Four of a Kind

by Kate Kessler

  Luke took a drink of his soda. “Very. I guess it was good that she wanted to apologize in person, but it didn’t really seem like much of an apology.”

  “It wasn’t,” Alisha agreed, also taking a drink. “She’s gone now. Let’s finish the movie. You still have pizza left.”

  He grinned at her, and even with the bruises she thought he was the sexiest thing she’d ever seen. He pressed a button on the remote and the movie continued. They talked and ate as the action played out.

  About a quarter of an hour later, Alisha started to feel light-headed—like she’d been drinking. She turned to Luke. “Do you feel weird?”

  He had an odd expression on his face. “I thought it was the painkillers. You feel it too?”

  She nodded. Then she saw something out of the corner of her eye. It took her longer to turn her head than it should have, and the movement made her dizzy. There in the doorway was Lucy. She was smiling. Fear flashed through Alisha’s mind, but it was quickly replaced by a heavy drowsiness she couldn’t quite shake.

  “What did you do?” she demanded, her tongue too thick for her mouth.

  Lucy walked into the room. Luke stared at her. He tried to get up, but it was obvious he couldn’t.

  “A little GHB in your Coke,” she chirped. “I got it from Kyle. He never did know how to measure dose properly.”

  “Why?” Alisha asked.

  Lucy shot her a narrow look. “Because it makes it easier to do what I need to do. You know, if you guys had said you were just friends, I might have not come back. I might have just let you sleep it off, but you had to flaunt the fact that you’re together.”

  “What do you care?” Luke demanded. His voice was raspy and rough.

  “I don’t,” Lucy replied. “Trust me, Luke, you didn’t make that much of an impression on me when we were together, but apparently Kendra still can’t get over you.” She sighed.

  “What are you going to do?” Alisha demanded.

  “I’m going to fix the problem,” was the cool, determined reply. “I’m going to fix it so Kendra doesn’t have to obsess anymore.”

  It was then that Alisha realized the truth. This was the third time she’d found herself staring into the eyes of a murderer—she was beginning to recognize the signs. “You’re going to kill me.” Alisha knew she should struggle—should fight—but her arms and legs didn’t want to move. On the coffee table her cell phone began to ring. It was Audrey’s ring tone. If she could only reach it…

  Lucy shook her head with a smile. “No, stupid. He’ll just find someone else. You’re as much his victim as me or Kendra ever were. I’m going to do what I should have done in the first place and make it so Kendra has no choice but to get the fuck over it.” She nodded at Luke. “I’m going to kill him.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  It keeps going to voice mail,” Audrey said, ending the call. She was in the front seat of Neve’s car as they tore down the road from Tripp’s Cove. Neve hadn’t put the siren on because she didn’t want to draw attention.

  “You’re sure she’s at Luke’s?”

  “Yes.” Audrey gripped the armrest. “Jesus, the kid’s a magnet for trouble.”

  “Wonder where she gets that?” Neve’s tone was dry as they hit the main road. She pressed down on the gas as she handed Audrey her phone. “Try calling Lucy.”

  Audrey got the number but used her own phone to call. “Voice mail.”

  “Call Kendra. See if Lucy’s with her.”

  Audrey dialed again. After a couple of rings Kendra picked up. “Hello?”

  She sounded as though she’d been asleep. “Kendra, it’s Audrey Harte.”

  “Dr. Harte?”

  “Is Lucy with you?” It went against her training to jump right to that point, but her concern for Alisha outweighed all other considerations.

  “No. She left. She was mad at me because of Luke.”

  “Did she say where she was going?”

  “She said she was going to fix everything.”

  “Was she going to Luke’s house?”

  “Don’t know, but Dr. Harte? She scared me.”

  “Get some rest, Kendra. It’s going to be okay.”

  “No, it’s really not, but thanks.” The girl hung up.

  Audrey tried Alisha’s number again, numb fingers fumbling the digits. “Lucy told Kendra she was going to fix everything.”

  “You think she means killing Alisha?”

  “Maybe.” The idea made bile rise in the back of Audrey’s throat. “Or, maybe killing Luke.”

  “But then Kendra will never have him.”

  “If he’s dead Kendra would have to let go of the idea of being with him again.”

  “That actually makes a twisted kind of sense.”

  “Kendra is Lucy’s best friend. She can’t give her what she wants, and she can’t make Kendra do what she wants her to do, so she’s going to eliminate the problem.”

  “Some best friend. She tried to implicate her.”

  “I think she just did that as a distraction. Lucy’s not stupid. She has to know this is the end of the line for her.”

  Neve frowned as she took her eyes off the road long enough to glance at Audrey. “You know that makes her desperate, right?”

  Audrey nodded, throat burning and tight. “I know.” She just hoped Lucy didn’t see Alisha as an obstacle.

  As they approached Linda’s house, Audrey spotted Alisha’s car in the drive. Lucy’s was parked just down the road—out of view of the house. The fear that churned in her stomach intensified. She had to get in there. She had to save Alisha.

  Neve parked in the driveway and quickly got out of the car. “Stay behind me,” she told Audrey. She knew her well enough not to tell her to stay out of the house.

  Audrey did as she was told. Part of her wanted to run into the house, fists flying, but…she set her palm against her stomach with a frown.

  She followed Neve up the front steps. The door was unlocked—like so many others in the area probably were at that time of day. Quietly, Neve turned the knob as she drew her weapon from its holster.

  Audrey waited for her to step into the kitchen before she followed. Cautiously, she crossed the threshold. There was a pizza on the sideboard, partially eaten, and a drawer was open. She could hear the TV in the living room.

  Neve was silent as a cat as she moved. Somehow she managed to seem both relaxed and ready for anything—a trait Audrey admired.

  “Drop it,” Neve said, as she turned into the next room.

  Audrey looked over her shoulder. Alisha and Luke were on the sofa—unmoving. Tears streamed down Alisha’s face. Lucy straddled Luke, a large kitchen knife in her hand. There was blood on the blade—and on Luke. It soaked through his T-shirt. She lifted her head to look at Neve.

  “I’m almost done,” she said. “Just give me a minute.”

  Her matter-of-fact tone was sharp and piercing in Audrey’s ears. It was the voice of someone who had convinced herself she was doing the right thing—the only thing.

  “Lucy,” she said, moving to stand beside Neve. “Think about what you’re doing.”

  The girl’s determined gaze jumped to Audrey. “I have thought about it. All Kendra wanted was to get Luke back. I almost had it, and then he took up with Tala. He chose a girl that wasn’t even really a girl over her. Do you have any idea how that made her feel?” She glanced at the boy beneath her. “You made her feel like dirt, you asshole. Worthless.”

  “So you killed Tala thinking Luke would go back to Kendra?” She’d been in the business too long, because it actually made sense on some level.

  “Tala told me that part of the reason she liked Luke was that both Kendra and I had dated him. How fucked up is that? Then I found out she’d been fucking Kyle.” She shook her head. “It was like she was trying to rub Kendra’s face in it. Tala had her boyfriend and her brother, and then she tried to be my friend, but I’m more loyal than some.” She looked at Luke again.

 
“Kendra wouldn’t want this.”

  The girl made a face. “Kendra doesn’t know what’s good for her. She’ll figure it out with him gone.”

  “She’ll never forgive you if you hurt him.”

  “Yes, she will,” the girl said with a confident expression. “I’m her best friend.” With that, she plunged the knife down.

  Neve fired.

  * * *

  The entire town turned out for Tala’s funeral a few days later. Even Luke was there—the wounds Lucy had inflicted on him had been shallow, meant to inflict the most pain before the killing blow.

  Kendra was there too—a pale shadow of herself in the bright sunshine. She was still in the hospital and would be for a little while longer until the doctors decided she was mentally and emotionally ready to go home. The death of her brother had been added to Lucy’s list of crimes. She claimed she hadn’t meant to kill Kyle, and that she misjudged the dose. He’d wanted to go back the Falls to have a little ceremony for Tala, she said. When he got handsy, she drugged his drink. It was an accident.

  An accident.

  To Lucy, everything she’d done made sense. She’d done it for her best friend. It touched a little too close to home for Audrey’s liking. She understood the girl wanting to protect Kendra. She understood that sort of loyalty. What she didn’t understand was how Lucy decided to kill Tala. She could have done so many other things than kill her, but to Lucy, that had been the only option.

  Neve had shot her in the arm—the one holding the knife. The girl had lain on the carpet, bleeding and crying—cursing them for stopping her. Her only remorse had been not finishing what she set out to do.

  Audrey stood beside Jake, holding his hand. Alisha stood between him and her mother, leaning into Yancy’s side. Even Lincoln had shown up. A few times Audrey caught Alisha and Luke looking at each other. It reminded her of how she used to look at Jake when she had been that age. Funny, but Jake had looked at her the same way back then, she just hadn’t seen it at the time. So much longing and emotion in those gazes. It wasn’t quite as scary as a homicidal teenage girl, but close.

  The school wanted to keep her on part time at least until the end of the school year, and she thought she might do it—so long as it didn’t interfere with getting Grace Ridge ready to open. It was obvious that kids in the area needed someone to talk to, and it would make her feel as though she was giving back to her hometown.

  After all, if she and Jake were going to raise their kid there, she wanted to make sure it was as safe as possible.

  When the graveside service was over, Kendra approached Alisha. Audrey watched as the dark-haired girl apologized for everything she’d done. She seemed sincere.

  Alisha offered up a small smile. “We’re good,” she said, and gave Kendra a brief hug. Then she added, “Luke and I are going to Fat Frank’s. Do you want to come?”

  Kendra shook her head. “I have to go back to the hospital, but thanks. And hey, I hope…I hope you guys work out.”

  Alisha stared at her for a moment, trying to find the lie in her words. Audrey did the same thing but found nothing. “Thanks.”

  Kendra walked away and Alisha sent Audrey a surprised glance. Audrey smiled. “Good job,” she whispered.

  Before leaving the cemetery, Audrey and Luke stopped by Maggie’s grave. There was a bouquet of flowers starting to wilt leaning against the headstone, and the bracelet Audrey had left there months earlier had tarnished. At least no one had stolen it.

  Audrey brushed a few blades of cut grass from the top of the headstone.

  “Don’t,” Jake said.

  She turned her head. “Don’t what?”

  “Don’t compare you and Maggie to those girls.”

  “It’s kind of hard not to. Lucy thought she was protecting her best friend.”

  His expression morphed into incredulity. “You think Lucy is like you?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  He shook his head. “Aud, that kid is more like Maggie than you.”

  “What? No.”

  He took her hand and pulled her close. “Maggie was obsessed with you. A few years ago she got drunk at Gracie’s and told me I was lucky that all she had to do was fuck me to get you away from me.”

  Audrey gaped at him. “You’re lying.”

  Jake shook his head. “On Gran’s grave. I laughed and asked what she would have done if it hadn’t worked. She said you were the only person she’d ever kill for. She said I could never understand the bond between the two of you.”

  She swallowed. “What did you say?”

  He smiled. “I told her it would take something stronger than her to destroy the bond between you and me.” Then he kissed her, and all was right with the world.

  A week later, the Harte and Tripp families gathered at Audrey and Jake’s for dinner. Everyone brought a dish, and of course Jake had outdone himself in the kitchen. As the entire group—less Audrey’s brother, David, who was in New York—sat around the table eating and laughing, Audrey took a moment to be thankful for the events that had brought her home a year earlier. If anyone had told her then that she would be living in Edgeport, starting her own business and about to marry Jake Tripp, she would have told them they were insane, especially if they told her she’d be pregnant and happy about it.

  Two and a half months pregnant, to be exact. She knew that they were supposed to wait until the first trimester was up to announce it, but…

  She tapped her fork against her glass to get their attention. Everyone looked at her—Jake, his siblings, her sister, her brother-in-law, their kids, and her parents. Even Alisha, who had resented having to leave her boyfriend for family dinner, looked at her expectantly. Which was punningly poetic, when she thought about it.

  Audrey took Jake’s hand and smiled at him. He grinned back before they turned to face their loved ones.

  “We have something we want to tell you all.”

  Acknowledgments

  There are some people I need to thank for helping get this book out into the world. First of all, I want to thank Lindsey Hall for being such an amazing editor. You have been an absolute pleasure to work with on this series. Thanks so much for believing in it and supporting it. Big hugs.

  Also, thanks to Stephen McCausland of the Maine State Police for answering my questions about procedure for Neve’s scenes. If I got anything wrong or took liberties, that’s all on me.

  Thanks again to all of my friends who have gotten used to me being on deadline and accept the crazy.

  Also, big thanks to my family for their support and never-ending font of inspiration.

  I want to take a moment to thank all of the readers who have gotten behind this series and supported it. You all are fabulous and I love you to bits. Thanks for following Audrey’s journey thus far.

  And last, but not least, thank you to my husband, Steve. Just because.

  meet the author

  Photo Credit: Kathryn Smith

  As a child KATE KESSLER seemed to have a knack for finding trouble, and for it finding her. A former delinquent, Kate now prefers to write about trouble rather than cause it, and spends her day writing about why people do the things they do. She lives in New England with her husband.

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  FOUR OF A KIND

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  Hollie Overton

  Working on death row is far from Kristy Tucker’s dream, but she is grateful for a job that allows her to support her son and ailing father.

  When she meets Lance Dobson, Kristy begins to imagine a different kind of future. But after their wedding, she finds herself serving her own life sentence—one of abuse and constant terror.

  But Kristy is a survivor, and as Lance’s violence escalates, the inmates she’s worked with have planted an idea she simply can’t shake.

  Now she must decide whether she’ll risk everything to protect her family.

  Does she have what it takes to commit the per
fect crime?

  CHAPTER ONE

  Mom, move your butt or we’re going to be late.”

  Kristy Tucker heard her son’s voice, annoyance dripping from each syllable. She glanced at the clock and cursed under her breath.

  “I’m coming, Rye,” she said, quickly pulling her brown hair into a bun. She grabbed her purse and headed toward her bedroom door, nearly tripping over the edge of the fraying gray carpet. She steadied herself and raced downstairs toward the kitchen. No matter how hard Kristy tried— setting her alarm half an hour earlier, washing her hair the night before— she could never get her act together in the morning. And on execution days, forget about it.

  Ryan, on the other hand, had been up for hours. At fourteen years old, Ryan was neat, orderly, and incredibly driven, the polar opposite of Kristy. She found her son seated at the dining table finishing his bowl of oatmeal, his sandy-brown hair neatly combed, and dressed in his usual uniform: pressed jeans, a collared black button-up shirt with a red-and-black-striped tie, and his beat-up old black cowhide boots. Texas hipster, Kristy dubbed Ryan’s standard uniform. She loved how much care he put into his appearance but it did very little to help him fit in with the rednecks and jocks at school. She’d heard the whispers and teasing from kids and their parents. “That boy acts like he’s too big for his britches,” they’d said on more than one occasion. Kristy shouldered some of the blame. She was only seventeen when Ryan was born, a baby raising a baby, Pops used to say. She encouraged his differences, wanted her son to accomplish everything she hadn’t.

  “Hey, Pops, you owe me five bucks,” Ryan said with a grin.

  “Put it on my tab,” Pops said.

  “I’m afraid to ask. What was the bet?” Kristy asked as she grabbed her travel mug and filled it with coffee.

  “How long it would take you to get ready this morning,” Ryan said.