The Hunted Girls by Jenna Kernan (best book club books for discussion txt) 📕

in a similar way. But after searching the available information, Nadine had unearthed no other connection between the women.

She sat back and sighed. Stranger crimes were exceedingly difficult.

Both her phone and Tina’s chimed with a group text from Juliette inviting them to happy hour in the hotel bar. She and Clint were having dinner together, but Nadine thought she could manage both.

“Oh, fun,” Tina said. “I’ll see you back there.”

Tina headed out as Nadine closed her laptop and gathered her things.

Her team deserved a break.

She left her office, already anticipating the drink with Tina and Juliette. Afterward, she and Clint would share a nice meal and have some much-needed alone time.

Skogen intercepted her on her way out.

“We got a DNA sample from Barney Arnold.”

“Oh, great. Voluntary?” she asked.

“No. Discarded cigar stub he’d been chewing on most of the afternoon.”

“Wonderful. So it’s at the lab?”

“Already there. A match will connect him to the body. We get that, we make an arrest.”

Which then allowed them to collect a DNA sample, regardless of whether the DNA was relevant to the arrest. Otherwise, they’d need either a confession by Arnold, a witness or evidence connecting Arnold to the victim. Then they’d have to obtain a court order based on probable cause to mandate a sample.

“You think the DNA on the cigar will match the semen found on Rita Karnowski’s body?”

“We’ll see.”

“Did he agree to the psych profile?”

“Declined.”

She wasn’t surprised, but still disappointed.

“You heading out?” he asked.

She didn’t like the way he was lingering.

“Yes. Dinner with my team.”

“Ah. Sounds nice.” He headed back toward his office.

At the hotel, Rosie was back behind the counter and gave her a bright smile.

“Good evening, Dr. Finch.”

“To you as well.”

She glanced from reception to the two empty birdcages.

“Where’s Petunia?” she asked.

“Happy hour out by the pool. She has a perch there.”

“Jack-Jack?”

“Back in his room. Those two parrots are now besties. And Petunia is much quieter with Dr. Hartfield’s bird here.”

“Have you seen any of my team?”

“Also by the pool.”

“Tiki bar?”

Rosie’s bright smile widened. “That’s right!”

Nadine cast her a wave and found the pool deck, but the instant she crossed the threshold, she was intercepted by Tina.

“Hey,” said Nadine. “Where we sitting?”

“Um, hey.” She just stood there zipping the crucifix about her neck back and forth on the gold chain.

Nadine picked up on Tina’s obvious unease.

“Where’s Juliette?” Nadine glanced to the crowded bar area decorated with surfboards and a thatched roof.

“Waiting.” Tina thumbed over her shoulder but did not look back. “I wanted to speak to you before you… that is… Juliette said I needed to tell you…” Tina broke their gaze.

“Tell me what?”

She peeked through her lashes, like a naughty child. Both her hesitancy and flushed face put Nadine on guard.

“Listen, Dr. Finch. I have a confession.”

Nine

Nadine hated confessions and was guaranteed not to like whatever Tina said next. Had she spoken to a reporter?

“Yes?”

“I’ve been writing a prisoner.”

Nadine’s heart sank. Tina had been struggling with the urge to reconnect with her mother. Unfortunately, Tina’s mother was a bad person with no moral compass who would certainly try to manipulate her.

“Your mom?” Nadine guessed.

“Your brother.”

The shock of this ricocheted through Nadine like a rifle shot.

“What?”

“I saw his email address and I wondered if he knew my mom’s… the guy my mother worked with on…”

“The murder they committed?” Nadine furnished.

“Yeah.”

“Why?”

“I wondered if Arlo could find out what this guy was like.”

“And why, again? You’re talking about a man who helped your mother bury an old woman alive. What more could you possibly need to know?”

Tina glanced down, breaking the eye contact.

“He was with my mom for a couple years. I thought he might be able to tell me more about what she was like. And maybe… maybe it was his idea. You know, he talked her into it.”

Nadine recalled Tina was a teen when her mother was taken from her. She had guilt issues over the possibility that her mother had done this terrible thing in a twisted effort to provide for her little girl.

“Your mother abducted an elderly woman, lured her into her vehicle.” Nadine knew this because she read every article available on Tina’s mother in an effort to understand Tina herself better. “It was her idea to bury her alive and she was there digging the grave and covering a living human being with soil. Your mom does not get a pass on this, Tina, no matter how much you would like to believe she was somehow victimized.”

“I just thought—”

“She spent the money from her victim’s accounts.”

“On an apartment for us. On food and…” Her words were choked by tears.

Nadine gathered her up. She knew that Tina’s mother had bought lottery tickets, a new luxury sports car, clothing, makeup and tickets to one of the theme parks. Nadine could only imagine what Tina felt remembering that particular outing with her mom, whose sudden unexplained windfall would later be exposed to all.

“I’m sorry.” Nadine rubbed her assistant’s back.

Tina sniffed. “No. I’m sorry. It was stupid. I just wanted my mom to be… I don’t know, the victim.”

“That would be easier.” She thought of Demko, still blaming his half brother for his father’s murder.

Tina pulled back and used her fingertips to carefully wipe the mascara from under her eyes. She looked the picture of a forlorn waif. Was that why Nadine had taken her under her wing?

“How do you deal with it? What they did?” she asked.

Nadine pressed her lips together as the rage surged.

“By stopping people like them.”

Looking at Tina was like looking in a mirror at a younger version of herself.

Nadine offered her a napkin from her bag and her assistant dabbed the moisture from her face.

“Tina, my brother is not a great resource for you. He’s in prison for sexual assault.”

“He told me.”

“Did he also tell you it wasn’t assault? It was rape. He accepted a deal in exchange for a guilty plea.” Nadine struggled to keep her composure.

“But he’s up for parole,” said Tina.

Nadine hoped this was not heading in the direction