In black Sharpie, someone had written: “THIS IS WHAT YOU ARE PROTECTING. HIS DAUGHTER!”
I took the card from her hands and read the message.
Letters cut from newspapers and magazines spelled out: HELLO, ELLA. WHAT’S IT FEEL LIKE TO BE FOUND FINALLY? SLEEP TIGHT. See you soon.
Her voice was flat. “It’s some sick joke. It has to be.”
I looked up and realized every muscle in my body had gone tight. “Do you want me to call the cops?”
She just shook her head. “They’ll say it’s a prank. So no, no cops.”
She folded the card in half, then quarters, then turned it into confetti between her fingers. For a minute, the only sound was Kori shouting something in the background and a car pushing up the distant road.
I could see panic, clearly etched on her face. I wanted to reach for her, to say something that might fix it, but all I managed was, “If you need help, I’ll stay over tonight. Keep watch. It wouldn’t be the first time.”
She let out a low, ugly sound. “It would be the first time anyone actually meant it.”
That one landed deep. “I wasn’t planning on sleeping anyway.”
She shoved the Polaroids into her pocket and straightened up, looking me dead in the eye.
“Fine,” she said, her voice gone hard and level. “But not here. I want to go home. It’s time I stopped running and stood up to whoever this is.”
I watched her step back inside and stood there, wondering what she meant by running while the screen door banged lightly in her wake. I waited onthe porch until the cold wind cut through my flannel shirt, then followed her inside.
I waited in the hall while she slipped into the living room to collect Nora and her things. My hands went instinctively to the envelopes I’d stuffed in my pocket. Whoever sent those threats knew what they were doing. They knew it’d work.
Down the hall, Ella’s voice had a finely tuned edge as she called for her daughter. I could hear the steadying breath she took before putting on the “let’s go, honey” face. But when she emerged, she was carrying a sleepy Nora, and the mask was back in place. She looked like herself again, only her white knuckles clutching her car keys betrayed her. After thanking Kane and Kori for dinner, we waved goodbye and headed out to our vehicles.
“Ella, she’s too big for you to carry. Let me take her,” I said, holding out my hands.
She looked at me, and for a second, I thought she was going to refuse, but she nodded and passed her over.
It was a mistake for me to take her. Memories of my Melanie slammed into me the second Nora settled her head onto my shoulder, and it took me everything not to break down in front of Ella. She likely would have thought I was some creep if I had.
I couldn’t get to her SUV fast enough. She hurried ahead of me and opened the back driver’s side door, where I set Nora down on the seat. “I’ll see youback at your place,” I grumbled before heading to my truck.
Caleb was already waiting inside, his hands tucked under his arms for warmth, his face dimly lit by the dashboard. He looked at me when I slid into the cab, gaze unblinking.
“Threat, or prank?” Caleb muttered as I fumbled with the ignition.
“Hard to say. But a coward either way.”
He grunted. “You want to talk about it?”
“Nope,” I said. “You know what I think about talking.”
Fifteen minutes later, I pulled into their drive and parked. The windows of Ella’s bungalow glowed warmly in the cold night, like a beacon. Caleb and I got out and met them on the porch. I went in first, Caleb stayed with them, while I did the ritual check of every room. It wasn’t just habit—I wanted to be the one who saw if anything was off, and I wanted to keep them away until I’d given it the once over. Scout followed me, pausing at every doorway as if waiting for my cue. He watched me sweep each room, and when I was satisfied, he did a circuit of his own, then slumped in a corner and farted, giving the all-clear.
I called out, “Safe,” and heard Ella exhale from the front hall, Nora in tow. She kept her voice light as she thanked me, but the way she hung back near the kitchen made it clear she wasn’t sure what camenext.
Caleb went straight for the Keurig, made three cups of coffee, brought one to me, and the other to Ella. “You want me here, or should I go?”
“Up to you,” I said. “If you can handle a few chores, I could use a hand feeding the stock at home before dark.”
He eyed the bandage on his hand. “The other option is I sit here and look intimidating while Ella and Nora help you.”
Ella glanced at him, then me, then the kitchen clock. “I’m fine with that, as long as we get done before 8:00, it’s a school night.”
