An uncomfortable pressure settled in my chest as I stared at her face. She was like a smaller version of her mother, with long, dark hair and lighter blue eyes. Her smile was bright and wide, with a hint of mischief behind it.
The expression reminded me of Hailey.
Cautiously, I reached out and touched the tip of my index finger to the glass over Thea’s image. There were very few people in Ember Hollow who didn’t know about Thea—or the way she’d died.
She and her roommate had been murdered in their college house.
It had been such a tragedy.
I studied the faces of her older brothers surrounding her, then found Roman again. His smile in the photo was wide and unguarded. Beaming. I wondered whether he ever smiled like that anymore, or whether the years and the grief had weighed on him so heavily that he’d forgotten how.
Roman was a kind of an enigma to me.
We sat down together for dinner most nights, but other than that, I didn’t speak much to the man who had hired me. He was quiet and reserved, if not a little grumpy. The contrast between Hailey’s personality and her father’s was kind of funny. They were like night and day, darkness and rainbows.
And yet, I was surprised by how comfortable I was around him.
Despite his gruffness, I felt at ease. Maybe it was because he was the fire chief and so well respected around town, or maybe it was something quieter than that. Either way, I was safe here.
My finger fell from the photo, though I lingered on Thea’s face for a moment longer.
“Watch out for him, okay?” I whispered softly.
Then I moved on, lifting the duster and continuing down the hallway.
Iknewsomethingwaswrongthe moment I picked Hailey up from school.
She sat quietly in the back seat, staring out the window as I pulled away from the curb. There was no excited chatter. No rapid recap of her day. Just silence.
I glanced at her in the rearview mirror, worry tightening in my chest.
“How was school today?” I forced my voice to sound light.
She shrugged, not even looking at me.
My hands clenched around the steering wheel. Something had definitely happened. This wasn’t like Hailey at all. She seemed so…sad.
I sucked on my bottom lip. “Is there anything you wanted to talk about?”
She shook her head, saying nothing.
My shoulders sagged, but I didn’t push. I was still new in her life. She probably didn’t trust me completely yet—and that was okay. Trust took time.
The drive home was heavy and quiet, and the mood didn’t lift when we got there. Hailey sat down at the table to do her schoolwork, but it took much longer than usual. She kept getting distracted, staring off into space, and the longer it went on, the more on edge I was.
When we finally finished, I tried one last thing.
“How about we go get some ice cream?” I hoped it might help.
She perked up a little, but still didn’t smile. Her gaze drifted to the window, where the snow lingered in a dense blanket on the ground. “It’s a little cold for ice cream.”
My heart clenched, extremely worried now. What little girl didn’t love ice cream?
I wouldn’t give up, though. “You’re right.” I nodded. “How about we get hot chocolate instead? We can go to the coffee shop and get a giant cookie to go with it.”
That seemed to get her attention. Some of the sparkle returned to her expression, but she didn’t give me that carefree grin.
“Well,” she began, tilting her head. “Iguesswe can get cookies. As long as I can have one with frosting.”
