“She didn’t find the body,” Brooke said softly. “I did. But I wouldn’t have found it if I’d stayed on the trail. None of us would have.”
“I think it’s worth exploring,” Joe said, though his voice lacked conviction. He made a note on his paper. “So, we have Henry, Adam, and Robert.”
Phil laughed and shook his head. “I still can’t believe you’re accusing your boss.”
“I’m not accusing him,” Tyler said, though he knew that wasn’t exactly true. “I’m just saying, someone killed them and is framing me. Robert knew I was coming here tonight. He makes more sense than the game warden. Unless he’d been following me around like Adam does.”
“But Adam stopped following you,” Brooke said. “You haven’t seen him lately, right?”
“True.” Tyler nodded. “I haven’tseenhim.”
“Doesn’t mean he hasn’t been around,” Phil said. “My money is on him. He’s had it in for you all these years.”
Joe turned to Tyler. “Tell me again about the first note. What exactly did it say?”
“I’ll do one better,” Tyler said, pulling out his phone. “I took a picture of it before Edi arrived. She has the original.”
It took him a couple of minutes to find the picture, his mind more on the way Brooke had been sure Adam couldn’t be a killer than on finding the photo.Stop it, Tyler,he told himself.She loves you. She told you she loves you. Don’t go borrowing trouble.
“Here it is.” He handed his phone to Joe.
Brooke leaned toward it. “I didn’t know you photographed it. You never showed me.”
“Didn’t seem right to show you,” he admitted. “But I wanted a record. Just in case.”
She smiled at him and reached out to take his hand. “Smart.”
Joe read it out loud. “‘You should’ve stayed away. You have blood on your hands. Who’s next?’The words are different, but the paper looks pretty much the same. It’s a printout. Typed in what looks like Arial font, printed, then cut to size with scissors. Odd, but that’s what was done with both of them.”
“The other one seems more normal, though, don’t you think?” Brooke asked. “I mean the wording.”
Phil scoffed. “Nothing normal about either note.”
Joe nodded. “Both are odd. The wording is a little strange in both of them. Seems to me they were written by the same person. Too many similarities not to be. Or...” Joe paused as he looked to Tyler. “Who all knew about the first note?”
“Sue and Robert, before we called in Edi. She bagged it and took it with her.”
“Not Adam?”
“No. Adam...no. I called Edi. She came, said it was probably a prank but took my complaint. Chances are good, though, she showed it to him. Boverman and the rest of the sheriff’s department. You heard about the note, right?”
“Not until Gina told me about it, and that was after Brooke was attacked—” Joe glanced at the timeline he’d written out “—two weeks later.”
Brooke she gave a shudder and closed her eyes. She’d recovered from the physical wounds, but Tyler knew she was still scared to go running where someone could hide.
She opened her eyes and found him watching her. She gave him a faint smile.
“We should probably call Edi about this note too,” Brooke said.
“Should we?” Joe asked, leaning forward. “What if it’s not Adam leaving the notes? What if it’s Edi?”
Chapter 33
Brooke
Brooke stared at the note lying on Joe’s patio table.Two threats neutralized.The clinical language made her skin crawl.
“We need to talk about keeping you safe,” Tyler said, his hand tightening on hers.
