He Started It

by Samantha Downing

  Portia crosses her arms and sticks her chin out, just like Nikki used to do. ‘Fine. You fucker.’

  We’re at end of the trip, and I won’t get any money. My husband is dead and so is Nikki. Nothing left to do but shrug. ‘Take the money,’ I say.

  ‘Phone,’ Eddie says to Portia. ‘Now.’

  Portia tosses her phone. It skims across the dirt and lands near his feet. Eddie picks it up and says, ‘Code.’

  She hesitates.

  ‘Code,’ he says again. He no longer sounds like Dad, he sounds like Grandpa.

  She gives it to him and he swipes through the phone, deleting the e-mail she had set up to go to the IRS. He hands it to Krista, who smiles and puts it in her pocket without asking what it’s all about.

  Interesting.

  ‘Perfect, perfect. See how easy that was? No one has to die today,’ Eddie says.

  ‘Oh baby,’ Krista says, looking up at him with those big brown eyes. ‘You’re wrong about that.’

  Eddie tries to answer but doesn’t get the chance. Krista is too quick. She reaches behind her, pulling the gun out of the waistband of her shorts. It happens so fast I almost miss it.

  Krista shoots Eddie in the head.

  His body drops with a thump. It feels like the ground shakes beneath my feet, making me queasy.

  Krista turns to us. Her face is splattered with blood.

  Eddie’s body is right here, still warm, and I can’t help but think he deserved it.

  ‘Oh my God, oh my God,’ Portia says. She covers her face with her hands and keeps saying that like a mantra. ‘Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God.’

  We’re going to die. Krista is going to shoot both of us.

  I can’t speak, but if I could I would tell Krista to shoot me first. For selfish reasons. I don’t want to see Portia die.

  ‘Sorry, ladies,’ Krista says, walking closer to us. ‘Well, actually I’m not sorry, because you’re both horrible. You really shouldn’t have been so mean to me on the trip. Although it wouldn’t have saved you, and I’d have to kill you anyway because you both just saw what I did, and damned if I’m going to trust you to keep your mouth shut.’

  ‘Wait,’ Portia says.

  ‘But if you had been nicer,’ Krista says. ‘The last words you hear wouldn’t be fuck you.’

  Krista shoots Portia in the head.

  Executed. We’re being executed.

  I step back out of instinct, out of some base-level desire to live. I step back because that’s what you do when someone points a gun at your head.

  I make myself stop. No running, no trying to talk her out of it, no attempt to grab the gun. Instead, I stare at her, this woman I don’t even recognize. The one with blood on her face and dirt brown eyes. There are no gold flecks in them now.

  The real Krista.

  This was her plan. All along, this is what she was going to do. ‘You were going to kill us no matter what we agreed to,’ I say. ‘Even Eddie. He was always going to die.’

  Krista smiles.

  ‘The money,’ I say. ‘You just want the money.’

  ‘Damn straight I want it. Do you have any idea what it’s like to grow up so poor that people laugh when you walk by?’

  I shake my head, no.

  ‘I do. I know what it’s like to wear clothes that don’t fit because everything came from a charity box. Or to be so hungry, a piece of bread is practically a meal.’ She stops for a second, taking a deep breath. ‘As soon as I realized your asshole of a brother would gamble everything away, I had to kill him. To kill all of you. Opportunities like this don’t come around more than once.’

  She’s right, they don’t. I almost hope she gets away with it. She would do more with the money than any of us would have.

  I just don’t think she’ll get the chance.

  ‘One thing,’ I say. ‘Just do one last thing.’

  Krista stares at me, waiting.

  What I should tell her is that although she may get away with blaming Nikki for a while, it won’t last forever. Richard Jewell was exonerated for everything. Even NBC News had to pay him for what Tom Brokaw said.

  The same thing will happen to her.

  It may have seemed like a brilliant plan at first, but it won’t work for long. If I were a gambler like my brother, I’d bet the police will figure it out in less than a week. All it will take is one slip, one camera that caught Krista without her wig on – better yet, putting the wig on – and she’ll be done. Maybe Netflix will even make a show about it.

  I don’t tell her any of this. One way or the other, she’ll know soon enough.

  But I do have something to say.

  ‘Tell my mother I never stopped looking,’ I say. ‘Please.’ It sounds like I’m begging because I am.

  Krista says nothing, not one word. Her finger tightens on the trigger.

  I close my eyes and wait for the silence. I’m ready for it.

  Here we are, at the end, and we still don’t know who the heroine is. You’ll have to figure that one out for yourself.

  Author’s Note

  He Started It is, in many ways, a journey. Not just a journey for the family of characters but also a journey through much of the United States. For me, that meant doing a lot of research about where to go and what to see.

  First, I have to note that with the exception of national chains like the Holiday Inn and Applebee’s, all of the motels and restaurants are fictional.

  Second, all of the attractions, tourist sites, and museums in this book are real. From Helen Keller’s house in Alabama to the Codger Pole in Washington, every one of these places is open to the public. And they are amazing! There are so many fun, unusual things to see in this country that it would be impossible to visit them all. The ones in He Started It are just a small selection of what is out there.

  Much of my research was done online, so I must give a very big thanks to Roadside America, Only in Your State, Trip Advisor, and Wikipedia for providing all the facts about so many attractions across the country.

  Because this is a work of fiction, I did take a bit of creative license with one particular location. The UFO Watchtower in Center, Colorado, first opened for business in May of 2000. The first road trip in He Started It took place nine months earlier, in August of 1999. I wanted to include this attraction enough to fudge the date just a little in order to use it.

  I highly recommend everyone stop and see all of these wonderful places if you have a chance!

  Acknowledgments

  They said the second book is the hardest. They said it would be so much worse than the first. I heard all of this before beginning to work on He Started It and I didn’t believe them. After all, I wrote several books before My Lovely Wife was published. This wasn’t my first rodeo.

  Now that I’ve been through the second book, I can say, without a shadow of a doubt:

  They were right.

  That means I have an extraordinary number of people to thank for making this book a reality.

  Beginning with my incredible agent, Barbara Poelle, who listened to me vent an untold number of times throughout the process of getting this book completed – and somehow she is still my agent. I couldn’t ask for anyone better.

  My editor, Jen Monroe. With a never-ending amount of patience and skill, she managed to guide this book from what was basically a first draft into a finished novel (and she dragged me kicking and screaming the whole way).

  Lauren Burnstein, my publicist at Berkley, who I swear gets more done in a day then I get done in a week. She manages to get the most amazing coverage for my books.

  Fareeda Bullert and Jessica Mangicaro, the marketing wizards of Berkley who perform miracles. I don’t know how they do what they do, but I am grateful for it.

  My copyeditor, Scott Jones, who not only checks my grammar but fact-checked every single thing in the book, and I am so happy he did!

  Emily Osborne and Anthony Ramondo, who are the most incredible cover designers on the planet.
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  A big thanks to Joel Richardson and the whole Michael Joseph team in the UK, who have done such a fantastic job promoting both My Lovely Wife and He Started It.

  Over the past couple of years, I have met so many talented and amazing authors. Several have been kind enough to read early copies of this book and provide wonderful blurbs for it. Thank you to Mary Kubica, Christina McDonald, Kaira Rouda, Wendy Walker, Hannah Mary McKinnon, Samantha Bailey, Michele Campbell, Mark Edwards, and Maureen Connelly. Your words are invaluable!

  I also have to thank all of the amazing booksellers I was able to meet this year, and I was so lucky to visit some of your amazing bookstores. A special thanks to Garden District Books in New Orleans; Murder by the Book in Houston; Anderson’s in LaGrange, Illinois; Book Passage in Corte Madera, Calfornia; and Boswell Book Company in Milwaukee. Many, many thanks to Pamela Klinger-Horn, Britton Trice, Mary O’Malley, Daniel Goldin, the Petrocelli family, and McKenna Jordan for being such wonderful supporters.

  To the book bloggers, bookstagrammers, online reviewers, and podcasters: No author would be where they are without all of you!

  To the readers, the wonderful people who have this book in their hands: Thank you for coming on this journey with me. I cannot express how grateful I am.

  I would never have been published without the help and support of my two main writing besties, Rebecca Vonier and Marti Dumas, who always tell me the truth. I can’t ask for more than that.

  My day job ‘work family’ has been incredibly supportive of my new career, and for this I am so thankful.

  Last but never least, my family. I would not be here at all without your love and support!

  THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

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  First published in the United States of America by Berkley, 2020

  First published in Great Britain by Michael Joseph, 2020

  Copyright © Samantha Downing, 2020

  The moral right of the author has been asserted

  Cover image © Halfdark/Getty Images

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  ISBN: 978-1-405-94369-7

  This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorized distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.