Stacy reached the front steps and launched herself up them, across the porch. The gun’s blast came as she cleared the door. A high-pitched scream followed.

God, no. Please let the girl be safe.

Stacy took the stairs two at a time, making the top landing in seconds. She reached the girl’s room. Alice faced the window. It stood open; Stacy saw that the screen had been pushed out.

“Alice?”

The girl turned. The gun slipped from her fingers. “I killed her.”

“Where-”

Then she knew. She ran to the window and peered out. Kay lay faceup in the garden bed, her eyes open. Vacant.

Alice began to cry, the wail of sirens mingled with her sobs. “Come on,” she said softly, wrapping her arm around the girl and leading her to the bedroom door. “They’re going to need to ask you some questions. It’ll be okay. I promise.”

CHAPTER 64

Tuesday, April 12, 2005

4:10 p.m.

Malone, Tony and two cruisers arrived. Stacy met them at the front door, briefly explained what had occurred and let them get to work.

She stayed by Alice’s side, all the while imagining the various teams processing the scene. She knew what to expect. For one thing, her Glock was now evidence in a murder case. She would not be getting it back for some time. In addition, they would need a detailed statement from both her and Alice.

And they would have to call Child Welfare Services to come for Alice.

It was going to be damn difficult to let her go. She didn’t know if she would be able to.

After what seemed an eternity, but was in reality about an hour, Spencer sought them out. He squatted in front of Alice. “You think you’re up to answering a few questions?”

The girl looked at Stacy, eyes wide and terrified.

“May I stay with her?” Stacy asked.

When Spencer agreed that she could, the teenager breathed an audible sigh of relief. She began with how she had found the computer, how she realized the truth and about sending it to Stacy and why.

Her voice quivered when she reached the most recent part of the story. “She must have overheard us talking. Stacy left, and she appeared in the doorway. She was so…angry. She called me a…an ungrateful little bitch.”

She clutched Stacy’s hand. “She flew into the room. Going after me like a crazy person. I didn’t know what to do,” she whispered, voice small and shaky. “She had a…had a hold of me. She was dragging me toward the window…I had the gun. Stacy’s gun. I took it in my hands and I…I-”

She broke down then. Sobbing. No doubt over her mother’s betrayal. The loss of her father. And despair for her life, which had been forever altered.

It broke Stacy’s heart. She held the girl while she cried, giving Malone her statement in pieces.

Tony ambled over to where they sat. “Good news,” he said.

They all looked up at him. The words felt odd. Inappropriate and out of place. Could there be anything good about this day?

“I just talked to your aunt Grace, Alice,” Tony said. “She was able to book a flight leaving tonight and will be in around midnight. I figured I’d meet her plane.”

“Aunt Grace,” the girl repeated, a tremor in her voice. As if she had forgotten she still had family. As if being reminded now that she did was the greatest gift she could have been given.

Spencer met Stacy’s eyes briefly. “You go home, Tony. We’ll meet that flight. The three of us.”

Midnight at the New Orleans airport was a little creepy. A market the size of the Big Easy received very few flights this time of night. Their footsteps echoed in the cavernous terminal, all the kiosks and vendors had closed, and only a handful of weary agents manned the terminal desks.

Alice said little but hung close to Stacy as they waited at the end of the terminal. Thankfully, the woman’s flight arrived on time. The pair held each other for a long time, clinging to one another and crying. As gently as she could, Stacy nudged them along, first to Baggage Claim for the woman’s luggage, then the parking garage.

“We took the liberty of making a hotel reservation,” Stacy said. “If you made other arrangements-”

“Thank you,” Grace said. “No…I didn’t even think…I always stay with…”

Her words trailed off. They all knew what she had been about to say.

She had always stayed with her brother. Leo.

Within thirty minutes, they had dropped Grace and Alice at the hotel. Stacy accompanied the pair inside, made certain there wasn’t a problem with the reservation, then returned to the car.

She buckled up. Spencer looked at her. “Where am I taking you, Stacy?”

She held his gaze. “I don’t want to be alone, Spencer.”

He nodded and pulled away from the curb.

CHAPTER 65

Wednesday, April 13, 2005

3:30 a.m.

Stacy sat bolt upright in bed, awakened by the truth. “Oh, my God,” she said, bringing a hand to her mouth. “She lied.”

“Go back to sleep,” Spencer mumbled.

“You don’t understand.” She shook him. “She lied about everything.”

He cracked open his eyes. “Who?”

“Alice.”

He frowned. “What are you talking about?”

Her head filled with the memory of the day she had carried Leo’s mail to his office. Valerie had asked her to do it; she’d set it on the top of his laptop computer. Her focus had been on the mail itself, on the Gallery124 invitation.

Not on the computer.

No longer. With her mind’s eye, she could see it clearly. Titanium case, a distinctive apple-shaped logo at its center.

“Alice told me she found Cassie’s computer and knew it was wrong because no one in their family used an Apple. But Leo did. It was on his desk.”

“You’re certain about this?”

“Yes, positive.”

“It’d be really easy to verify.”

Stacy struggled to come to grips with what she was thinking. Could it have been Alice all along?

“The law books,” Stacy said. “The DSM-IV. She was studying, covering her ass. Just in case.”

He sat up. “You realize what you’re suggesting, right? That the teenager was an integral part of the plan.”

“I’m not suggesting that at all. I think the plan was hers alone.”

She had his full attention now, she saw. All traces of sleep had fled his features. “Alice planned every move, by herself?”

“Yes.”

“She brought Troy in.”

“Yes.”

Stacy shook her head. It hurt. She didn’t want it to be true. Didn’t want Alice to be that person.

He was silent a moment. “Do you really think a sixteen-year-old could have pulled this off?”

“She’s not an ordinary teenager. She’s a genius. An experienced gamer. I imagine a brilliant strategist.”

I’m smarter than both of them. Did he tell you that?

“She made a point of telling me how smart she was. She was very proud of her IQ. Arrogant about it, really.”

He rubbed a hand along his jaw. “But why’d she do it, Stacy? The money? We’re talking about both her parents, for God’s sake.”

“The money was secondary. She wanted her freedom. She felt she deserved it. They were holding her back. Overprotective. She said so. They kept her from going to university, insisted on having her home-tutored.”

“You overheard her and Kay fighting, saw Kay trying to kill her.”

Stacy shook her head. “No, I saw them struggling. Heard Alice’s shouted accusations.”

“Which confirmed what you already believed.”

“Yes.” Stacy dragged a hand through her tangled hair. “Kay was most likely trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Trying to calm Alice, bring her to her senses. Why didn’t I see it until now?”