The First Death

PRAISE FOR THE COLUMBIA RIVER SERIES “[A] gripping novel of suspense from Elliot . . . Elliot skillfully unravels layers of intersecting stories, each one integral to the overall story of the Mills family and their small-town secrets. Readers will want to see more from this author.” —Publishers Weekly “Elliot succeeds in creating both a thrilling mystery and a fascinating character study of the people inhabiting these pages.” —Bookreporter “With her riveting, narrative-driven, deftly crafted storytelling style as a novelist, Kendra Elliot’s The Last Sister will prove to be a welcome and enduringly popular addition to community library Mystery/Suspense/Thriller collections.” —Midwest Book Review “Suspense on top of suspense. This one will keep you guessing until the final page and shows Elliot at her very best.” —The Real Book Spy “Every family has skeletons. Kendra Elliot’s tale of the Mills family’s dark secrets is first-rate suspense. Dark and gripping, The Last Sister crescendos to knock-out, edge-of-your seat tension.” —Robert Dugoni, bestselling author of My Sister’s Grave “The Last Sister is exciting and suspenseful! Engaging characters and a complex plot kept me on the edge of my seat until the very last page.” —T.R. Ragan, bestselling author of the Jessie Cole series “Thriller Award finalist Elliot’s well-paced sequel to The Last Sister opens at the home of fifty-two-year-old Reuben Braswell, a devotee of conspiracy theories, who’s lying dead in his bathtub . . . The twist ending will catch most readers by surprise . . . [and] fans will look forward to seeing characters from the author’s other series take the lead in future installments.” —Publishers Weekly “Elliot skillfully interweaves the various plot threads, and credible, mostly sympathetic characters match the lovingly described locale. Fans of contemporary regional mysteries will be rewarded.” —Publishers Weekly ALSO BY KENDRA ELLIOT COLUMBIA RIVER NOVELS The Last Sister The Silence In the Pines MERCY KILPATRICK NOVELS A Merciful Death A Merciful Truth A Merciful Secret A Merciful Silence A Merciful Fate A Merciful Promise BONE SECRETS NOVELS Hidden Chilled Buried Alone Known BONE SECRETS NOVELLAS Veiled CALLAHAN & MCLANE NOVELS PART OF THE BONE SECRETS WORLD Vanished Bridged Spiraled Targeted ROGUE RIVER NOVELLAS On Her Father’s Grave (Rogue River) Her Grave Secrets (Rogue River) Dead in Her Tracks (Rogue Winter) Death and Her Devotion (Rogue Vows) Truth Be Told (Rogue Justice) WIDOW’S ISLAND NOVELLAS Close to the Bone Bred in the Bone Below the Bones The Lost Bones Bone Deep This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Otherwise, any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Text copyright © 2023 by Oceanfront Press LLC All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher. Published by Montlake, Seattle www.apub.com Amazon, the Amazon logo, and Montlake are trademarks of Amazon.com, Inc., or its affiliates. ISBN-13: 9781542006842 (hardcover) ISBN-13: 9781542006828 (paperback) ISBN-13: 9781542009973 (digital) Cover design by Caroline Teagle Johnson Cover image: © Joana Kruse / ArcAngel; © Aaro Keipi / ArcAngel; © wingmar / Getty; © Aaron Foster / Getty First edition For my girls CONTENTS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ABOUT THE AUTHOR 1 Twenty-five years ago Don’t say a word. Be quiet. Don’t move. Don’t move. Don’t move. Five-year-old Rowan held her breath and tightened herself into the smallest ball possible, her head hidden in her arms. Her leg hurt so bad. But that was normal now. It had hurt for days. She’d cried nonstop as it bounced and jerked while she rode on Malcolm’s back. Malcolm will be here soon. She simply had to wait. Her brother would never leave her for long. I’m so cold. She shuddered and pressed closer to the trunk of the big bush. Malcolm had chosen the hiding place because of its low branches and big leaves. Dirt tickled her nose. Its scent of dampness and decay. He was looking for them. She had heard his faint shouts as he called her name and Malcolm’s. Be quiet. Malcolm had stashed her under the bush when he couldn’t carry her anymore. He’d tried to keep going, but he was only seven, and he wasn’t that strong. Now she wanted to sleep. Sleep and sleep. Her eyelids wouldn’t stay open, and her limbs were deadweight, but her brain kept listening, waiting to hear Malcolm return and fearful that his calls would get closer. She pushed up the sleeve of Malcolm’s sweatshirt and scratched her arm, feeling the scab release and then wedge under her fingernail. So itchy. Bugbites. Dozens of them. Up and down her arms and legs. Many she’d scratched until they bled. The constant itch and sting made her cry. Something in the locked shed had thought she was delicious. Malcolm had a few bites but nothing like the number of hers. The only good thing about the itch was that it temporarily made her forget the pain in her leg. Until she moved it. And then hot fire shot up her nerves into her brain. She wiped her cheek with a filthy hand. Being dirty no longer bothered her. Her empty stomach bothered her. The cold and bugbites bothered her. Being alone and hearing shouts in the distance bothered her. What if he finds Malcolm? He wouldn’t. Malcolm was smart and sneaky. He would get help and be back soon. Rowan didn’t know how many days had gone by since they’d escaped. She thought they had been in the woods for two nights, but her memory was fuzzy. It’d been dark when they left,