Poisonous: A Novel

Begin Reading

Table of Contents

About the Author

Copyright Page

Thank you for buying this

St. Martin’s Press ebook.

To receive special offers, bonus content,

and info on new releases and other great reads,

sign up for our newsletters.

Or visit us online at

us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup

For email updates on the author, click
here
.

The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way.
Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the author’s copyright, please notify the publisher at:

us.macmillanusa.com/piracy
.

Shortly after my first book was published in 2006, I met two amazing women at the first-ever ThrillerFest, both new writers. Now, ten years later, I’ve come to depend on them for advice, trust them with secrets, and most of all, love them like sisters. Cheers, Toni McGee Causey and J. T. Ellison. Your friendship means the world to me.

Dear Ms. Revere,

My name is Tommy Wallace and I live in Corte Madera, California. Last summer my stepsister Ivy Lake was killed. Even after all this time no one knows who did it.

The police detective was nice but she wouldn’t talk to me about what happened. She told me to talk to my dad. I thought maybe she didn’t talk to me then because I was too young, so when I turned eighteen last week I went back to the police station but Detective Martin still wouldn’t talk to me about what happened to Ivy.

I’m writing to you because you help people. I watched your show and you find out what happened to people who died. I went to your Web site and read how you found out what happened to that architect killed last year. That was in Atherton—not far from where I live! You said his family deserved to know the truth and have closure. I don’t really get what closure means, but if it means knowing who hurt Ivy that is what I want.

Everything is different since Ivy died. My dad says that the police don’t know who killed her or why. My stepmom gets mad all the time because the police haven’t arrested anyone. My dad thinks Ivy’s boyfriend killed her. My sister thinks Ivy’s best friend killed her. My stepmother Paula thinks I killed her.

I would never ever hurt anyone, no matter what they did. But now Paula won’t even let me come to the house to visit unless my dad is there and he works so much he’s not home hardly at all. Austin says his mom is scared of me. He called her stupid. I told him it was not nice to call people stupid. I don’t like being called stupid. I miss Bella and Austin so much sometimes I cry. My mom says it’s okay if boys cry sometimes but Dad says I’m too old. I don’t know why Paula thinks I hurt Ivy. She wouldn’t let me come to Bella’s birthday party because Dad was out of town. I don’t want my little sister Bella to think I don’t like her anymore. My mom tried to make me feel better by taking me out for ice cream. I thought she was mad at me, but when my dad came back from his trip he came over and my mom yelled at him the same way she yelled back when they were getting divorced. Dad left and did not say goodbye. Now I think he’s mad at me, too.

I want everything to go back to the way it was before Ivy died, but Austin says that can’t happen. He told me the only thing that will fix everything is if the police find out who killed Ivy and then Paula will know it was not me. But the police don’t seem to be trying. Dad says we pay their salaries and they should be working harder. I don’t have a job so I don’t pay their salaries. Maybe that’s why Detective Martin won’t talk to me.

I don’t want anyone to think I hurt Ivy. I don’t want Austin to get in trouble for coming to see me when he’s not supposed to. I want to go to Bella’s birthday party next April when she turns six and give her a present. If you can tell my stepmother I did not do anything wrong, she will have to believe you.

Thank you for reading my letter. Sincerely, Tommy Thomas Andrew Wallace

Chapter One

MONDAY

Maxine Revere and her right-hand everything, David Kane, flew into SFO on Labor Day. Max didn’t like traveling on holidays, but with her hectic schedule she didn’t have much of a choice. They took a shuttle to the car rental lot and David handled the paperwork while Max scanned her e-mail. A dozen messages down the inbox was a message from her lover, Detective Nick Santini.

I know you’re angry that I canceled our plans this weekend. I’ll find time later this week to come up for a day. Let me know when you land.

Max didn’t know why she was still so irritated at Nick. She’d planned on flying in a few days before her scheduled meeting with the detective in charge of the Ivy Lake homicide—thus avoiding flying on a holiday. But Nick called her Thursday night and canceled. He said he had to swap shifts at the last minute. Something about his excuse didn’t ring true, so she’d pressed him for the reason. Maybe what bothered Max the most was that she’d had to push him before he told her the truth. His ex-wife was fighting for sole custody of their son Logan and Nick had a critical meeting with his lawyer. Max hadn’t met Nancy Santini, but she doubted she’d like the woman who was attempting to prevent a good father like Nick from spending time with his own child. Based on everything Max had been told, Nancy Santini was manipulative and vindictive, and why Nick couldn’t see it, she didn’t know.

She dropped her smartphone into her purse without responding to Nick’s message. What could she say? That she understood? She didn’t, and she wasn’t going to lie to Nick about how she felt. He didn’t want her opinion on the matter, and she certainly wasn’t going to tell him she would be eagerly awaiting his unconfirmed arrival. If he drove the hour to Sausalito to see her, great. If not … well, she really didn’t have much say in what he did or didn’t do. Nick had made that perfectly clear when she started asking questions about his custody battle.

David approached her, rental keys in hand. “Whose head did you bite off?”

She looked at him and raised an eyebrow. When she wore heels, she and David were eye to eye. “Excuse me?”

“When you’re angry, your eyes narrow and the lines in your forehead crease.”

“You’re telling me I have wrinkles. Terrific.”

“It’s Nick.”

“If you already know, why ask?”

David led the way to the rental car. Max wished he wouldn’t act as if she were on the verge of dumping Nick. She was the first to admit she didn’t do long-term—or long-distance—relationships well.

Nick was different, and she wasn’t being overly romantic to think so; she wasn’t a romantic at heart. Yet when he’d canceled their weekend plans, her gut had twisted. She didn’t want it to be over.

David popped the trunk of the luxury sedan and maneuvered his lone suitcase into the trunk alongside Max’s two large bags. Her laptop and overnight bag went into the backseat. She sat in the passenger seat and slid back the seat for comfort. After five and a half hours on a plane, she needed to stretch her long legs.

If she had to she could travel light, but she didn’t know how long she’d be investigating this case. She’d told Ben she wanted ten days for the Ivy Lake investigation. He’d
scowled
at her—that was the only word that fit his irritated-with-Maxine expression. Then she told Laura, his admin, not to schedule anything for two weeks. Max had almost managed to skip town before Ben found out she’d blocked off so much time. He called her in a tizzy on the way to the airport and whined. She’d already recorded the October show—early, she reminded him—it wasn’t like she had to rush back. If she needed to do retakes, they had a sister studio in San Francisco.

“You took a week off in Lake Tahoe, and now for an investigation that shouldn’t take more than a few days you’re taking two weeks?”

She knew what needed to be done to keep her show running smoothly, and she’d do it. She wasn’t going to explain herself. “Goodbye, Ben.” She hung up.

Pulling out of the parking space, David merged the rental into the dense traffic that would take them through San Francisco and across the Golden Gate Bridge. Max stared out the window. She liked San Francisco, but didn’t feel the passion for it like she did for New York City. She’d never once considered living here, though she’d grown up only forty minutes south of the city. She couldn’t put her finger on why—maybe it was that San Francisco was too close to her family.

“Why does he let her get away with it?” Max asked after several minutes of silence.

“What are you talking about?”

“Nick’s ex. The games she’s playing.”

“Nick is not letting Nancy get away with anything,” David said. “There’s a process.”

“She’s trying to deny Nick the right to see Logan.”

“No,” David corrected. “She’s seeking full custody so she can leave the state without violating the joint custody agreement.”

“Why do you know more about this than I do?” Max had mixed feelings about David’s relationship with Nick. While it made her life easier that her closest friend actually liked the man she was sleeping with, she didn’t particularly appreciate that Nick and David had conversations she wasn’t privy to. Lately it seemed like Nick had been talking to David more than her.

“This is an area I have more experience in than you,” said David.

“Maybe instead of a journalist I should have studied law and become a judge,” she said.

David’s spontaneous laughter didn’t improve her mood.

“I would be a good judge,” she said defensively. “I’m exceptionally adept at weeding through fact and fiction.”

“Maybe in criminal court,” he said, clearing his throat. “Not so, in family court.”

“I’d certainly put a stop to her blatant manipulation tactics. She’s changed her mind three times about where she and her boyfriend are moving. And who is this guy, anyway? First they’re getting married, then they aren’t, but are planning on moving in together. With Logan in the house? And doesn’t Nick have a say in who his minor son shares a house with? The whole situation stinks.”

“You need to stay out of it, Max. Nick knows what he’s doing.”

“I don’t get it,” she said.

“That’s a first.”

Max didn’t respond. She wondered if there something else going on with Nick and his ex that David knew about that she didn’t. But why would Nick hold back from telling her? They’d had a wonderful vacation together in Lake Tahoe six weeks ago—all of them. David and his daughter Emma had joined her, Nick, and Logan. At least it was wonderful until Nick’s vacation was cut short by his ex-wife. Still, Max had been understanding. Sort of. At first.

Okay, maybe she had been a bitch after the fourth call from Nancy Santini demanding that Nick bring Logan back to town. Nick never told Max the nature of his disagreement with his ex-wife but something Nancy said had Nick packing their bags and leaving the same day.