Katia Lief - Here She Lies

Praise for the Novels

of Kate Pepper

One Cold Night

I was sucked into the book and felt I was living each minute . The story is full of nuanced characters that make it come alive. Add that to the jagged emotions, incredible tension, and gritty street feel and youve got a really good book.

Rendezvous

Jam-packed with heart-stopping suspense, One Cold Night is a book not to be missed. Ms. Pepper has a magnificent way of bringing each character to life in this very fascinating and intriguing tale.

MyShelf

Seven Minutes to Noon

In this highly suspenseful domestic mystery, readers are treated to the terrifying aftermath of secure and cozy lives gone chillingly wrong. Likable characters, plenty of suspects, and a relatively shocking ending that stuns and thrills.

New Mystery Reader Magazine

Seven Minutes to Noon starts off running, and never stops until the end. A tightly woven plot keeps the story flowing . Youll startle at every strange sound as you read Kate Peppers second book. Best not to be alone when turning the pages.

BookLoons

continued

Powerful . The audience will hold their breath until the last revelation.

Midwest Book Review

Launches the reader on an emotional roller-coaster ride.

Roundtable Reviews

A disturbing psychological thriller throat-grabbing, visceral intensity . Kate Pepper knows how to put the pinch on a readers emotions, and goes in for the kill with slick, controlled cleverness.

Heartstrings

Five Days in Summer

Mesmerizing . Your heart will be pounding long after youve turned the final page.

Lisa Gardner, author of Gone

Kate Pepper has an amazing eye for detail clever and realistica gripping, poignant portrait of an innocent family caught in a nightmare of evil.

Anne Frasier, author of Before I Wake and Pale Immortal

Five Days has it allan attractive female detective, a crusty FBI profiler, and the scariest killer youll never want to meet.

Leslie Glass, author of A Clean Kill

I put Five Days in Summer aside only once to make sure my doors were locked.

Barbara Parker, author of Suspicion of Rage

[A] tightly plotted debut thriller . Peppers finely drawn characterizations and taut, clean storytelling make this an enjoyable read.

Publishers Weekly

The pacing is swift, the action scenes leave the audience breathless, and the suspense is at a high level. A very frightening book.

Midwest Book Review

Especially hard to put down had this reviewer looking over her shoulder in her quiet apartment . The plot really cooks.

The Mystery Reader

ALSO BY KATE PEPPER

One Cold Night

Seven Minutes to Noon

Five Days in Summer

HERE SHE

LIES

Kate Pepper

ONYX

Published by New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA

Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St. Stephens Green, Dublin 2, Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd.) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell, Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty. Ltd.) Penguin Books India Pvt. Ltd., 11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi - 110 017, India

Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive, Rosedale, North Shore, Auckland 1311, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.) Penguin Books (South Africa) (Pty.) Ltd., 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

First published by Onyx, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

Copyright Kate Pepper, 2007

All rights reserved

REGISTERED TRADEMARKMARCA REGISTRADA ISBN: 1-4295-3421-4

Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

PUBLISHERS NOTE

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the authors rights is appreciated.

For Oliver, Eli and Karenna

Always

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Many thanks to my editor, Claire Zion, whose insight, skill and patience helped shape this story from its in-ception, and to my literary agent, Matt Bialer, who met each new draft with sagacity and encouragement.

Thanks also to Matts assistant, Anna Bierhaus, who read and commented on an early draft of the novel; D. P. Lyle, M.D., for factual guidance on the forensics of blood; and friend and attorney Michael Fay, for throwing legal documents my way in the hope that I might actually read them. A very special thank-you to Jessie Lief, whose input was invaluable, as was the hard work and dedication of the talented staff at New American Library and Penguin. And, last but not least, I owe special gratitude to my husband, Oliver, who listened, advised, read and commented throughout the entire process of bringing this novel to life.

PART ONE

Chapter 1

Sunlight poured through our front doors stained-glass window, splashing the floor with an impressionistic rainbow. My two large suitcases sat at the ready; everything I needed for the next few months was in them, plus various sizes of clothes for Lexy to grow into. I stood there, stunned by the reality of what was happening. I was really doing it: I was leaving my husband. Stood there, in this moment that felt too heavy and too long, torn between letting my baby daughter finish her morning nap and waking her up and leaving.

I decided I should wake her or we might miss our plane. And, truthfully, I was afraid of another fight with Bobby. Our arguments at this point were just filler; we had been through this for months already and nothing had changed. But before I reached the bottom of the staircase I heard his footsteps, steady echoes from the direction of the kitchen, and I turned to face him.

Whats this? he asked.

I cant anymore.

There he was, my handsome husbandsandy brown hair still unbrushed from bed, plaid pajama bottoms and an old T-shirt advertising a dentist in Oregon, ocean blue eyes searching my facestricken that I was making good on my threat to leave him. There was a smudge of newsprint ink on his cheek; he had been reading in the kitchen. I wanted to cry, but didnt.

Bobby was the love of my life and even now, in the middle of this stalemate, I wanted to move in his direction. I wanted his hands on my skin and my nose in his neck and his breath in my ear. But he was having an affair with some woman who was just delirious over him; he was wining her and dining her and gifting her in a romantic torrent he had not afforded me during our brief courtship. All on our joint credit card, making it so obvious he might as well have brought her home to dinner. Hed denied the affair, disavowed all the unimaginative charges (books of poetry, flowers, candynot an original gesture on the list, but even so ). I had wanted to believe himI tried but if it wasnt true, why had the charges started up again on our new cards even after wed canceled the old ones?