The smell hits me immediately. Damp wood, mold, and rot. Field mice scurry in all directions, and something a little larger crashes away, but it’s too fast for me to get my beam of light on it.
I shine the light around, trying to make sure I’m alone. The building is small and mostly empty. No pews. People probably scavenged those long ago. A corner of the roof is gone, and the whole place is covered in grime.
“Clear?” Justus’s hushed voice comes from outside the door.
“Far as I can tell.”
Landon remains as a lookout outside while Justus joins me. We’ll be lucky if the floor can hold us both. As soon as the beam from his flashlight joins mine, I see it.
In the middle of the dark sanctuary, a single cord reaches down from a beam. At the end of it hangs a white envelope, swinging slightly in the stirred up air.
Justus exhales and his eyes look big in the dimness. “Jesus. That’s…not ominous at all.”
I can’t speak. My stomach drops while I stare at it. The envelope is white and clean, untouched by the dirt swallowing the rest of this place. My boots echo on the warped floorboards. I move toward the envelope like it’s pulling me, only vaguely aware of Justus following close behind.
The envelope twists to face me, and I reach up to carefully take it down. It’s heavier than I expect, not much, but enough to know something small is inside.
My heartbeat stutters, and Justus stands at my shoulder. “Are you going to open it?” I nod, and he advises, “Hold it out away from your face. In case there’s powder in it or something.”
It’s a fair warning. If this is someone from my past like I’m starting to suspect, there’s no shortage of people who would be happy to take me out with a dose of anthrax. The seal tears with a soft rip. Inside is a folded piece of paper, several photographs, and?—
My heart falls at my feet and my body turns cold. Justus watches as I put my fingers into the envelope and retrieve a ring. It’s white gold. Thin, with a delicate curve carved intothe band like a wave. I know that pattern like I know my own name.
Isla’s wedding ring. My throat closes and my knees nearly buckle.
“Lee?” Justus says, his tone cautious as if he’s dealing with a bomb. And I feel like one right now. I can’t manage to answer him. I can only stare at the ring and the scratches on the inside. The tiny dent near the stone. She was so upset about that, and I promised her we’d get it fixed.
“Is that your wife’s ring?” Justus asks quietly. I nod once and close my hand over it, the metal digging into my skin. He swears under his breath.
A sudden crash from outside breaks me out of my shock. My hand goes to my gun, as does Justus’s as we run toward the door. Right before we get to the doorway, Landon looks through it. “Everything’s fine. I fell through the damn step and then the railing collapsed.”
“Let’s go,” Justus says. “I’ll drive.”
He won’t get any argument from me. All I want to do is see what else the envelope holds. He quickly catches Landon up on the situation and what we’ve found so far. Once I hand Justus my keys, we climb back into the truck. There’s still no sign of anyone out here.
Landon watches me open the envelope and unfold the sheet of paper.
I know where your wife is. This man is Joshua Haney. Kill him. Dispose of his remains. Then Iwill be in touch.
Below that is an address located in a town about an hour’s drive away from mine. That’s it. There’s no signature, no explanation. Just a demand.
Landon reads the note aloud to Justus while I look through the photographs. They show a man in his thirties. He’s lean, with dark hair and sleeves of tattoos. Some shots show him exiting a tattoo shop, another shows him in his truck, and the last catches him as he’s unlocking the door of a small house. All have been taken from a distance.
The only sound is the crunch of our tires as the road goes from dirt to gravel. Justus finally breaks the silence. “Hell no. Absolutely not. This is a setup.”
“Yeah,” Landon says. “Someone’s trying to get you to murder a stranger so they can what, blackmail you? Frame you? Get rid of this guy using you as the weapon?”
I don’t respond. Something cold spreads through my chest. Not fear or shock, but a realization. This isn’t a stranger. Someone knows exactly where to strike me, exactly how to hurt me.
Justus’s firm voice disrupts my roiling thoughts. “Lee. Look at me.” He slows the truck so he can take his eyes off the road, and I look over at him.
“This doesn’t mean what you think it means. Someone got that ring somehow. That doesn’t mean they know anything.”
“They know where she is,” I say quietly.
“They’re lying,” he fires back. “Because they want something from you.”
Landon gestures at the photos. “Whoever this Joshua guy is, he’s a target. You’re not supposed to ask why. You’re justsupposed to pull the trigger and wait for whoever sent this to come forward.”
