is that your husband?”
“Fiancé,” Chloe said.
“Well, how small of a world is this?” she asked. “Or…rather, how small of a town.”
“Yes, I suppose it really is,” Chloe said.
