The Bones She Buried: A completely gripping, heart-stopping crime thriller(67)

Groaning softly, she stood, dizziness assailing her. Holding on to the bed to steady herself, she fished her jeans and polo shirt off the floor and pulled them on. For a moment, she stared at Luke’s sleeping form, trying desperately to remember the night before. She remembered leaving, coming back, and doing shots. She vaguely remembered opening the bottle of wine while they watched television in the living room. She remembered laughing. That was it. Dropping to her knees, she swiped a hand beneath the bed, hoping to find her sneakers. Had she kicked them off downstairs?

The sound of tires over gravel outside caused nausea to roil in her stomach. She opened the bedroom door and nearly fell on her face. Blue lay across the threshold on the other side. The dog’s mournful eyes glanced up at her, but he didn’t move. Josie looked from the dog back into the room. A large tan dog bed lay at the foot of the bed. Why had Luke shut Blue out in the hallway? Josie didn’t want to think about it. She stepped over the dog and raced down the stairs just as she heard footsteps creaking on the porch. Her shoes were in the living room. She pushed her feet into them, snatched her keys and cell phone from the kitchen table and flung the front door open, expecting Carrieann but instead finding her twin sister, Trinity Payne.

“Wh-what are you doing here?” Josie said. She raised a hand over her eyes to shield them from the sunlight and the spears it poked all the way into the back of her head.

Trinity stood with her hands on her hips, looking stylish in a pair of tight jeans, knee-high brown leather boots and a clingy cashmere sweater cinched with a belt around her waist. But her face was pinched and angry. “Nice hair,” Trinity remarked.

Josie reached up and patted down one side of her brown hair, feeling the tangles catch against her fingertips. “Why are you here?” Josie said. “And how the hell did you find me?”

Trinity waved a hand in front of her face, her nose wrinkling. “My God, your breath.” She leaned in and sniffed at Josie. “Wild Turkey again, huh?”

Josie put a hand on her own hip and eyed Trinity head-on. “I asked you a question.”

Trinity spun on her heel and started walking back out to the driveway. “Get in the car, Josie.”

Josie stood and watched as a young woman emerged from the Lexus Trinity had arrived in. Trinity said something to her, and she looked over at Josie.

“Now, Josie,” Trinity said.

Josie trudged down the porch steps and into the driveway. Trinity took her keys from her hand and gave them to the young woman. “This is my assistant. She’ll drive your car back to Denton. You’re coming with me.”

Josie felt too sick to argue. The bumpy ride out to the road gave her the dry heaves. Trinity pulled open a small door on the top of the center console and took out a pack of gum which she tossed into Josie’s lap. Then she pointed to the glove compartment and said, “There’s some ibuprofen in there. Take it.”

It took three tries to get the childproof cap off. Josie swallowed three pills dry and popped a piece of gum in her mouth. She closed her eyes and waited for Trinity to explain herself. It didn’t take long.

“What is wrong with you?” Trinity began. “You barely escape a fire, and I have to find out from one of my local press contacts? Josie, this is not how you treat family.”

Without opening her eyes, Josie muttered, “I didn’t ‘barely escape’.”

“Oh really? How did you get out of the house?”

Sheepishly, Josie admitted, “I jumped out the window.”

Trinity made a sound of exasperation.

“Don’t you have to be in New York City for work?” Josie said.

“I took a personal day. My contact at WYEP called me late last night. She told me there was a lot of suspicious stuff happening in Denton; Beth Pratt dying; her house burning to the ground. Then she said, ‘Oh yeah, some police detective’s mom’s house burned down.’ So I looked into it and found out it was Noah’s mom’s house. I called you but you didn’t answer. Then I called the station. Talked to Sergeant Lamay who told me the whole story. I called you again. No answer. I called Noah and guess what he told me? That you two were taking time apart and that he didn’t know where you were. Then guess what I did?”

“You called me again,” Josie said with a sigh. “How did you find out I was here?”

“Gretchen. She said you were supposed to come home last night, but you didn’t. She sent a unit to your house. You weren’t there.”

Josie felt the sting of a punch on her shoulder. “Ow,” she said, opening her eyes finally. Guilt assailed her when she saw the tears glistening in Trinity’s eyes. “I didn’t wait thirty years to find my sister to have you die on me in the middle of the damn woods.”

“I wasn’t in any danger,” Josie said.

“But I didn’t know that. I would ask why you didn’t answer your phone, but it’s pretty obvious.”

Josie was going to defend herself but then realized there was no defense. Shame already burned her cheeks. She had acted irresponsibly—so irresponsibly she didn’t even know what happened the night before. She took out her phone and looked at the time. It was nine a.m. so there was still time to salvage the day. Maybe Chitwood wouldn’t have her ass in a sling after all. At least he wasn’t one of the two dozen missed calls and texts. Her heart stopped momentarily when she saw a call from Noah received late the night before. Probably after Trinity called him.