Answer:

Answer by admin on Wed 22, Feb 2012 07:53pm:

The book is "If You Ever Tell" by Carlene Thompson.

"If You Ever Tell" is available from Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/031237285X?ie=UTF8&tag=whatsthatbook-20&linkCode=as2
(Making purchases at Amazon after clicking on this link helps support
Whatsthatbook.com  Please use this link whenever you visit Amazon.com)

Various descriptions of the book:

"Teresa Farr's young adulthood has been a nightmare, ever since the night a
hooded figure murdered her father and stepmother in their beds and wounded
her and her stepsister Celeste. The killer was never found and a good many
of the townspeople, including many of Teresa's friends and relatives,
believe she was the killer. Now, however, things have quieted down
considerably and Teresa is the owner of Farr Fields, a riding stable. She
hasn't seen Celeste in years, the child has been a traumatic mute, living
with her real father and grandmother since the murders. Now, eight years
later, Celeste suddenly begins to speak, her memory jogged by the elusive
scent of sandalwood she smells while in a local restaurant."


"It took everything in Teresa Farr’s power to return to her hometown of
Point Pleasant, West Virginia. Eight years earlier, she had walked in on
the savage murders of her father and stepmother—both of whom she hated. She
barely managed to save herself and her eight-year-old stepsister, Celeste.
But even after notorious serial killer Roscoe Lee Byrnes confessed, people
still wondered if Teri was the guilty one. And with Celeste unable to
remember that night, or to speak at all, those suspicions never went away…
Now Celeste is beginning to remember. Now Byrnes has recanted his
confession. And someone is using a series of bizarre, taunting events to
exact terrifying “justice.” As Teri desperately races to uncover the truth,
she’s finding that everyone she loves has secrets they would kill to keep
buried. And in the bright mountain sunlight, an evil concealed all too well
is reaching out to silence her and Celeste forever."


"When Teresa Farr was 17 her world fell apart. Her father divorced her
mother and married his pregnant secretary and put his ex wife in an asylum
because she was unstable. He took custody of Teresa and war raged.  Teresa
loved her gentle mother and hated her father and his new wife.  She did
however love her step sister, 7 year old Cassie. Her brother Kent was away
at college.  One night after a screaming match with her father for coming
in late, she woke up with an odd sensation that something was wrong.  She
went upstairs and her father’s bedroom door was open and Wendy, the
stepmother, never left it open.  She slipped carefully over to Wendy’s side
of the bed and put her hand down and it was slippery and there was a
coppery smell in the room.  She turned on the lights and found the bedroom
a site of viscous carnage. Both Wendy and her father were slashed
repeatedly and covered in blood.  She ran out and a hooded figure said
Shhhh and slashed down her arm.  She ran screaming for her step sister
Celeste and neighbors called the police because of all the screaming.
Celeste will live but she also was stabbed. "

"It is now eight years later and a serial killer named Roscoe Lee Byrnes
has recanted his confession of Hugh and Wendy Farr’s murder. He is set to
be executed in a week.  Teresa has been away to college and returned to Pt
Pleasant, West Virginia to open a riding stables. Teri’s mother has been
missing since that fateful night.  Celeste went to live with her real
father Jason Warner and has not spoken in 8 years.  Suddenly after Byrnes
recanted his confession, Celeste starts to speak and tell people what
happened the night her parents were murdered and she was stabbed."

"At the beginning of the book, it seemed like Sharon and Carmen would turn
out to be major characters. However, Sharon's storyline seemed to branch
out on its own and have nothing to do with the main storyline, while Carmen
basically disappeared after her initial scene until about halfway through
the book."
"