THE SILENT WIFE
Karin Slaughter
Published by HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd
1 London Bridge Street
London SE1 9GF
First published in Great Britain by HarperCollinsPublishers 2020
Copyright © Karin Slaughter 2020
Will Trent is a trademark of Karin Slaughter Publishing LLC.
TROUBLE ME Written by Natalie Merchant and Dennis Drew ©1989 Christian Burial Music (ASCAP) All Rights Reserved. Used by Permission. International Copyright Secured.
Lyrics from:
“Whistle” (written by Flo Rida, David Edward Glass, Marcus Killian, Justin Franks, Breyan Isaac, Antonio Mobley, Arthur Pingrey and Joshua Ralph)
“Can’t Take My Eyes Off You” (written by Bob Crewe and Bob Gaudio)
“The Girl from Ipanema” (written by Antônio Carlos Jobim, Portuguese lyrics by Vinicius de Moraes, English lyrics by Norman Gimbel)
“My Kind of Town” (written by Jimmy Van Heusen and Sammy Cahn)
“Funky Cold Medina” (written by Young MC, Matt Dike and Michael Ross)
“Into the Unknown” (written by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez)
Cover design by Claire Ward © HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 2020
Cover photograph © Ildiko Neer/Trevillion Images
Karin Slaughter asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work.
A catalogue copy of this book is available from the British Library.
This novel is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins.
Source ISBN: 9780008303440
Ebook Edition © June 2020 ISBN: 9780008303464
Version: 2020-11-10
For Wednesday
Speak to me.
Let me have a look inside these eyes while I’m learning.
Please don’t hide them just because of tears.
Let me send you off to sleep with a “There, there, now stop your turning and tossing.”
Let me know where the hurt is and how to heal.
Spare me? Don’t spare me anything troubling.
Trouble me, disturb me with all your cares and your worries.
Speak to me and let our words build a shelter from the storm.
Trouble Me by Natalie Merchant and Dennis Drew, 10,000 Maniacs
Please note that this is a work of fiction. I have taken some liberties with the timeline.
Contents
Copyright
Dedication
Epigraph
Chapter 1. Atlanta
Chapter 2
Chapter 3. Grant County—Tuesday
Chapter 4. Atlanta
Chapter 5. Grant County—Tuesday
Chapter 6. Atlanta
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10. Grant County—Wednesday
Chapter 11. Atlanta
Chapter 12. Grant County—Wednesday
Chapter 13. Atlanta
Chapter 14. Grant County—Wednesday
Chapter 15. Atlanta
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18. Grant County—Thursday
Chapter 19. Atlanta
Chapter 20
Chapter 21. Grant County—Thursday
Chapter 22. Atlanta
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25. Grant County—Thursday
Chapter 26. Atlanta
Chapter 27. Grant County—Thursday—One Week Later
Chapter 28. Atlanta
Chapter 29
Chapter 30. One week later
Author’s Note
Keep Reading …
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Also by Karin Slaughter
About the Publisher
Beckey Caterino stared into the darkest corners of the dorm refrigerator. She angrily scanned the food labels, searching for her scrawled initials on anything—cottage cheese, Lunchables, bagel bites, vegan hot dogs, even carrot sticks.
KP, Kayleigh Pierce. DL, Deneshia Lachland.