If You Tell: A True Story of Murder, Family Secrets, and the Unbreakable Bond of Sisterhood

by Gregg Olsen

Tori

where their mother did things they swore they’d hold secret forever.

Knotek

Battle Ground, Washington,

Oregon state line,

freed themselves from imprisonment in the barracks, but while a surrender was being negotiated, a single shot rang out, killing the Klickitat’s Chief Umtuch.

Michelle “Shelly” Lynn Watson Rivardo Long Knotek’s

Shelly’s father.

Les Watson,

Lara Stallings

brain wasn’t in full gear

Les was also ten years older, though he’d lied and told his teenage bride that he was only four years her senior.

he’d lied

civil ceremony in 1960 in Vancouver, her hometown. Only Lara’s family was present, though

Only Lara’s family was present, though her parents had been against the marriage.

Sharon: Shelly, Chuck, and Paul Watson.

Les told Lara that his ex-wife,

Sharon,

Shelly was six and Chuck was just three when they moved in.

stepmother—Sharon had kept the youngest son, Paul,

then an i...

Lara noticed a strange dynamic, however, between Shell...

Shelly grew more comfortable with her new environment, she often voiced complaints or unkind words.

Alameda, California, after dropping off her two oldest children with Lara and Les in

Once Sharon was gone, it was like she’d never existed.

Lara later wondered if the course had been set long before Shelly’s mother had married and divorced Les Watson.

married five, six, seven times and she was an only child.

Sharon had serious problems with alcohol, there was more pulling her down.

prostitute.

Puck up part

A homicide detective said that Sharon had been murdered in a seedy motel room and

Les didn’t want to go get his son, whom he knew had exhibited myriad behavioral problems, but Lara insisted.

Living on Skid Row.

She was beaten to death.”

Shelly was told what had happened to her mother, the thirteen-year-old didn’t seem the least bit interested.

Paul possessed zero impulse control and positively no social skills.

Lara caught the boy on the kitchen countertop stomping around looking for food,

He even carried a switchblade.

handfuls—willful Shelly, wild Paul,

silent Chuck. Chuck, who still didn’t speak unless Shelly put words

was a ...

created the most difficulty for Lara was Shelly.

kids, which by now also included a daughter and a son Lara and Les had had together.

She

and would flat out refuse to go. If something wasn’t Shelly’s idea, it was a nonstarter. Whenever

vague and often ridiculous.

had destroyed all of her hard work.

she’d simply refuse to go to school.

set cereal and fruit out on the dining table—all ready to go.

bathroom, and she brings in a sack of clothes [and then] she goes out,’ and they say, ‘She’s got a pile of clothes here. But she leaves with another set of clothes, jeans.’”