The One I Left Behind by Jennifer Mcmahon

Author:Jennifer Mcmahon [McMahon, Jennifer]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: cookie429, Extratorrents, Kat
ISBN: 9780062122551
Amazon: 006212255X
Publisher: William Morrow
Published: 2013-01-02T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter 23

October 20, 2010

Brighton Falls, Connecticut

“WHEN WAS THE LAST time you saw her?” Reggie asked her aunt. They were seated at the kitchen table of Monique’s Wish. It was nearly seven o’clock. Reggie had thrown a bag together quickly, stopping in the kitchen long enough to grab her espresso pot and a bag of ground coffee. She’d driven back to Brighton Falls as fast as she could, hesitating only when she got to the front door of Monique’s Wish. She had stood, hand on the knob, feeling as if the house was alive, breathing and hungry. That it just might gobble her up and spit out the bones. Then she’d touched the hourglass necklace, thought of Tara, and stepped inside.

Now, the coffee bubbled on the stove, filling the kitchen with its familiar rich aroma, comforting Reggie on some deep level.

Len had called and left a message on her phone an hour ago, just as she’d crossed the state line into Connecticut. She nearly answered.

“Shit, Reggie, I just heard Neptune’s left another hand! I’m at your house and it’s all locked up. Where are you?” His voice was crackling with panic. She should call him. She knew she should. But part of her was still good and pissed about the way he’d walked out of her house and got a little twinge of satisfaction from letting him stew in worry. It was twisted, and she knew it. She told herself she had bigger things to worry about than whether she and Len might have a future together.

The Hartford Examiner was on the table between Reggie and Lorraine. The headline read HAS NEPTUNE RETURNED TO BRIGHTON FALLS? And there was a brief article describing how a new hand had been found in a milk carton on the front steps of the police station. The article said the police knew who the hand belonged to but refused to comment at this time. Reggie knew it wouldn’t take the papers long to find out who Tara was and that she’d been working as Vera Dufrane’s private nurse. The media were going to have a field day with this one. Martha Paquette was going to be over the goddamn moon.

“Monday morning. She left to go pick up a prescription refill for your mother and to do a few other errands. She never got to the pharmacy. I’ve told the police all of this over and over,” Lorraine said. She looked exhausted and wrung her hands together as she spoke. “That young Detective Levi was here. He asked so many questions my head was spinning. Then he went up and searched through Tara’s room. It was just like before. Just like when your mother—”

Reggie cut her off.

“Did Tara say what other errands she had to do?”

“No,” Lorraine said. “But she was in a hurry. She seemed very tense, but Vera had had a bad night, and Tara was up with her. I don’t think she got much sleep.”

“A bad night?”

“A horrible night, actually—she woke us up

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