Book Title: WHAT WAITS IN THE WOODS
Character Name: Esmé Foster
How would you describe your family or your childhood?
Complicated. My mom and dad were complete opposites. My dad was a solid, hard-working man, while Mom was something of a glamor girl who seemed stuck in our rural community on the edge of suburbia. When I was little, I didn’t see that they were completely incompatible. Dad worshiped Mom and tried to make her happy, but she always seemed to be looking elsewhere for fulfillment. She loved me and my brother in her own way, and eventually I became the center of her world, or so I thought.
What was your greatest talent?
Without a doubt, dance. When Mom enrolled me in ballet lessons, I found my passion and I excelled. And Mom was thrilled too.
Significant other?
In high school, I had a close group of friends but not a serious boyfriend. When I moved away to pursue my dance career, I started seeing Kevin and eventually moved in with him.
Biggest challenge in relationship?
At first, things were great with Kevin. My career was going well, and I LOVED his family. They took me in like a daughter, and maybe that’s what disguised the trouble that would eventually doom our relationship. I realized I was looking for a family, that I needed the nurturing I never got as a child and Kevin’s family provided that. Once I developed the injury that ended my ballet career, my world seemed to crash down around me. I had no idea what to do after my one grounding passion was over. I was distraught and Kevin tried to understand, but he couldn’t. No one could. That’s when I decided to go home and try to repair my own family.
Where do you live?
I live now back home in Graybridge, Massachusetts. It’s a little town outside of Boston.
Do you have any enemies?
One reason I left Graybridge, besides to pursue my career, was to get away from a man who threatened to kill me at the scene of the car accident that took my mother’s life when I was sixteen. I don’t know who he is. The night was dark, and I was injured. But I remember his words. “I’ll kill you!” and the way he grabbed me by the back of the neck and pulled me from the snow. But when the sirens started coming close, he disappeared. No one believed he was even real. They said I was traumatized and concussed. But I believe he’s real and he might still be in Graybridge looking for me.
How do you feel about the place where you are now?
My homecoming was traumatic. I arrived at my house only to find it surrounded by police vehicles. That morning Kara, my best friend from high school, was found dead in my backyard, at the edge of the woods. Every other fear and worry pales in comparison. I don’t know who would kill someone as sweet and kind as Kara. Could it have been the man who threatened me all those years ago? Kara and I looked alike. Was it a case of mistaken identity? In any case, my friend is dead, and I’m distraught over it. And my dad, who had been drinking heavily in the years since my mom’s death is withering away and not expected to live much longer. So home is a sad and scary place right now.
Do you have children, pets, both, or neither?
Not now. Someday, hopefully.
What do you do for a living?
I got a job at André’s Café on Graybridge Square. It’s a far cry from dancing professionally, but I’m not qualified for anything else. It’s a pleasant place with nice co-workers, but I long for something more fulfilling.
Greatest disappointment?
The end of my ballet career. It’s all I ever wanted, and I worked so hard! But I’m also disappointed in the collapse of my family. Could I have done more to keep us together? So many things to work through.
Greatest source of joy?
My friends.
What do you do to entertain yourself or have fun?
There’s not much fun right now. My friends and I are mourning Kara, but being together helps us cope.
What is your greatest personal failing, in your view?
Well, I couldn’t do anything about my injury. That happens in ballet. It can take a toll on your body and there was nothing I could do about that. I guess, leaving my family behind. I could’ve looked for a position closer to home where I could’ve helped my brother take care of our father. My brother resents me for placing that burden on him and I don’t blame him. And I left my friends behind as well. If I had stayed in Graybridge, would I have been able to protect Kara?
What keeps you awake at night?
Worry about my dad and the man who threatened to kill me all those years ago. Is he here still lurking in the woods? Did he kill Kara thinking she was me? We looked alike from behind and she was out there in my woods for some unknown reason. And there have been incidents in town. I’ve been followed. I’m sure of it. Is he still looking for me?
What is the most pressing problem you have at the moment?
Taking care of my dad. My brother, who’s a nurse, says that Dad is declining fast. Byron’s attempts to curb or stop Dad’s drinking over the years have failed, so we are just making him comfortable at this point. And I’m worried about making a living. I don’t make much money at the café, and I have no clue what to do about my future.
How do things stand in the murder investigation?
I don’t think the police have any solid clues yet. My dad told them he heard a scream coming from the backyard, but he doesn’t know anything else that would be helpful. And his mind is clouded with alcohol and the past, so he’s not a very reliable witness anyway. Still, the cops are searching for answers. And I hope they find the culprit soon. Kara deserves justice.
How are you coping? What are your plans?
I’m struggling through my days, hoping for a miracle with my dad’s health and praying that Kara’s killer is found soon. The woods and pond behind my house were a sanctuary for me and my high school friends over the years. But now I wonder if all our secrets are hidden there as well and will those secrets finally be revealed and bring my nightmares to an end.
WHAT WAITS IN THE WOODS by Terri Parlato
Her ballet career derailed by injury, a once-promising young dancer returns to her hometown only to face a grisly discovery – and the increasingly alarming realization that nothing from her past is quite what she believed – in this electrifyingly twisty suburban thriller for fans of Stacy Willingham, Greer Hendricks, and Megan Miranda.
When Esmé Foster left the Boston suburbs to become a professional ballerina, the future shimmered with promise. Eleven years later, her career has been derailed by an injury, and Esme knows it’s time to come back to Graybridge to help her brother care for their ailing father. But her return coincides with an unthinkable crime. Kara Cunningham, one of Esme’s high school friends, is found dead in the woods behind the Fosters’ house.
Esmé is shocked and grieving, but also uneasy. In her dreams, she still sees the man who showed up at the scene of the car accident that killed her mother—and told Esmé he was going to kill her too. Family and friends insisted the figure was a product of Esmé’s imagination, that she was concussed after the crash. But she and Kara looked alike, sharing the same petite build, the same hair color. Could Kara’s murder have been a case of mistaken identity?
Detective Rita Myers is familiar with close-knit communities like Graybridge, where, beneath the friendliness, there are whispers and secrets. The town has seen other tragedies too, including the long-ago drowning of a young girl in a pond, deep in the woods. Even within the once-close circle of friends that included Kara and Esmé, Rita discerns a ripple of mistrust.
Day by day, Esmé discovers more about the place she left behind—and the friends and family she thought she knew. Soon, shining a light into the darkness to learn what really happened the night Kara died is the only way she can bring the nightmare to an end .
Thriller Psychological [Kensington, On Sale: December 26, 2023, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9781496738592 / eISBN: 9781496738615]
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About Terri Parlato
All the Dark Places author Terri Parlato was born and raised in upstate New York. She currently lives in a small north Georgia town with her husband and their dog, Lucy. She spends her time writing, reading, and visiting craft breweries with her husband.
Inspired by the small towns of New England, All the Dark Places is set in the fictional town of Graybridge, Massachusetts. Terri is a die-hard history nerd and loves exploring Boston and the surrounding areas. She has even located the grave of her six times great-grandfather in a small cemetery in Haverhill, Massachusetts, where generations of her family lived before moving to upstate New York.
Terri holds a BA in English Education from the State University of New York at Albany and an MS in Technical Writing from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. While she has always been a writer, Terri spent most of her professional career as a high school English teacher. She and her husband have three children. Terri is an animal lover, baseball fan and a rock music enthusiast.
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