The Lies We Tell
The Undertaker's Daughter
by Debra Webb
Nothing hurts like the truth.
Doctor Rowan Dupont knows a serial killer is coming for her. Julian Addington has been waiting. Watching. And it’s only a matter of time before he strikes. But what Julian doesn’t know is that Rowan is ready for him. And more than anything she wants answers. How well did the depraved killer actually know her mother? And how many lies have been spun in the years since she took her own life?
Working alongside her childhood friend Police Chief Billy Brannigan, Rowan is determined to get to the bottom of her mother’s puzzling suicide once and for all—even if it means exposing an unsettling past. It certainly seems like her family’s Victorian funeral home has borne witness to more than one dark secret, but when a recent double homicide leads to an even grislier discovery, separating the truth from the lies might be the last thing Rowan does.
One
Franklin
County Jail, Winchester, Tennessee Thursday, October 24, 11:55 a.m.
Herman Carter looked old. So very old.
The past five months
in jail awaiting trial had taken a toll on the seventy-one-year-old man. He’d
lost weight, and his gray hair lacked its usual sheen. But it was his eyes that
told the real story. Dull, listless, resigned.
Rowan DuPont felt no
sympathy.
Renewed indignation
tightened her lips. This man—a man she had known and trusted her entire
life—had deceived her. He had taken advantage of her father…and betrayed so
many people. For no other reason than greed. He could toss out his excuses
about his wife’s illness, but the truth was he had hurt people, using Rowan’s
family and the funeral home that had belonged to her family for 150 years.
He deserved a far
heavier punishment than she imagined the court system would eventually dole
out. Eventually being the key word.
The trial wasn’t scheduled to begin for another three months. The wheels of
justice indeed moved slowly.
“Did you get my
letters?” His voice sounded rusty, as if he rarely found a reason to use it.
“One every week,”
Rowan said, her voice stiff, no matter that she had repeatedly attempted to
relax. No matter that she did not want to be here, this meeting was necessary.
Furthermore, it was essential that she proceed with caution where her personal
feelings were concerned. She needed him cooperative. Revealing her utter
disdain would not aid toward that end.
Herman had written to her every week since his
arrest. Until yesterday, she had not opened a single one of his letters. She
had felt no desire to read anything he had to say. He could not be trusted in
any capacity. Yet, unfortunately, he was the one person still living who was
well versed in her family’s history. He and her father had been best friends
their whole lives. With her father dead going on a year now, Herman was the
only person who might be able to help her.
For five months she
had attempted to dissect her mother’s journals. She had searched the funeral
home, as well as the living quarters, from top to bottom. One by one she had
questioned neighbors, business associates and anyone else who had known her
parents. She had learned nothing useful toward her goal of uncovering the facts
surrounding the deaths of her sister and her mother.
Perhaps the truth had
died with her father.
Rowan still struggled
with the loss of her father. The idea that he might have lied to her made
adjust-ing to this new reality all the more difficult. A part of her refused to
believe he had lied, despite the rumors and innuendos she had encountered. The
trouble was, she had to know for certain. Herman Carter, the man who had stolen
body parts from the dead to sell on the black market, was the sole person on
this planet who might be able to help her find the answers she sought. However
hard she had searched to find the facts some other way, ultimately, she had
realized this was her only choice. He was her final hope.
The thought of living
with the uncertainty was something she was not prepared to do. Too much hinged
on knowing the whole truth.
“Is that why you’re
here after all this time?” Herman asked, a spark of hope lighting his dark
eyes. “Did my words persuade you to forgive me?”
Rowan clenched her
jaw long enough to restrain the urge to laugh in the man’s face. Forgive him? Not in this lifetime. All
those weeks and months she had ignored his attempts at communicating. She had
fully expected to continue on that course. Then, the day before yesterday she
had hit a wall, run out of viable options for finding answers. With no other
alternative, she reluctantly began to open the letters and read each one, twice.
They told her nothing useful. Rather, his words had repeatedly expressed how
deeply sorry he was and how desperately he wanted her forgiveness.
Forgiveness was the
one thing she could not give him. Beneath the table that separated them, her
right knee started to bounce. She braced against the out-ward display of her
emotions and said what needed to be said. “No.”
The optimistic gleam
that had appeared in his eyes died an abrupt death. “Then why are you here?”
“I’m here for
information.” Rowan squared her shoulders and stared straight into his defeated
gaze. “You owe me the truth, Herman. The whole truth.”
He shook his head,
turned up his shackled hands. “I’ve told you and the police everything I did. I
don’t know what else I can do.”
If only the issue were
so simple. “I don’t need the truth about what you did, Herman. We know what you
did.”
His shoulders
drooped. “I don’t understand what you’re saying, Ro. I did bad things—but never
at Du-Pont. Never. It was Woody who crossed that line, not me. I wouldn’t have
done that to Edward. And it only happened once. Even if Woody hadn’t ended up
dead, I guarantee you he wouldn’t have done that again.”
Really? She was
supposed to be grateful he did his stealing from the dead at another funeral
home? Un-believable.
Focus,
Ro.
Sticking with her
agenda was imperative. The chief of police had allowed her this extended visit
with Her-man for that specific purpose. She wasn’t allowed to discuss the
ongoing criminal case with Herman—not that she had any desire to do so. The
chief—her long-time friend, William “Billy” Brannigan—had allowed her to use
this interview room rather than the usual visitation area with the metal bars
and Plexiglas. Today could very well be her one chance to speak with Herman in
this sort of setting. The elderly man was likely going away for the rest of his
life.
Momma Says: 2 stars ⭐⭐
The Lies We Tell starts off well enough, and there is a mystery here, but for the life of me, I'm not quite sure exactly what that mystery was. Is Julian out to get Rowan? Did her mother have some involvement in it all? Was her father the man she thought he was? Oh, and then, we have two murders that have Rowan and Billy running around and asking questions. And exactly why is the undertaker so involved in a police investigation anyway? So, yes, there were questions, loads of questions with very few answers. I suppose this story is several mysteries in one with none of them getting the focus they need.
The thing is this is part of a series, and I'll admit that I didn't know that when I started reading. That said, it didn't take me long to figure it out. I'll just add here, that I would not recommend this book as a standalone. The author does give some backstory, but it's not really enough to get a good feel for what's happened so far and at the same time, it's repetitive. Yes, that left me a little befuddled too, but it is what it is. I'm not even sure how many times we're told that Julian is a prolific serial killer. I get it, this dude has killed a lot of people, and he's obsessed with Rowan. I can remember that without it being repeated. So, it's safe to say that the repetitiveness of this one annoyed me.
Quite often, I'll grab a book in the middle of the series and like what I find enough to go back and start at the beginning - Even if I don't understand everything that's mentioned in said mid-series book. That is not the case with The Lies We Tell. To sum it up, the story is convoluted, and parts of it seem to almost go in circles. I was less than impressed with Billy and Rowan who spend an awful lot of time running in those previously mentioned circles. For a smart woman, she wouldn't even remember to eat if Billy didn't constantly provide meals for her. Basing my opinion on what I've found here, I won't be bothering with earlier books in the series.
At the risk of being spoiler-ish, I'll add that Julian isn't the only serial killer I learned about in this book, so I can only deduce that Rowan is some kind of serial killer magnet. If that seems a little farfetched, I thought so too. On a positive note, one case is solved in this winding road of a story, but I still ended up with more questions than answers, and then it just ends. It's more open-ended than cliffhanger, but it felt like this whole thing was just one big set up for the next book in the series. One that I won't be bothering to check out.
The Lies We Tell starts off well enough, and there is a mystery here, but for the life of me, I'm not quite sure exactly what that mystery was. Is Julian out to get Rowan? Did her mother have some involvement in it all? Was her father the man she thought he was? Oh, and then, we have two murders that have Rowan and Billy running around and asking questions. And exactly why is the undertaker so involved in a police investigation anyway? So, yes, there were questions, loads of questions with very few answers. I suppose this story is several mysteries in one with none of them getting the focus they need.
The thing is this is part of a series, and I'll admit that I didn't know that when I started reading. That said, it didn't take me long to figure it out. I'll just add here, that I would not recommend this book as a standalone. The author does give some backstory, but it's not really enough to get a good feel for what's happened so far and at the same time, it's repetitive. Yes, that left me a little befuddled too, but it is what it is. I'm not even sure how many times we're told that Julian is a prolific serial killer. I get it, this dude has killed a lot of people, and he's obsessed with Rowan. I can remember that without it being repeated. So, it's safe to say that the repetitiveness of this one annoyed me.
Quite often, I'll grab a book in the middle of the series and like what I find enough to go back and start at the beginning - Even if I don't understand everything that's mentioned in said mid-series book. That is not the case with The Lies We Tell. To sum it up, the story is convoluted, and parts of it seem to almost go in circles. I was less than impressed with Billy and Rowan who spend an awful lot of time running in those previously mentioned circles. For a smart woman, she wouldn't even remember to eat if Billy didn't constantly provide meals for her. Basing my opinion on what I've found here, I won't be bothering with earlier books in the series.
At the risk of being spoiler-ish, I'll add that Julian isn't the only serial killer I learned about in this book, so I can only deduce that Rowan is some kind of serial killer magnet. If that seems a little farfetched, I thought so too. On a positive note, one case is solved in this winding road of a story, but I still ended up with more questions than answers, and then it just ends. It's more open-ended than cliffhanger, but it felt like this whole thing was just one big set up for the next book in the series. One that I won't be bothering to check out.
❃❃ARC provided by NetGalley and HARLEQUIN - MIRA
Debra Webb is the award winning, USA Today bestselling author of more
than 130 novels, including reader favorites the Faces of Evil, the Colby
Agency, and the Shades of Death series. With more than four million books sold
in numerous languages and countries, Debra's love of storytelling goes back to
her childhood on a farm in Alabama. Visit Debra at www.DebraWebb.com
or
write to her at PO Box 176, Madison, AL 35758.
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