AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I set down the violin and lifted my gaze to Kade's. He stared back at me with a gleam of admiration.
"That was beautiful, Brynn. Spectacularly beautiful. You are very talented."
"Thanks. I think you're exaggerating."
"Not even a little. You have a gift."
"I do love to play. And you were right…it helped."
"Sometimes it's just too much to hold the emotions in." He paused. "It's not my place to say this, but you need to play with that orchestra. It would be a crime not to use your talent."
"I tell myself that, too, but it feels selfish, especially with everything else going on. But I don't want to think about it now. For the first time in the last forty-eight hours, I feel calm. How about a cookie?"
"I wouldn't say no," he replied, as I got to my feet.
I grabbed the bag of cookies as well as two cards that had been left for my mom and brought them to the table.
While Kade reached for a cookie, I slid open the first envelope and pulled out the card. It read:Praying for you, Laura. Feel better soon. Our school needs you!It was signed by Joanne Hunt, the principal of the school, and several other teachers.
I opened the next envelope and pulled out a card that made me gasp.
"What's wrong?" Kade asked.
"Is this supposed to be a joke?" I showed him the face of the card. A series of tombstones were lined up in a cemetery with the quote:This is where it all ends.
"Who's it from?" he asked tersely.
I was almost afraid to open the card, but I finally did. "You know why," I read, then lifted my gaze to his. "It's not signed with a name, but this is definitely personal."
"It feels like there was a betrayal," Kade murmured.
"That's exactly what it feels like," I said, meeting his gaze.
My phone buzzed on the table, and I glanced down at the screen. "It's Inspector Greenman."
"Can you put it on speaker?"
"Sure." I picked up the phone. "Hello? Did you get my text?"
"I did. Renee Wells is a new name. I'll check into that."
"Good. I also got a card. It was left on the porch with other items from my mother's friends and neighbors. It's threatening. It shows a cemetery and says, 'this is where it ends, you know why.' No signature."
"All right. Can you take a photo and send it to me? Then put the card in a plastic bag, and I'll get it from you tomorrow. In the meantime, I have a video I want to send you. Let me know if you recognize the person in the shot."
"Okay," I said warily.
"I'm texting it now."
I set the phone on the table as I waited for his text. A moment later, a video appeared, and I pushed play. Kade got up to take a look over my shoulder.
The video was only eight seconds long, but the shot showed someone getting into a car across the street from my mother's house. They were wearing a hoodie, but when they turned their head, their face was captured by the streetlight. I gasped. "Oh, my God," I said. "When was this taken?"
"Wednesday night. Do you recognize this woman?"
"Yes," I said, my stomach turning over. "It's my stepmother, Vicky Landry. But she would have been in LA on Wednesday night."
"She wasn't."
