One Last Breath by Sarah Sutton (speld decodable readers txt) 📗

was something Tara understood personally. As a child, witnessing abuse, she never would’ve thought her father was a murderer until he was charged as such. Tara’s stomach began to churn with sadness at what this girl could soon learn.

Tara reached into her pocket and pulled out a picture of Sofia. She slid it across the coffee table. “Do you know her too?”

Julie let go of her mother’s hand and picked up the picture. Familiarity washed over her face and then concern, and she abruptly looked up.

“I do, why?”

It was clear that neither she nor her mother had watched the news that day.

“She went missing last night,” Tara said. “She was riding her bike home from a friend’s house.”

Julie’s hand instinctively covered her mouth. Her mother looked at her with sheer concern.

“You knew her too?” her mother asked. It was obvious that she was unaware of the friendship.

Julie nodded, still in shock. “I didn’t know her that well, but I’ve hung out with her a couple of times. Just at...” She paused, her eyes moving to her mother, as if afraid to say what she needed to in her presence. But then she took a deep breath. “At parties,” she finished. “We had some mutual friends.”

Her mother stared at her, confused. She had clearly no knowledge that her daughter had been sneaking out, going to parties some nights. It was a topic Tara didn’t feel the need to address outright, but she also knew that what she and Warren were about to show them would reveal it.

“Do you still talk to your father?” Tara asked Julie.

She and her mother both jerked their heads back. “What does that have to do with anything?” Mrs. Brennan interjected.

Tara looked to Warren, who opened an envelope on his lap. He pulled out the pictures they found in Mr. Brennan’s apartment and placed them on the coffee table. It took Julie and her mother a moment for it to register what they were, but then Julie’s eyes opened wide. She gasped with a look of total devastation. Mrs. Brennan was quiet as she reached for the pictures. She knitted her brows and squinted.

“I don’t understand,” she said as she turned to her daughter. “Julie, what are these?”

Julie blushed. It was inevitable now that her mother would know she was sneaking out of the house. “They’re pictures of me and my friends, hanging out at night.”

Mrs. Brennan continued to stare at them, taking each one in her hand, looking at them intently until moving to the next. She turned each one over, seeing the time and date. She looked at her daughter, not with anger, but with sadness. She sighed.

“I thought you were going to stop with the lying,” she said under breath, but her words were met with no response, and then her eyes focused yet again on the pictures. “Who took these?” she asked as it all began to come together.

Warren leaned forward. “We found these in your ex-husband’s apartment.”

Mrs. Brennan stared at him a moment, trying to make sense of what he was saying, and then she placed a hand over her mouth.

Julie stiffened as terror flooded her eyes.

“But…” Mrs. Brennan started. She picked up the pictures again, one by one, almost frantically. “We have a restraining order.” The words fell out of her mouth as she placed another photo down in disbelief. She then looked up at Tara and Warren. “He was a very angry, abusive man. We have no ties with him anymore. He’s not supposed to be anywhere within a hundred yards of me or my daughter.” She looked at her daughter. “Did you know he was watching you?” she asked, but Julie only shook her head as she too stared down at the pictures in disbelief.

Mrs. Brennan looked back and forth between Tara and Warren as a thought struck her.

“What does this have to do with Reese? Or that other girl?” she asked. You don’t think—” She placed her hand over her mouth again, stopping herself before she spoke the words. But it was already clear she understood why they were there.

Julie was still quietly in shock. Tara shared a quick glance with Warren before she spoke. “Did your father ever mention Reese to you? Did he ever talk about her? Or Sofia?”

Julie looked off into the distance and took in a sudden emotional gasp of air. She then looked back at Tara. “My father never liked me hanging out with anyone. He made my mother homeschool me. He didn’t want me to have any social influence. That was partially the reason why my mother left him.” She glanced at her mother briefly.

“He had a lot of issues. His father was the same way. He was very controlling.” Mrs. Brennan sighed. “And he didn’t have a relationship with his mother. She left them when he was young for another man.”

Her words only confirmed that he had a deep-rooted mistrust of women.

“I thought I could help him,” Mrs. Brennan added with a shake of her head. “But clearly I was wrong.”

Julie stared at her mother as she spoke before grabbing a hold of her hand–– the room falling into silence. They were clearly both still healing.

“And how did you meet Reese?” Tara asked Julie.

 “I used to go to the coffee shop to study sometimes before my dad got home. I met Reese when she first started working there. That’s when our friendship really started. We both had strict parents, so we kind of just understood each other.”

“Did you ever tell your dad about her?” Tara asked

Julie shook her head. “I knew if I told him, he would get all concerned about it. He always said I had a personality to be easily influenced.” She paused, sadness blooming on her face. Tara felt sorry for her. Hearing those words from her own father had to have affected her confidence.

“And what happened the night of the party?” Tara felt guilty asking. She knew it was a delicate subject, but she needed her to