A woman who knows the truth.
Talk to her.
The handwriting is neat. Deliberate. Authoritative.
My jaw tightens. I exhale.
“Oh my god,” I say, and push it back toward her. “This again.”
Harper’s brows knit. “Again?”
“There are always letters,” I say lightly. “People want to feel important. They want to be the one who cracks the case.”
“They mention your father,” Harper says.
“So?” I snap—sharper than I mean to—then smooth it over. “That’s public information. Anyone can Google him. Anyone can make up a story.”
“They mention a woman,” she says. “It says she knows the truth.”
My stomach clenches.
Who else did they send this to? Netflix? Evelyn? Some bottom-feeder blog desperate for relevance? I picture envelopes landing on desks, opening hands, raised brows.
Regret spikes through me—Declan.
I should’ve handled him sooner.
He was a threat to my livelihood—to my freedom. He had recordings and rage when he realized we weren’t going to have the 2.5 kids and white picket fence he told himself we’d have to justify his bad decisions.
An image of his fist clutching the hammer at the top of the bell tower flickers to mind. He was a threat I had to neutralize.
It occurs to me that Harper is backing me into a corner and positioning herself as one more threat I’ll have to neutralize.
I look at Harper and soften my face. Not too much. Just enough.
“This is a crazy person,” I say. “That’s it. Someone who wants attention.”
Harper doesn’t nod. That’s the problem.
“I don’t know,” she says carefully. “It feels… specific.”
“Specific doesn’t mean true.”
She studies me. “I’m not accusing you.”
“But you’re considering it,” I say.
She exhales. “I’m considering how this plays. If we’re upfront—if we get ahead of it—it might actually help. People love transparency. It could lend sympathy.”
The word that makes my blood go hot.
“Absolutely not.”
Harper blinks. “Shae?—”
“No,” I say, louder. “That’s how you feed lunatics. You give them oxygen and suddenly they’re experts. Then more crawl out of the woodwork. Then everyone wants their fifteen minutes.”
“I’m just saying?—”
