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He looked over at Kai, then dashed down the steps to an old Chevy Nova and drove away as fast as he could.

I felt my heart race. Dammit, this had to be about my lawsuit with Principal Sykes.

“Come on inside, Marlowe. Let’s get you some wine, or tea, or coffee, or something and you can open the letter. Then we can go visit Chaos.”

I started breathing again at the idea of visiting Chaos. But then I felt the paper in my hands. Seriously, what now?

Kai ushered me back into the kitchen. “What is the lady’s pleasure?”

“Just iced tea. Plenty of sugar.”

“Coming right up.”

I ripped open the letter and started reading. The more I read, the more it didn’t make any sense. Kai set the iced tea on the counter beside me.

“Can you read this?” I held out the letter to him.

“Sure.”

I sipped my tea as he read.

“This is weird. This house is obviously Beau’s. Who else could it be from?” Kai asked.

“It says I have twenty-four hours to vacate the premises.”

“Fuck that shit. You’re going to stay where you are. There isn’t a chance in hell that Beau’s evicting you. I just talked to him yesterday.”

Kai turned the envelope over and squinted at the return address. “I think we should call this attorney and see what’s going on.”

19

The lawyer’s address was a post office box in Gatlinburg. He had a website and a chatbox, but no phone number.

Great.

“I can’t believe that Principal Sykes would go to these kind of lengths to get me to stop the suit. I’ve got to call Sue. I mean, is her job on the line or something?”

I looked at Kai who was still looking at the letter, while I was holding my tablet and trying to google any information I could find on this lawyer or any dirt I could dig up on Loretta Sykes.

“I’m not sure this is related to the guys who ran you off the road,” Kai said quietly.

“What do you mean?”

“Why would someone go from trying to kill you, then go to trying to harass you? That makes no sense.”

He was right.

“Then who is doing this to me?”

“Maybe this isn’t about you. Maybe it’s about the house. Maybe somebody’s out to steal it from under Beau, because they know he hasn’t lived here for so long.”

“Only people here in Jasper Creek would know that. I can’t imagine somebody from here trying to do that, can you?”

Kai shook his head. “I say it’s time to call the sheriff. This whole thing stinks to high heaven.”

“I’m not leaving here until Beau tells me to,” I told Kai.

“Thatta girl.”