Don't Make a Sound (Sawyer Brooks #1)(73)

A blanket covered Sawyer’s shoulders, stopping her from trembling as she sipped water. She was dehydrated, and her throat was still raw from crying out for help.

Aria sat across from her, fidgeting in her chair. “Will I be arrested?”

“No. Absolutely not. We were all there, Aria. You fired in self-defense.”

“I hardly gave her a chance. I was so angry at her after finding out about Harper and knowing she did nothing to stop it from happening.”

“You did the right thing. She would have killed Harper. If there was ever any goodness in her, it was gone. She’d fallen off the cliff long before you were forced to raise your gun. You saved our lives.”

Chief Schneider walked into the salon, a stony expression on his face and dark circles around his eyes. “We’re almost done here. Aspen is gathering the bones from the crawl space. It’ll be a while before we know who they belong to.” He looked at Aria. “We’ll be keeping your gun for now, but no arrests will be made.”

Aria’s shoulders fell in relief.

The chief looked to Sawyer next. “You’re leaving in the morning?”

She nodded. “If that’s okay?”

“That’s fine. I’m going to finish polishing everyone’s account of what happened. Don’t leave here until I come by to get signatures.”

“We won’t. Thank you, Chief.”

Aspen and the other policeman showed up to let the chief know they had everything they needed.

The house was quiet again.

Harper returned home an hour later with twelve stitches at the back of her head. Melanie, Harper told them, had needed fifteen stiches across her forehead and was thinking about changing her name to Frankenstein.

While Harper made makeshift beds for everyone to sleep in, Sawyer updated her sisters on everything that had happened during her visit, ending with her being in Dad’s office when Mom and Dad found her.

They were all exhausted.

“There,” Harper said, hands on hips. “It’ll be one big slumber party.”

Harper had pulled in padding from the lounge chairs outside and then found every blanket and pillow in the house to make three beds.

Sawyer took the bed on the end, surprised by how comfortable it was.

Aria took the bed on the other end, leaving Harper with no choice but to sleep between them.

They all lay there quietly in the dark until Aria broke the silence. “I knew Mom was crazy, but I never would have guessed she was capable of murder.”

“She killed my best friend,” Sawyer said softly. “But I can’t wrap my mind around why she would have done such a thing.”

“I don’t know,” Aria said. “But if Harper hadn’t recorded our conversation with Joyce when we were in the basement, I don’t know if Chief Schneider would have believed us. Joyce cast a strange spell over this entire town.”

Sawyer was only half listening. She couldn’t stop thinking about Rebecca being trapped in the crawl space. She had talked to Aspen when he arrived with the chief. She’d made sure he knew where Rebecca’s bones were. Thirty minutes ago, he’d texted her to let her know the bones were being taken to the lab. It would be up to forensics to figure out whether or not it was Rebecca who had died there.

“If Mom killed Rebecca, it would seem logical that she probably killed those other girls, including Isabella Estrada,” Harper said.

“Do you think she was covering up for Dad?” Aria asked. “Had he touched them inappropriately at some point?”

“I was eleven or twelve,” Harper chimed in, “when Peggy Myers was murdered. She used to come over to help me with my homework.”

“What about Avery James?” Sawyer asked.

Sawyer could hear Harper crying. “Are you okay?”

“Yes,” Harper finally answered. “Avery came to the house too. Mom and Dad weren’t supposed to be home. But they were. I was only fifteen, but Dad asked me, begged me, to run something to the post office. Avery said she would do homework while she waited for me to return. When I came back, Avery was gone. Dad told me she’d gotten antsy and left. Avery treated me differently after that. She went out of her way to avoid me, but I never connected the dots until now. Dad must have taken advantage of her. That’s why he wanted me to go to the post office. He wanted to be alone with Avery.”

“But you said Mom was home,” Aria said.

“Mom did what she did best,” Harper said. “She turned the other way.”

“And then she killed both girls to keep them quiet,” Aria said.

“Even if that’s true,” Sawyer said, “we’ll never know for sure now that Mom’s gone.”

Quiet fell around them. “We’re lucky we survived,” Aria said.

“I read the letter you sent to Dad,” Sawyer told Harper. “I had no idea. I am sorry I’ve been so hard on you.”

“We’ve all had a tough go of it,” Harper said.

“It makes me sick,” Aria told Sawyer, “to think of you here all those years with Mom and Dad and Uncle Theo.”

“If you had just stayed put and not run from the truck,” Harper said, her voice wistful.

Sawyer had no idea what Harper was talking about. “Are you talking to me?”