They were bringing a confession, and a captive audience for it, straight to the doorstep of the people best equipped in the state to use it against them.

Chapter 10 — The Velvet Trap

Paradise Valley in mid-morning was quiet — filtered shade, manicured verges, the occasional hush of a passing car.

That quiet broke when their car pulled up and the three of them spilled out at my parents’ gate and Noreen gripped the iron bars and began to scream.

She screamed that this fine family was hiding a monster of a daughter.

She screamed that I had beaten her and cheated on my husband — inventions, all of it, pitched at maximum volume to draw the neighbors out.