Zach was half-sure he’d heard her wrong. Hell, he was still trying to process the fact that she’d walked in here with a picture of his crime scene. He recognized it—the damn thing had been taken by the Augusta coroner before the man took the body—which meant there was a leak somewhere along the line, and hell if that didn’t make his job a whole lot harder. Now he had strangers showing up claiming to be . . .123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡw7aDmmwwwt
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Fuck.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVC4Jbw6AGo
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The woman didn’t look like someone who could help him—in those worn jeans and leather jacket—but he’d learned a long time ago that appearances could be deceiving. “Can you repeat that?”
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You have trouble—”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbDa41NTMJn
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“I heard that. The other part.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXbU1UE6O3R
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She gave a wry smile. “The part where I said my name was Eden Collins?”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSoHaqPneQN
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Yep, that was it. There was only one Collins he knew of, and it was one Martha Collins, cult leader. He looked Eden over again, trying to reconcile what she appeared to be saying. “You’re related to—”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFnHHwbxuEA
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“She’s my mother.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmX0ucDude8
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This was Martha Collins’s long-lost daughter? The Elysians tended toward nondescript clothing and plain hairstyles—the exact opposite of the woman in front of him. Oh, there was nothing overtly flashy about her long dark hair or her clothing, but something about the way she held herself spoke of combat training. She’s dangerous. “If you think this is funny, it’s not.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7DugLxnyng
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She sighed. “Let’s get this over with so we can move on to what actually matters. My mother and I don’t get along—or we didn’t when I was growing up. We haven’t spoken in ten years, though she’s reached out to me a few times.” Something passed over her face, gone too quickly for him to identify. “That’s not why I’m here. I’m here because I recognize that tattoo in the picture.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuk40VNew1P
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“How? It’s barely more than a blot on the screen.” It’d been barely more than that when he’d actually seen it in person. He was hoping the coroner could get more once they cleaned the body.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡldZAWsenI0
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The body.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6YHQX7S7Ap
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It was such a cold way to refer to a person, even if whatever had made that girl a person had fled long before Zach had ever walked on the scene. Focus. You’re not doing her any favors by dwelling on that fact. She needs you to find her killer. Then you can mourn the loss of life.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyrZuIa1yFb
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If there even was a killer. He needed more information before he determined that fact. While it seemed fucking unlikely that she’d stripped naked, tattooed and beaten herself, and then hiked out to die on the side of a road, stranger things had happened. She could have been partying and wandered off.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfz3Y20eiG5
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And maybe you’re just praying like hell that was what had happened.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNP6gw6njal
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He forced himself to focus on the woman in front of him rather than the one on the slab at the morgue. “Explain.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuZ6vm0wAYk
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“I know what it is because I have one.” She shrugged out of her jacket and turned around, her tank top baring her upper back to him. It took him several seconds to find the spot in the midst of the swirling ink marking her skin, but there it was—a small circle with that familiar image in the middle of it. Eden’s was less blurred than the girl’s he’d found, but it wasn’t as clear a picture as he expected.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2efxhPoqYi
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“What is that?”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNJFugWKFHn
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“A bat.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRDnLTm6Cyy
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Now that she mentioned it, he could see the rough outline of a bat. Or it would be if a toddler had drawn it. The lack of expertise behind that particular tattoo only stood out against the skillfully drawn art that was the rest of her ink. “Why?” He didn’t realize he was going to ask until the word was out of his mouth.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUFw4De2DQw
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She pulled her jacket back on and faced him. “It symbolizes death and rebirth in general, and Persephone in particular. Bats are sacred to her because they were thought to carry the souls of the dead in some cases.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡi3h00NYLkP
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A slow dread uncurled inside him. “You’re not telling me—”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo6Z928Lefk
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“I am. Every follower of my mother has the same tattoo. Several of them, in fact.” She pointed to her hip and her wrist—the same places that had been marked on Jane Doe.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTGlqIUFtEk
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Fuck me. He’d known something was up when Martha wouldn’t see him and the gates had been barred, but he never would have guessed this. Except . . . He eyed this stranger claiming to be Martha Collins’s daughter. There was no proof, and taking her word for it on something like this was too much to ask. “Can I see some ID?”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNSwdHZmSIm
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She flashed that same wry smile she’d given him before, but she pulled out her wallet and passed a Virginia driver’s license over.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ60wpAzm0Lf
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He examined it, and sure as shit, her name was exactly what she’d claimed. “You’ll understand if I can’t just take your word for it.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXr4N5E2rrT
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“Naturally.” She accepted her ID back and handed him a card. “This is my number. Eventually you’re going to have questions, and I’m the only one who’s going to be willing to give you answers. I’m staying at the bed-and-breakfast for a few days if you change your mind.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHAeX6oZooE
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He read the card, half-sure he was processing the words wrong. “Eden Collins, FBI.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhwAOABPNI4
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“Not right now. I’m on vacation.” She walked away before he could say anything else, the door to the station closing softly behind her.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYePJickAzW
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Zach dropped into his seat, frowning at the card. “And here I thought my day couldn’t possibly get weirder.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBqIIHzi1i
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Eden couldn’t help the sense of relief that settled over her as she crossed the parking lot to her car. The sheriff—Zach—wasn’t going to call her. He thought she was a nut, and rightfully so. She hadn’t exactly done anything to disabuse him of that notion. But she’d done her part—she’d offered her help. It would have been so much easier to call, but her conscience wouldn’t let her. He would have dismissed her out of hand, and she’d had to make him sit still long enough to listen. After that, if he didn’t take her up on it, that was his choice. She could move on with her life with her conscience intact.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqa8wZ88Wls
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He wants justice done. She’d seen that in his eyes, in the way his attention had lingered on the photo of the body, the guilt there an almost physical thing. This was his town, and at least a part of him felt responsible for the fact that a girl had been brutally murdered here.
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It set him apart from some of the local law enforcement she’d dealt with who just wanted the problem to disappear so it wouldn’t further ruin their day.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYea6CXDXJ0
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She froze in the middle of reaching for her door handle, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end. “I’m not back.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLAsr54qoUK
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“You look back.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV3lpOkru4r
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The voice sent ice cascading down her spine. Every instinct screamed at her to run, to hide, to do anything but turn and face the monster at her back—which was why that was exactly what she did. I’ve dealt with scarier people in the last six years. But, as she turned around, she didn’t quite believe it. She kept her shoulders back and her hands at her side as she surveyed the man before her. “Abram.” Her mother had a habit of renaming people who became her followers, but there was something about Abram that made Eden think he could have actually been born with the fire-and-brimstone name.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8I7udtkhjm
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The years had been good to him. She thought hard—he had to be nearly fifty by now, his hair gone silver, the lines on his face slightly more pronounced. It should have made him more approachable, or at least easier to dismiss. Instead, he looked even more menacing than he had the last time she’d seen him.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbbQ8k0xTRu
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“Your mother requests your presence.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnpnpi4zjFH
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How many times had she heard those same words from him in that exact tone of voice? Too many to count. They never meant anything good. She doubted that had changed in the intervening decade. “I’m not a minor anymore, and I’m not inclined to see her.” Though it sounded calm and reserved in her head, the words came out petulant, as if she was still the child who’d fled.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaCe2K5NliA
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“All the same.” He didn’t so much as move, but he seemed closer, invading her space and making it hard to control the fear pulsing higher with each heartbeat.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLMY5NBktVb
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She glanced at the police station, but if Zach saw Abram confronting her, he wasn’t rushing to her defense. And why would he? As far as he was concerned, she was a crazy person who was related to an even crazier person. This was just family business.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjrLHkOB4Oh
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Except it wasn’t.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZYH4tD7y37
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She knew how this played out. She could get in her car and drive away—Abram would probably even let her—but sometime soon, she’d turn around and he’d be there, and he wouldn’t be so accommodating in that future interaction. So she could do this on her terms or on her mother’s.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTyU25OpHJd
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That’s a lie. Nothing was on Eden’s terms—not when it came to Elysia. There was only Martha and her indomitable will.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfeW00TJcBZ
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Bend or be broken.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUjUKKhx2Xz
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Those were the only true options.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuMUPjj3Qi4
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I am a damn FBI agent. I can handle this. The sooner I figure out if Martha is at the bottom of this, the sooner I can get the hell out of this town and back to my life.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnZtz8wxnF6
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She slipped her keys back into her purse. “I’m not going to Elysia.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtN8mz8XVV0
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Abram stepped back and motioned to the coffee shop across the street. It wasn’t a Starbucks—nothing in Clear Springs was brand-name—and it looked all but deserted at this hour of the afternoon. Too close to school being out for the stay-at-home moms and teens. Apparently her mother didn’t want much of an audience. A first.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHccRWRHUZW
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The walk across the street seemed to take forever, and yet nowhere near long enough. This was the very thing she’d spent so much time and effort trying to avoid, and she’d willingly walked back into a confrontation she wasn’t sure she was ready for. Worse, it was all for nothing.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJXxsjPeoMp
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Inside, the coffee shop looked like a thousand other coffee shops across the United States. Dim, intimate lighting, close seating, and a counter that ran the length of the back wall. There was one other customer inside, but he was packing his laptop into a backpack as fast as he could. Good to know Martha still inspires that reaction.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡK5twFw2XQW
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With nothing else to focus on, she finally looked at her mother. The years had treated her just as well as they had Abram. She might have a few extra pounds around her waist, but it made her appear happier—more like the benevolent matriarch she claimed to be.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz7Yc488WwX
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As she always did when faced with the woman who’d brought her into the world, she went down a mental checklist of features they shared. It wasn’t long—Eden was lean where her mother was bulky, several inches taller than Martha, and she had a violinist’s hands, much to her mother’s chagrin. All of which came from the father she’d never met.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡk4bJ1YKENm
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From Martha, she got medium-brown hair, though she’d lightened hers, and Martha’s was more gray than brown these days. They shared the same mouth, wide and full, the kind of mouth meant for spilling lies.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh5LZfr6GTz
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And then there were the eyes.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQN99hXORfP
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The rest of it she could escape. Eden didn’t smile the way her mother constantly seemed to be doing while she was growing up, the spider in the middle of a web of her making. She’d changed her hair deliberately, distancing herself from the girl she used to be.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNo0cOx4PnK
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But when she held still long enough to stare in the mirror, it was her mother’s eyes staring back. Whiskey-colored eyes, the tone too deep to be termed a mere brown.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAZGE50OHjx
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Martha turned a sunny smile on Eden, and it was almost enough to have her heading for the door—only Abram’s presence at her back kept her moving forward.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvLUkMPmiaR
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If forced to choose between Martha and Abram, there was only one way to go. At least she was reasonably sure she’d walk away from a confrontation with her mother. With Abram, there were no guarantees.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZwumqo40aP
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“Martha.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYKNJfgLLsl
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Her mother’s eyes lit up, and she half pushed to her feet. “Eden. I admit, when Abram told me you were back in town, I could hardly believe it.” “I’m not back.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtI3tRTpDzU
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Her smile dimmed, and Eden called herself an idiot ten times over for wanting to do something to bring it back. Manipulation, that’s all it is. Martha motioned to the cups in front of her. “I got your favorite.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeiFFAKu20J
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There was nothing else to do but take the empty seat and get this over with. She took a sip—sweet with lots of cream—and didn’t bother to tell Martha she’d switched over to drinking her coffee black a few years back. It would serve no purpose, and her entire goal was to get out of here with the least conversation possible.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOaj6F9KfqK
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“It’s been a long time.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuWU8NHqH9f
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She shifted, not sure how to take the searching look her mother was giving her, as if she was trying to memorize Eden’s features—or, possibly, was comparing them to the ones she’d had ten years ago. What was there to say? I hated the life you created and forced me into, so I left. You won’t change, and neither will I. This will never be what you want it to be. She couldn’t force the words past her closed throat, so she took another drink of coffee.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIvDBVrgBmM
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Martha hesitated and then mirrored the motion. “A lot is different from when you were last home.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGEa6nxLCmx
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Not nearly enough, she’d wager. But if her mother was offering information, she’d be a fool not to get everything she could from Martha. “Oh?”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlPqlvR6bvX
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“Our community has grown. It’s flourishing.” She gave a small self-deprecating smile. “But, then, you didn’t come back to talk about Elysia. How have you been?”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6NeG79tYBT
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Over the years, she’d received phone calls from Abram, demanding information at odd times in that quiet, terrifying way of his. He’d never asked more than a few questions, and she’d never offered more than was strictly necessary for those forced check-ins—whatever it took to get him off her back. She didn’t want to now, either. “I’m still working for the government.” Safe enough to admit, since her mother already knew about it.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqaBIuaikMg
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Sure enough, Martha’s lips thinned. “The FBI.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNPtpyESjHc
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“Using the skills I learned from you.” She knew better, but she couldn’t help the dig.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzxfbC61Qmg
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“I’m sure I have no idea what you’re talking about.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsSZPjusR2n
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Of course she didn’t. Because Elysia most certainly wasn’t a cult. Right. She didn’t roll her eyes, but it was a near thing. “You might like to pretend otherwise, but I know for a fact that Elysia has been on the FBI watch lists for years, so you’re not fooling everyone.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhyJ5VcrzSW
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“Eden Magdalene, you might be a woman grown, but that doesn’t mean you can take that tone of voice with me.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡP6ocSdcN6R
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Or speak too many truths, apparently. Eden stared at her coffee cup, suddenly exhausted. “I don’t suppose you know anything about a photograph showing up in my e-mail yesterday?” It had all the hallmarks of one taken for an official police investigation, but that didn’t explain how it had found her. She’d had a friend in the tech department try to trace it, but it had been routed through several IP addresses before disappearing into the Internet ether. Call her paranoid, but her first instinct was to suspect her mother had had something to do with it. How was the question, though.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm5k5pV2lgM
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Martha cocked her head to the side, frowning. “I’m not sure what you’re speaking of.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaUBU813o3Y
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Of course she wasn’t, though Eden was at a loss to decide if that was truth or because she didn’t want to admit to somehow being the leak in a murder investigation. She sighed. “What am I doing here, Martha? You know very well we couldn’t sit in the same room without going for each other’s throats when I was eighteen, and it would seem nothing’s changed since then.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1SPEobtp58
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“I want what I’ve always wanted, baby. I want you to come home.”123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqi8fLJhxZt
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There’s no home for me to come to, not now. Not ever. No matter how much I wish that wasn’t true. She cleared her throat. “I—” Think. Think fast. A hard no would just have Martha digging in her heels, and she wasn’t sure yet if Zach would change his mind. “I’ll think about it.” The lie rolled off her tongue with the ease of long practice. She wasn’t going back. She’d set herself on fire before she willingly walked through the gates of Elysia and put herself under her mother’s control again. The only reason she was here was to make sure no other girls turned up dead.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM3AafOPFTn
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“It would mean so much.” Martha’s smile brightened, and a traitorous part of Eden brightened in response. It was how it always was with her mother. She rarely had to take the stern role when she could manipulate much more effectively with a soft word and a particular look. And when that wouldn’t work? Well, she wasn’t above getting her hands dirty, either.123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9QpXPCdrZh
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Did you do it? Did you see that girl killed?123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfPUKGEhYmy
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Eden couldn’t ask. The sheriff had already refused her help, and she’d have to be a special kind of stupid to go investigating on her own. There was nothing she could do without the power of the law on her side. If she tried . . .123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5RvrLk5G65
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Well, if she tried, there were plenty of unmarked graves in Elysia. What was one more?123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMYhSEq8xJR
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123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpz4co1VLER
123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQnjLDEvdJq
123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHKT1gDKHYd
123Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyV04SMkFii
