Page 137 of Dead Pretty

As I move around on the floor, one of the floorboards shifts. Pushes down at one side under my weight, the other side coming up.

Oh great. A loose floorboard.

I’ll have to get the super to fix it.

I bet the water has trickled down through the gap. I get some more towels and wipe around the loose board, making sure it’s dry before I push it back into place.

Light glinting on something silver catches my eye through the gap in the floorboard.

What is that?

The imaginative reader in me has a brief fantasy of finding buried treasure under here.

Under a floorboard in an apartment. Yeah, sure, Audrey.

It’s more likely that a coin dropped under here or a nail came out of the floorboard.

Curious, I put my fingertip under the lip of the floorboard and ease it up.

It comes up easier than I expected it to.

Lifting it free, I pause with it in my hand when I see what’s lying beneath my floor.

A knife.

Next to it is a stained cloth.

My heart starts to beat faster. The stains look like blood.

And there’s a blue velvet jewelry pouch.

It reminds me of the one my mother used to keep her pearls in.

Pulse beating in my ears, I reach down and pick up the pouch.

Pulling the string open, I look inside.

There are two rings, a necklace, a bracelet, and a man’s wristwatch.

“What the hell is this?” I whisper to myself.

I sense movement in the corner of my eye.

Spinning my head around, I stifle a scream.

Relief replaces fear when I see who it is. Even if I am confused as to why he’s here.

“Jesus, Cole!” I exclaim to my brother, pressing my hand to my chest, covering my thudding heart. “You just scared ten years off my life.”

Cole steps around from behind me and kneels on the floor in front of me. His knees just touching mine. But he doesn’t say anything.

“What are you doing here? How did you find me?” My head swivels to my closed front door. “How did you get in?”

He still says nothing.

I stare at him. He looks tired. His hair is unkempt. His clothes are wrinkled.

Which is strange because Cole is always impeccable. His hair is always neatly combed. Clothes always ironed.