On the Night She Died: A Quarry Street Story Read online

  On the Night She Died

  A Quarry Street Story

  Megan Hart

  Blurb

  Friendships. Love. Secrets.

  Jennilynn Harrison left them all behind — her sister Alicia. Her friend-to-lover Ilya Stern. His younger brother Niko. The Stern brothers’ step-sister Theresa.

  Intertwined lives, all of them damaged by what happened on the night she died.

  Copyright © 2018 by Megan Hart

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  ISBN: 978-1-940078-53-3

  Created with Vellum

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  The Quarry Street Series…

  The Quarry Street Series continues…

  Also by Megan Hart

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Rebecca

  Now

  Rebecca Segal hadn’t been home in a long damned time, but if it was really the place where they had to take you in, she supposed a little gratitude on her part might not be out of line.

  Yesterday, her mother’s voice on the phone had been shaking, querulous, weak. She hadn’t quite begged Rebecca to leave the sunny shores and warm waters of Cozumel, but the fact her mother might have felt as though she had to plead was more than enough to get Rebecca on the first flight home. She hadn’t even packed her suitcase — there wasn’t anything she owned that she couldn’t afford to replace. She’d gone straight from the airport to the hospital.

  Her father had died before she could get there.

  Rebecca would regret that for the rest of her life. Not having the chance to say goodbye to her dad. Not being there as he drew his last breath. Not holding her mom’s hand through his final moments. She could have blamed her mother for not calling her sooner, but the truth was, Rebecca had left home years ago and never returned no matter how many times her parents had asked, begged or pleaded, so if there was any blame to be laid, it was solely at Rebecca’s own extravagantly shod feet.

  “Hang on,” she told the driver as they reached a stoplight. “Can you go by way of Zimmerman’s diner?”

  “It’s called B’s Diner, now. But sure, of course we can swing past,” the guy said.

  The driver looked old enough to remember when Zimmerman’s had been in its heyday. For a moment, Rebecca considered asking him how long he’d lived in Quarrytown. Maybe they’d gone to school together. Maybe he was remembering her while she couldn’t place a name to the face.

  “How long has it had a new name?”

  “About a year now. Do you want me to stop so you can run in?” The driver’s eyes caught hers in the rearview mirror.

  Rebecca shook her head and looked out the window. The building was the same as she remembered, but clearly updated. Paint, gleaming chrome, a new sign. She hadn’t been inside a good old-fashioned diner in years. Screw gluten, lactose, sugar and fat-free. Greasy eggs and black bitter coffee sounded like heaven right about now.

  “No, thanks,” Rebecca said.

  Quarrytown had seen a lot of other changes, not only a new diner. New strip malls filled in what had once been bare fields. Neighborhoods of identical houses lined up along gently curving streets with macadam so new it was still inky black. The old high school was still there, but an entire new wing had changed it drastically.

  She closed her eyes and leaned back against the car’s leather seat. She’d been surprised but grateful to find out she could call for a freelance driving service. The driver had told her, when she asked, that the service had only become available in Quarrytown a couple months before. It was nothing like the kind of black car treatment she was used to, but it was better than a cab. If she was going to stay in town for any length of time, she’d have to see about getting herself a permanent ride.

  She could probably drive her dad’s. The completely restored 1967 Chevy Impala had been his baby for the past four decades, and he’d been driving it right up until he got sick. The tears threatened then, but she fought them back fiercely. She hadn’t broken down in the hospital, and she sure as hell wasn’t going to do it in front of a stranger.

  This car’s tires rumbled, and Rebecca opened her eyes. The house on the hill hadn’t changed. Gray paint with black trim, red front door still hung with the holiday wreath her mother insisted on every year, the way she always put a Christmas tree in the front room where the neighbors could see it, even though the Segals didn’t celebrate the holiday. Rebecca craned her neck for a glimpse of that tree through the glass, but her driver was pulling up the driveway and around the back to the garage too fast for her to see anything but a glare of headlights.

  Her mother had gone to stay with her sister Anne and hadn’t been home in the past few days, so the back door opening, along with the spill of light onto the dark driveway, startled Rebecca. She leaned forward over the front seat to tap the driver on the shoulder. “Wait, please.”

  “Everything okay, Miss?”

  Rebecca hadn’t been a “miss” for about as long as she’d been gone from Quarrytown, but she didn’t correct him. She was too busy studying the silhouette in the doorway. Mom had mentioned a daily caregiver for Dad, but there was no reason for him to be at the house now. Besides, something in the figure’s posture seemed familiar. She frowned, then let out a beleaguered sigh and rubbed at the tension spot between her eyes that she kept meaning to get taken care of with some fancy and expensive injections.

  “It’s fine,” she said. “It’s just my ex-husband. He’s not supposed to be here.”

  “Do you need me to go in with you? Are you safe?”

  Rebecca paused, surprised and a little touched at the offer. “Yeah, it’s fine. I wasn’t expecting him, that’s all. I don’t need you to go in with me. Thank you, though.”

  “I’m happy to walk up with you. Make sure it’s all good.” The driver had twisted around in the seat to look at her.

  If he wasn’t hitting on her right this minute, he’d definitely thought about it. She could see it in his eyes, a kind of assessing look that Rebecca had grown used to over the years. Even a few days ago, she’d probably have taken him up on the offer, if only because he was young, handsome, rough around the edges but trying hard, and it would have pissed off Richard to see her with another man, even one who she had no intentions of screwing. Well, maybe no strong intentions.

  Right now, she was too tired for games like that. “I’m sure it’s fine. Do you have a card? In case I need another…ride.”

  She let the words linger, suggestive, keeping eye contact a few seconds longer than necessary. The light in his gaze told her she’d been right about his attraction to her. Another time, Rebecca would have enjoyed it. Used it. Now, she’d turned her own stomach.

  She took the card he offered and got out of the car. Richard was still in the doorway when she got to the back steps. She didn’t say anything to him until she’d pushed past