Paula DeBoard - Here We Lie

About the Author ABOUT THE AUTHOR Contents Cover Back Cover Text About the Author Booklist Title Page Copyright Praise Dedication OCTOBER 17, 2016 1998–1999 OCTOBER 10, 2016 FRESHMAN YEAR 1999–2000 OCTOBER 10, 2016 SUMMER 2000 OCTOBER 10, 2016 SOPHMORE YEAR 2000–2001 OCTOBER 10, 2016 SUMMER 2001 OCTOBER 12, 2016 JUNIOR YEAR 2001–2002 OCTOBER 12, 2016 SUMMER 2002 OCTOBER 15–17, 2016 2002 AND AFTER OCTOBER 17, 2016 EPILOGUE FEBRUARY 2017 AUTHOR’S NOTE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ABOUT THE AUTHOR Reader's Guide Questions for Discussion A Conversation with Paula Treick DeBoard PAULA TREICK DEBOARD is the author of The Mourning Hours, The Fragile World and The Drowning Girls. She is a lecturer in writing at the University of California, Merced, and lives in Northern California with her husband, Will, and their four-legged brood.

Booklist Also By Paula Treick DeBoard Contents Cover Back Cover Text About the Author Booklist Title Page Copyright Praise Dedication OCTOBER 17, 2016 1998–1999 OCTOBER 10, 2016 FRESHMAN YEAR 1999–2000 OCTOBER 10, 2016 SUMMER 2000 OCTOBER 10, 2016 SOPHMORE YEAR 2000–2001 OCTOBER 10, 2016 SUMMER 2001 OCTOBER 12, 2016 JUNIOR YEAR 2001–2002 OCTOBER 12, 2016 SUMMER 2002 OCTOBER 15–17, 2016 2002 AND AFTER OCTOBER 17, 2016 EPILOGUE FEBRUARY 2017 AUTHOR’S NOTE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ABOUT THE AUTHOR Reader's Guide Questions for Discussion A Conversation with Paula Treick DeBoard The Drowning Girls The Fragile World The Mourning Hours

Title Page Here We Lie Paula Treick DeBoard

Copyright Copyright Contents Cover Back Cover Text About the Author Booklist Title Page Copyright Praise Dedication OCTOBER 17, 2016 1998–1999 OCTOBER 10, 2016 FRESHMAN YEAR 1999–2000 OCTOBER 10, 2016 SUMMER 2000 OCTOBER 10, 2016 SOPHMORE YEAR 2000–2001 OCTOBER 10, 2016 SUMMER 2001 OCTOBER 12, 2016 JUNIOR YEAR 2001–2002 OCTOBER 12, 2016 SUMMER 2002 OCTOBER 15–17, 2016 2002 AND AFTER OCTOBER 17, 2016 EPILOGUE FEBRUARY 2017 AUTHOR’S NOTE ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ABOUT THE AUTHOR Reader's Guide Questions for Discussion A Conversation with Paula Treick DeBoard An imprint of HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF First published in Great Britain by HQ in 2018 Copyright © Paula Treick DeBoard 2018 Paula Treick DeBoard asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work. A catalogue record for 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. Ebook Edition © January 2018 ISBN: 9781474083607

Praise Praise for the novels of Paula Treick DeBoard “In Paula Treick DeBoard’s latest breathtaking thriller, she paints a stark and chillingly real portrayal of a family torn apart by teenage transgressions. Gritty and inauspicious from the start, The Drowning Girls left me awestruck, revealing DeBoard’s true brilliance as an author. Spellbinding.” —Mary Kubica, New York Times bestselling author of The Good Girl “Think Fatal Attraction meets Desperate Housewives, and you have DeBoard’s latest thriller.... This is a gripping, tense suspense story with a good surprise ending.” —Booklist “Give this tale of domestic suspense, with its pitch-perfect pacing, to Gillian Flynn and Mary Kubica devotees.” —Library Journal, starred review “The Drowning Girls by Paula Treick DeBoard is cleverly plotted, full of twists and turns and so well-written that it pulls you in from page one. Genuinely suspenseful, DeBoard delivers a disturbing, multilayered, provocative novel that is impossible to put down.” —Heather Gudenkauf, New York Times bestselling author of The Weight of Silence “A heart-pounding look at what lies behind the deceptively placid veneer of the well-to-do suburbs. The kaleidoscopic view of innocence, danger, and malice shifts and twists as it races to a shattering conclusion.” —Sophie Littlefield, bestselling author of The Guilty One “This tale of a family in peril closes with a death that’s tragic and unexpected.” —Publishers Weekly “Fans of The Good Girl and The Luckiest Girl Alive, and really anyone who enjoys great suspense, have found their next must-read... I could not put it down.” —Catherine McKenzie, bestselling author of Fractured and Hidden “A coming-of-age tale about a family in crisis expertly told by Ms. DeBoard. The Fragile World examines how profound loss changes all who are forced to come to terms with it. Touching and compelling, it will move you.” —Lesley Kagen, New York Times bestselling author of Whistling in the Dark and The Resurrection of Tess Blessing “The Drowning Girls casts a spell as brilliant and alluring as the gated community of its setting. Paula Treick DeBoard maps this world of privilege and secrets with a deft hand... A suspenseful and compelling page-turner.” —Karen Brown, author of The Clairvoyants and The Longings of Wayward Girls

Dedication For my sisters—the ones I was born with, and the ones I met along the way.

OCTOBER 17, 2016

1998–1999

OCTOBER 10, 2016

FRESHMAN YEAR 1999–2000

OCTOBER 10, 2016

SUMMER 2000

OCTOBER 10, 2016

SOPHMORE YEAR 2000–2001

OCTOBER 10, 2016

SUMMER 2001

OCTOBER 12, 2016

JUNIOR YEAR 2001–2002

OCTOBER 12, 2016

SUMMER 2002

OCTOBER 15–17, 2016

2002 AND AFTER

OCTOBER 17, 2016

EPILOGUE FEBRUARY 2017

AUTHOR’S NOTE

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Reader's Guide

Questions for Discussion

A Conversation with Paula Treick DeBoard

OCTOBER 17, 2016

Lauren

It was raining, and I was going to be late.

The press conference was scheduled for ten o’clock, and by the time I found a parking space in the cavernous garage, I had twenty minutes. I slipped once on the stairs, catching myself with a shocked hand on the sticky rail. Seventeen minutes.

I followed a cameraman toting a giant boom over his shoulder, navigating a path through the crowds of the capitol. Thank goodness I was wearing tennis shoes. I passed a group of schoolchildren on the steps, prim in their navy blazers and white button-down shirts. Their teacher’s question echoed off the concrete. “Who can tell me what it means that we have a separation and balance of powers?”

Only one hand shot into the air.

Balance of power, I thought. A good lesson for today.

I glanced at the display on my cell phone and quickened my pace, taking the rest of the steps two at a time. Twelve minutes.

* * *

I set my shoulder bag on the conveyer belt at the security checkpoint and watched as a bored guard picked through it with a gloved hand—wallet, cell phone, tube of hand lotion I’d forgotten about, an envelope with twenty-five dollars for the giving tree that should have been turned in to Emma’s teacher that morning. Shit. Annoyed, the guard removed a water bottle, waving the offending item in front of my face before tossing it into the trash container at his feet. His eyes flicked over me, already disinterested, already moving on to the next threat, which was apparently not a suburban mom in her stretchy pants.