Olivia had already detailed the events spanning from the night she was kidnapped to her escape and rescue. “I still can’t believe my agent arranged my kidnapping as a publicity stunt. I knew she was having a tough time with her separation, and she’d been getting irritable about the book proposal I owed her, but still . . .”

“It is bizarre,” Stella agreed. “You never had any clue as to how desperate she was?”

“No.” Olivia thought about her last few conversations with Kim. “She did mention she was afraid she’d lose her condo, but we’d only worked together for a short time. I really don’t know her that well.”

Olivia thought she would eventually feel betrayed, but for now, she was grateful to be alive and afraid to be alone. Maybe after she’d processed the ordeal and spent a few hundred hours in therapy, she’d get around to being angry.

“We thought one of the killers you were investigating was innocent and the real guilty party didn’t want his case reopened,” Stella said.

“Will Cliff Franklin get a new trial?” Olivia asked.

“I doubt it. Joe has given us all kinds of details on the deaths of Cliff’s five other victims. If the search teams find the bodies, we’ll have evidence to back up his story. Joe didn’t want to testify against his brother until his own neck was on the line. Now he won’t shut up. Even if Cliff gets an appeal on the conviction for Brandi’s death, he’ll be facing five additional murder charges.”

“That’s a relief,” Olivia said. “I knew I had to come forward with the information about the chain of evidence and let the legal system handle the fallout. I had already finished the book proposal, but something inside me just didn’t want to submit it. Maybe I shouldn’t be a journalist anymore.”

“You’re being too hard on yourself.”

“It’s not my job to form opinions or assume the roles of judge and jury. I’m supposed to report the truth.”

“It’s OK to be human and not want a killer set free to hurt other people.” Stella tilted her head. “Did you ever think Erik Olander was innocent?”

“Only briefly in the beginning. His case was interesting, though. I suspected his parents helped him invent the intruder scenario to cover up his wife’s murder.”

Stella put away her pen and notepad. “I should let you rest, and I imagine Sharp is pacing the hallway outside the door.”

Despite her trauma, Olivia smiled at the image.

Stella stood. “Are you going to be all right?”

Olivia thought about the nightmare she’d had that morning and how Lincoln had woken her and held her until she’d stopped shaking. “It isn’t going to be easy, but eventually, I think I will.”

Sharp leaned against the wall in the hospital hallway outside Olivia’s room. He was bone-tired after sitting up all night with her. Treatments overnight had greatly improved her breathing, but her sleep had been interrupted by nightmares.

Still, he would take this kind of tired any day over the last few days of thinking he’d never see her again.

Morgan strode down the hospital hallway. At her side, Lance carried a teddy bear holding a GET WELL balloon. They both looked as exhausted as Sharp felt. Morgan was pale, and Lance sported dark circles under his eyes. But they were holding hands and smiling.

Could he and Olivia be that happy together? Deep in his heart he knew the answer was yes.

“You two didn’t get any sleep last night either?” Sharp asked as Morgan greeted him with a touch on his arm.

“The girls woke us at six.” Morgan smiled wistfully. “Sleep is still a dream for us.”

Lance grunted. “The kids don’t want to hear any we got in late bullshit. I couldn’t even get in the shower until after they left for school.” But under his exhaustion, he looked pleased that Morgan’s girls had missed him.

“We’re clean and caffeinated,” Morgan said. “It’s the best we can hope for today.”

“Is everything OK with Olivia?” Lance nodded toward the closed door.

“Stella is taking her statement,” Sharp said. “Olivia’s asthma is much better. They have her on multiple medications.”

The door opened, and Stella stuck her head out. “Sharp, you can come back in now.” She didn’t seem surprised to see Morgan and Lance in the hallway. “You two might as well listen too. It’ll save me from having to repeat myself.”

Sharp led the way into the room. He listened for wheezing but heard none. He offered Morgan the chair next to the bed, but she shook her head. Sharp eased into it, his hand reaching for Olivia’s. “You all right?”

She nodded. “Talking about it helps.”

He squeezed her hand. She would need counseling, but she was tough. Before Stella had come, Olivia had told him everything she could remember about her kidnapping. Sharp pictured her trying to strangle Stephen with her drawstring and digging rocks out of the dirt floor to fill the toe of her sock. He couldn’t believe she’d made two weapons out of her pajamas.

Lance set the teddy bear on the rolling tray. “How are you?”

“I’m going to be fine, thanks to you all,” Olivia said.

Stella chimed in, “Kim has opted to exercise her right to remain silent. She literally has not said a single word since we arrested her. She stares at the wall in her cell. If I bring her into an interview room, she glares at me.” A conspiratorial and slightly feral smile crossed Stella’s face. “But her brother hasn’t stopped talking. He’s terrified she’s going to try to hang most of the blame on him. We might have implied that she did.”

“It probably helps that she was going to run away and leave him at the survival camp,” Sharp added.

“It certainly does. He was angry and hurt she would betray him after all he had done for her. He spilled the whole plan. Kim asked him to kidnap Olivia and hold her for a long weekend.” She paused for breath. “He was supposed to release her on Monday or Tuesday under the guise of wanting to hunt her down and kill her in the woods. The plan was for Stephen to let her escape. That all changed when Olivia saw his face. Once Olivia could identify Stephen, she had to die.”

Olivia closed her eyes for a few seconds and swallowed. Her escape attempt had been her death sentence.

“Let me guess,” Morgan said. “Kim’s husband was suing her for half the value of the condo, and she needed money to buy him out.”

“Yes.” Stella nodded. “She’d also invested heavily in her brother’s survival school, which failed. She had no cash. She needed to bring in a significant amount of money over the next six months. She had also grown increasingly aggressive in other deals, pushing publishers to get contracts signed, not bothering to negotiate terms but rushing to close—and get paid—instead. Kim was the one leaking information to the press. She thought the media attention generated by Olivia’s kidnapping and courageous escape would make Olivia famous. Everything they did—from the anonymous call notifying the press of the bombing to pushing the car into the ravine—was all designed to keep Olivia’s story in the news and increase publicity. The film company interested in her first book was then expected to make an offer that would drive up the value of Olivia’s next book. Kim convinced her brother she could get a five-million-dollar contract on the book, at minimum, on top of the film deal. She speculated that movie studios would race to option the story of Olivia’s kidnapping.”