Last to Die

Death seems determined to claim three unlucky children.Years ago, Will Kennedy, Teddy Clock, and Claire Ward barely survived family massacres that left them orphaned and alone. Now these 14-year-olds are living with foster families -- and the same nightmare that took their birth parents years before is about to be repeated. Their foster families are slaughtered and once again, Will, Teddy and Claire are the only survivors.

These three children have never met each other.They live in different cities. But the eerie coincidences that fractured their lives will also bring them together as students at Evensong, an exclusive boarding school in the remote Maine wilderness.Financed by a mysterious partnership headed by Anthony Sansone, Evensong is a school for orphaned children who've been emotionally traumatized by violent crime.At Evensong, they are taught the science and skills they'll need to cope with a threatening world.Victims are being transformed into warriors.

Maura Isles is startled when she learns that the students of Evensong are all survivors of violence.She's arrived at the school for a weeklong visit with Julian 'Rat' Perkins, the 16-year-old boy with whom she bonded during their ordeal in Wyoming.Disturbed that the Evensong founders are using the school for their own agenda, she wants Julian to leave.But for some of these children, Evensong may be the only safe place.

It's also the place where Jane Rizzoli decides to hide Teddy Clock.In Boston, she has been investigating the home invasion and murder of Teddy's foster family, a seemingly motiveless slaughter that only Teddy survived.When there's yet another attempt to kill Teddy, Boston PD decides the boy needs to be moved out of town, to a safe location.Jane escorts him to Evensong.

Maura and Jane soon discover that even a school protected by locked gates and acres of forest cannot shut out a gathering threat.Someone is leaving bizarre messages in the woods: three twig dolls hanging from a tree.A crucified deer.As Jane and Maura struggle to interpret the clues, the resourceful students of Evensong are also investigating.But only one among them holds the key to the mystery: Claire Ward, the girl who lived.