And he wasn’t moving.
Either he was asleep … or he was …
Maddie wouldn’t let herself think the next word.
With her heart racing, she held the flashlight just below the window; with her free hand, she tapped twice on the glass. Then three times.
He stirred.
She sighed.
She reached for the handle and whipped the door open.
“What are you doing?” she whispered into the night. “You scared me half to death.”
He sat up, his eyes quickly scanning the pickup’s interior as if he’d forgotten where he was. And why. Then he looked at Maddie.
“Oh,” he said. “Hi.” He rubbed his palms over his face.
“Get out,” Maddie said. “We need to talk.”
“Or you could get in here, where it’s more comfortable.”
She almost said no to him again. But her dad was right. She needed to hear him out. So she crossed around to the passenger side, climbed in, and closed the door.
“Who sent me the notes?” It seemed a good place to start, seeing as how he’d announced that he’d found the culprit.
Without hesitating, he said, “My sister.”
Maddie froze. “Taylor?”
“Yup. The only sister I have.”
“Seriously?” Her thoughts flared in what felt like hundreds of directions. “I don’t understand.”
“She wanted to explain it to you herself, but I thought it would be easier if you heard it from me.”
“Are you sure she did it? But why …?”
“It was partly my fault. And Kevin’s. She overheard us talking about your idea for the bookshop, and it freaked her out. She decided to try and stop you.”
“But why …?” Maddie repeated, but Rex hushed her.
“First, you need to know how I figured it out. I thought about how you said the notes were printed in felt-tip black markers; Taylor uses those to track what she does at the propertiesshe takes care of. And, unless a signature’s required, she prints. Block letters. The non-cursive stuff. With that bit of deduction, I looked for my father’s yearbooks.”
“And you found them,” Maddie said. And then she knew he must be right. “And the picture of my mother wasn’t there.”
“Class of 1972. Yup, Hannah’s photo was clipped out.”
She closed her eyes, grateful, at least, that the culprit who’d sent her the notes didn’t turn out to be anyone else, especially Evelyn, since Stephen now seemed to enjoy the woman’s company.
“But Rex,” Maddie said, “I don’t understand. Taylor was always standoffish with me, but I thought she just didn’t like me. Then, when you were at Windemere, she came to see me. She said she wanted to apologize for shutting me out. It was clear she was afraid she might lose you. She even told me Jonas’s history. Anyway, I thought she wanted to be friends. But another note came after that. This makes no sense.”
He toyed with the steering wheel. “Did you tell your grandmother about Bud?”
Maddie blinked. “I did. She thought I was accusing her of being a conspirator in my mother’s death. Then she stormed out of the room and went to bed. It was bizarre.”
He nodded and gestured toward the cottage. “Come on. Let’s find her. She needs to tell us her side of the story, because it’s all connected. But before that, I need to say something important.” He shifted on the seat, reached over and lifted her chin. “I love you, Maddie Clarke. And I had absolutely no knowledge of any of this until now. I need you to believe that, if you can.”
