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I let out a quick breath, checking the time. I was antsy to get back to Reid’s place. I longed for that cozy little house and soft, warm bed, but I was also insanely hungry and needed to pack a few things in case he wanted me to stay the night.
I also needed to check up on Mom.
Opening my car door, I hauled myself onto my feet, going slower than normal. My body was achy, but in a good way. It had been awhile since I’d been with anyone like that.
Heading toward the front door, I noticed something sitting on the welcome mat. It wasn’t a note this time, but a small, cardboard box. I frowned at the thing. I hadn’t ordered anything online and it seemed way too small to be something Mom ordered.
I approached the package, the hairs on the back of my neck rising in warning. There was nothing strange about a package at someone’s front door, but I’d been getting threatening notes and nothing seemed normal to me anymore. I leaned down to pick it up, my fingers pausing a beat before touching it. There wasn’t a shipping label on the box. Nothing to indicate where it had come from or what was inside.
There was only a small label, like something printed from a digital label maker, with two words typed out on white backing.
For Lark.
I swallowed, wondering whether I should be touching it. Maybe I was just being too paranoid with everything going on. Maybe I was too on edge.
Still, it was weird.
I clenched my jaw and forced myself to pick up the package. It was light. It didn’t feel like anything at all and that had my chest easing. Maybe it was empty, someone trying to get my goat. Again.
Balancing the mystery box in one hand, I unlocked the front door and went inside. The kitchen light was on, but the rest of the house was dark and quiet. Mom was probably in her room.
I shut the front door and walked into the kitchen, setting the package on the counter. Staring at it, I wondered again whether I should simply throw the thing away. This was either some sick joke to try to freak me out, or someone had stupidly left this without giving any context to what it was.
My teeth caught my lower lip, curiosity getting the best of me. I grabbed a steak knife from the block on the counter and carefully sliced open the packing tape. Slow and steadily, as if the thing were an actual bomb, I opened the flaps. Inside, there was white tissue paper.
The paper crinkled as I searched through it, opening up the seemingly strategic folds until something glinted in the light.
My heart stuttered before catapulting into overdrive. My skin broke out into a cold sweat as my thumb and forefinger pinched the thin, gold chain and lifted it from the box.
My blood went icy, my gaze locked onto the gold charm hanging from the chain. It was a half of a heart, the half that I knew completed the one hanging around my neck.
It was Thea’s necklace. The same one she had been wearing the night she was murdered, and the one that hadn’t been seen since.
I dropped the necklace as if it had burned me. It fell back into the box on top of the bed of tissue paper. My hand pressed against my mouth, keeping in the scream climbing up my throat. Tears stung in my eyes, blurring the image of the box sitting there.
Oh, my God. Whoever had left that on my doorstep must’ve had that necklace in their possession for the last nine years. It had never been found in her room or on her body after her murder.
They had to have taken it right off Thea’s neck the night she was killed.
30
Reid
I cursed under my breath. This wasn’t how I imagined spending the rest of my night. My arms tightened around my chest, my eyes homed on Lark. I wanted to gather her up in my arms and comfort her, but now wasn’t the time.
Because we needed some damn answers.
“You came home and the package was sitting in front of the door?” Xander asked, making notes on his pocket notepad.
Lark nodded. She looked so small and scared. I shifted closer to her, reminding her that she wasn’t alone.
When Lark had called me, sounding like she was freaking drowning, I almost lost it. I definitely broke every speed limit to get to her house as quickly as I could. I’d found her curled up on the kitchen floor, shaking and staring at that damn box.
I’d held her as she’d told me what she found inside, and I’d called Xander immediately. This was too much not to get him involved. This was a whole new level of messed up.
“I don’t understand what the big deal is.” Winnie Meadows sat on one of the armchairs in the breakfast nook, looking annoyed that there were so many people in her kitchen. “It’s just a box.”
Xander cocked a brow at her. His gaze shifted to the box and back to her. “A box that contains a necklace that Lark claims belonged to Thea Ramsey.”
