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

Shelly gives birth to Nikki in February 1975. She has little experience with babies and stays with Les and Lara for what is supposed to be a few days after the baby is born but soon stretches into months. Randy eventually tells Shelly she needs to return to their home in Battle Ground. He confides in Lara, “Shelly is only nice to me when there are other people around” (38). He begins sleeping in their car. Shelly is only concerned with money and convinces her father to start sending Randy’s paycheck to her directly so he can’t leave with what she considers to be her money. Despite his love for his daughter, Randy is fed up and leaves to visit his family. The couple tries to repair the damage, but they can only keep the peace for two more weeks, and Randy files for divorce. Shelly steals money from Randy, leaves Nikki with Lara, changes her number, and disappears.

A year later, Shelly returns to retrieve Nikki but provides no explanation for her absence. She begins to tell her young daughter that Randy abandoned them. Nikki will not learn until much later that her father actually tried to contact her many times over the years.