Free All the Little Liars by Charlaine Harris Page A

off the blanket and sat up. A wave of nausea hit me so hard that I dashed into the kitchen and threw up in the sink, because that was the closest receptacle. I hadn’t thrown up much with my pregnancy until now—mostly, I’d been queasy—and I’d been very, very lucky, I realized. I finished upchucking and ran the water full force, dashing it on my face. I filled a glass and drank it very slowly.
    â€œHoney, are you okay?” Robin was right behind me.
    â€œAfter I brush my teeth and eat something,” I said, maybe optimistically. “What was the call about?”
    â€œWe have to go as soon as you do those things.” His voice was so sad. “They found a body and they want to know if it’s Phillip.”
    While I brushed my teeth and washed my face and Robin got a sleeve of saltines to take with us, I simply denied this discovery. They hadn’t found a body: if they had, it wasn’t Phillip’s. It was someone else’s. It wasn’t even Josh. It was some completely unknown male person.
    I was determined to eat some saltines so I wouldn’t be sick again. Everyone had told me that was the best preventative. Maybe so, but we had to stop again halfway to the spot so I could vomit again.
    I didn’t even ask where we were going.
    Finally, we came to a stop in one of the newer parts of Lawrenceton, a strip mall that currently housed a vapor shop, a manicure/pedicure place, an army recruiting station, and the haircut salon Shear Delight. There were police cars and civilian cars parked badly, and people everywhere. Robin helped me out of the car and put his arm around me. We made our way slowly through the throng to the driveway leading to the alley in back of the strip mall.
    Robin said something to the first uniformed cop we saw, and we got passed up the chain. Each time we moved a little closer to the center of the activity. Finally, I could see that there was body lying almost concealed behind a Dumpster to the right of the salon’s back door. I could see the feet, in tennis shoes. I could not remember what shoes Phillip had been wearing, or if he had any like that.
    We moved around so we could see better. Though there was lots of activity around the still remains, I could see that a body about the size of Phillip and with golden hair like Phillip’s had been hidden behind the Dumpster. I could see that the clothes were bloody, and the body was distorted by broken bones.
    â€œYou don’t look well,” Detective Trumble said, appearing suddenly at my shoulder.
    â€œI’m three months pregnant and I wonder if my brother’s dead,” I said.
    â€œWe’re just about to turn him over,” she said.
    â€œAll right.” I nodded. “Let’s see.” I had to know.
    Robin’s arm tightened around me.
    A man in medical scrubs squatted by the body at the shoulders, and another at the feet. They each positioned their hands, agreeing on which way they would turn the body, and then they moved.
    There was a gasp that came from no one and everyone.
    The corpse was not Phillip; in fact, it was not even a male. It was a girl.
    Even though I’d been pretty sure, I sagged. “Thank God,” I whispered. And I turned sideways, so the body was not in my line of sight. I felt guilty for my thanks. This body had been a real person, loved by someone.
    One of the scrubs-clad men said, “That’s Tammy Ribble.” His voice was hoarse and broken. It was clear he was trying not to cry. “I know her folks.”
    â€œLocal girl?” Detective Trumble said.
    â€œYeah. Plays soccer at the high school. Runs track. She’s gone to school with my boy her whole life. Gone to church with him.”
    With Tammy’s short hair and athletic build, it was just possible to mistake her for a boy from the back, especially since she’d been wearing sweatpants and a quilted olive-green coat.
    â€œWhat happened to