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Thorpe seemed to turn that story over in his er fish to fry now Let’s go back to the night your father and sister were killed Is there any way Holden could have been involved?"

Callie shook her head before Thorpe had even finished the sentence "He’s far too dureedy I kno that he was more interested in my family’s money than in me He alanted whatever he didn’t have to work for If he had broken into our house with a gun, he wouldn’t have shot my family, taken a swipe at me, then fled He would have stayed to rip off whatever he could He got caught at the robbery because the cashier, who looked like a fe to take his shit and tackled hihtwitnesses placed him a few streets over, and there’s no way he could have done all the shooting, then beatblood splatters"

"What about his friends? Would any of them have helped?" Sean asked

She shook her head "He didn’t have any guy friends anyirlfriends or sisters at soarded as a douche"

"And you liked hi his teeth

"He was cute and had really pretty eyes When you’re sixteen, that’s ied

"Did he sleep with your sister?" Sean asked

Callie let her eyes slide shut "I don’t know" She drew in a deep breath and forced herself to face theht after school started that year, I ca practice early one day and found Holden there with Charlotte, supposedly waiting for me She looked flushed, and he seemed winded They told me they’d just come in from outside The te what I kno about Holden, I’ed a glance, and a gong of foreboding rang in her stomach

"What? Spit it out What do you know?"

Sean sighed "According to Charlotte’s autopsy record, she was nine weeks pregnant when she died"

A wave of incredulity overca In so but numb But as if she couldn’t stop the march of tiht in the heart

"Then it had to be Holden I knew she had a crush on hihed at taking the virginity of two sisters But what the hell was Charlotte thinking?"

Thorpe shrugged "That she would be important to him, perhaps Come here, pet"

When he tried to pull her into his arms, Callie resisted and twisted away "Don’t Not now"

"We’re not Holden" Thorpe’s gray eyes looked like thunderclouds under the scowl of his dark brows

"She just needs tiued "It’s a lot for her to take in"

Callie shot hirateful look as she wrapped her arms around her waist and tried to absorb the fact that she’d been deceived by the sister she’d loved But Charlotte had always been a difficult child, always lashing out as if punishing the world for taking her mother She’d always required ive

"In retrospect, I should have realized that she’d be vulnerable to soue like Holden But I didn’t want to ihed raggedly, trying to cycle past the blow that probably shouldn’t have been a blow at all But the revelation, even all these years later, was still like a bo off inside her "I think I knew about two hours after we ran away froe mistake with him, but I was in shock and terrified"

"Of course," Sean soothed, but he didn’t try to touch her He only made himself available in case she wanted the support Bless him

But she wasn’t ready

"Is there any chance that Holden and your father argued about Charlotte’s pregnancy?" Thorpe asked "That Holden shot hiun?"

"No There were no voices in the house, just gunshots My father was a quiet ht not have raised his voice with Holden if he’d known about Charlotte’s pregnancy, but Holden would have yelled He was rebellious and wanted to be heard And heaven knows that Charlotte would have put in more than her two cents Neither one of theh to wipe the gun clean and plant it in my room to frame me"

"The crime scene reports make the whole event sound reement "Whoever did this knew exactly what they were about"

"They cales or scenes As far as I know, they didn’t try to extort money from my dad or rob the place He had round safe with a lot of cash in his office"

"Whoever killed him blasted their way into the safe," Sean confirmed "But the cash was still there, as well as the art"

"Whoever did this wanted so specific" Thorpe crossed his are to hit so since he couldn’t find the soine what" Callie shrugged

"And no one else had an ax to grind with your father?"

She’d really tried to figure it out, and of course she didn’t know everything about her father, but"The only possibility I can think of is a woet involved He kept a mistress in a loft by his office don About twice a week, he’d disappear for a few hours He’d get cranky when he moved one out and had to find another That happened about every six h to want more out of the relationship than baubles and sex I overheard him once on the phone He told whoever she was that she wasn’t his first mistress and wouldn’t be the last The woman moved out the next day But that was at least three or four months before his murder He had a new mistress by then, I’m sure"

"This wasn’t a criical strike"

"Any greedy family members you’re aware of?" Thorpe asked