Read Online Now That She's Gone by Gregg Olsen - Free Book Online Page B

manifested itself into that rogue wave.”
    We just sat there.
    The producer, Juliana, pulled out a drawing that a forensic artist somewhere in town had completed under Pandora’s direction. I wondered who that artist was. I didn’t know we had any in NS. The drawing was a picture of my boy on the bow of that boat; the wave had morphed into a claw-like hand and was ready to grab him and pull him under.
    We didn’t say a word. At least my husband and I didn’t. Mickey spoke up, saying this was the biggest piece of crap he’d ever been a part of, but they didn’t air that bit. Instead they closed the show with Pandora’s response.
    â€œThe truth is painful sometimes. Now you can go on with your lives. Get your daughter some help, or any one of you could be next.”
    I finally found my voice and yelled at them about taking advantage of people, putting something so nasty on the shoulders of a little girl who had done nothing to deserve it, but they cut that out too.
    They’ll probably look very closely at this site. So I had my lawyer look at it. He says I’m good. Here’s the final tidbit and I’ll not comment on it but instead link to it. This is a video clip taken by the lighthouse’s security camera that night. It shows Pandora, a producer, and the cop Wyatt Ogilvie standing around smoking by the lighthouse door.

    Kendall clicked on the link. A grainy black-and-white video started to roll.

    O GILVIE: Which way you gonna go here, Pandy?
    P ANDORA: (laughing as she exhales on her cigarette) I have two drawings. One with the uncle molesting the boy, but legal says that’s a tough one. I really pushed for it. The other is the kid being at fault.
    O GILVIE: F me. Not the old Bad Seed deal. This is season two and we’re running out of ideas already. You did that two episodes ago in New Mexico. When we did the haunted Farmington barn.

    The producer, a middle-aged male, spoke next.

    P RODUCER: We go with what works. And honestly that Farmington show scored us our best ratings this year. People love a bad seed. We all want to make this show a success. I mean, that’s why we’re doing this, right?
    O GILVIE: You mean it isn’t about helping people get rid of their hauntings?

    All three laughed.
    Pandora crushed out her cigarette butt with the pointy end of one of her Manolos.

    P ANDORA: We’re helping people, all right. I have no doubt that any direction I go is the right direction. You might laugh at my guides, but I can’t help that I’m gifted. Tortured by them. Whatever you want to call it.
    O GILVIE: How long will this be until we wrap? I need a drink.
    P ANDORA: We all do. Bad seeds can be so boring.

    The tape ended and Kendall felt a wave of nausea roll to her stomach. How could anyone believe this crap? How could the Fraziers invite these people into their home to dissect their family tragedy? She scrolled though the hundreds of comments and there were only a very small handful of people who seemed to feel the same that she did. By far and away, the clip viewers were completely supportive of Pandora.

    . . . this mom is a hater and I’m glad she got some tough love at the table from Pandora . . .
    . . . people will say anything when they don’t get their way . . .
    . . . that kid had the eyes of a shark. Soulless. I think Pandora was spot-on as usual ...
    . . . did you notice how that dad and brother just sat there like they didn’t even care about what happened to Charlie? If I were them , I’d watch out. I bet that daughter will drown one of them when she gets the chance . . .
    . . . it was so cruel of the mom to put up this obviously edited video. It’s no wonder that her daughter is evil. The apple never falls very far from the tree , you know . . .

    Kendall had read enough. She knew that her first stop after taking Cody to the Cascade School the next morning would be Brit Frazier’s coffee shop.

C HAPTER