With shaky fingers, I pop open the top that he’s clearly already opened even though the front of it is addressed to me. Sickness fills my stomach when I find a dead little bird with no head, its blood smeared over the inside of the box. I drop it and scream, my skin instantly crawling. A scrap piece of paper drops out with a clear message for me in cut-out magazine letters, much like the ones my mum used to get.
“Little bird, little bird fly, little bird, little bird die.
I know what you did, little bird, and it’s time for you to pay.”
My heart thumps, my stomach churns. I suck in labored breaths, trying to get the racing under control, but it’s no use. I run as fast as my feet will take me, throw back the toilet seat, and throw up my breakfast. My body trembles all over with fear and anger. Who the fuck is doing this to me?
Kasen is there with me before I know it, pulling my hair back. “You’re okay,” he tells me, his voice soft.
“Why would someone do that to a poor innocent animal?” I cry.
“Because they can. I don’t know what you did to piss this person off, but he’s after you.”
I stand up and move to the basin to wash my face and hands. “I haven’t done anything. You guys know all there is to about me. I’m not lying to you, Kasen, I swear. This has to be the Southern Breakers. Someone must have seen what we did and they want revenge.”
“Then why aren’t they coming after me as well?”
I glance up at him, fear coursing through me. “I don’t know.”
“Could there be an old boyfriend you pissed off? Did you cheat on some poor dude?”
I raise a bitchy eyebrow. What kind of slut does he think I am? “No.”
He pulls a face like he doesn’t believe me. “How can you be so sure?”
“I’ve never been in a relationship before,” I spit back, not really wanting to get into the personal side of my life but also needing him off my back about this.
He blinks back at me a couple of times. “For real?”
I throw my hands up in the air. “Don’t fucking judge me at a time like this.”
“I’m not judging, I’m just surprised. You’re beautiful, and no man has ever asked you out? Not even some random hook-ups from the club you worked at? Think, birdie, this could be anyone with a chip on their shoulder.”
I shrug, feeling even worse about my past life than I already did. I know it’s sad to be a twenty-five-year-old who’s never had a boyfriend, but that’s my reality. Shit, I hadn’t even had sex till like twelve months ago. “I kept to myself mostly, worked to pay the bills, filmed when I had spare time. My friends were the girls I worked behind the bar with, but I didn’t have time to socialize, and they shouldn’t have any reason to hate me.”
He scratches his head, looking genuinely confused. “Then it’s got to be the same dude who was after your mum. You coming back must have triggered him to start this creepy shit again. It’s the only logical conclusion.”
“But he’s not asking for money or anything. From what we can tell, he’s just trying to scare me, wants me to leave town and not come back.”
“Be real, birdie, he wants you dead. Maybe it has something to do with what you saw the night your mum was murdered. What happened to you after I left?”
I roll my lips, feeling sick all over again. “I don’t know.”
“Stop being difficult and just tell me. Who killed her? You were there, you must have seen something.”
I run a shaky hand through my hair, trying with all I have to remember anything that could help, but I’ve got nothing. It’s all a blur. “I’m telling you the truth. I have no memory of who shot her. My therapist thinks I blocked out the trauma. Honestly, I thought coming back might trigger my memory, giving me some insight, but I can’t get there.”
“Shit, Dove.” He rakes a hand through his hair, frustrated with me, I think.
“I always thought it was Keller,” I whisper, the words almost getting stuck in my throat. “I thought they hated each other. But I’m not sure about anything anymore.”
His hand comes to mine, giving it a squeeze. “I can assure you he wouldn’t have killed your mum.”
I blink back at him. It’s strange that his hand in mine feels so natural when I hate him so much. I know deep down it’s because I don’t hate him at all. He broke my heart, discarding me, siding with his dad over me, but deep down, I never stopped loving this man, flaws and all. “Why, what do you know?” My voice is almost a whisper. This is a conversation we should have had a long time ago, but going back to that night with Kasen is hard because it opens up old wounds. Maybe that’s what I need at this point, though. The truth might help jog my memories.
“You saw the photos, you know they had something going on.”
“That’s what it looked like, but I don’t really know what. Do you?” My eyes lock with his, hoping he can have the decency to be honest with me over this. “Please, K, if you know anything, you have to tell me.”
