Thanks for coming over. I had a really good time. :)
Intense relief flooded through him. She was okay. She was at work, slammed with customers, but she’d taken the time to respond.
She was okay.
Tyler paid for the sandwiches and drove back to the shop, the note in his pocket feeling heavier with every mile. He needed to figure out what to do about it.
He needed to decide whether to tell Brooke.
Back at the shop, he found Robert and Sue in the break room, plates and napkins already set out.
“Perfect timing,” Sue said. “I’m starving.”
Tyler set the bag on the table but didn’t sit down. Instead, he pulled the note from his pocket and handed it to Robert.
“Found this on my truck when I went to get lunch.”
Robert read it, his expression darkening. He passed it to Sue without a word.
“Oh no, Tyler,” Sue said. “This is a threat.”
“Seems to be. I was thinking the game warden might have left it this morning.”
“The game warden?” Sue asked, shaking her head.
Robert explained the weird visit before saying, “You need to report this. Henry or whoever left it didn’t mean it as a joke.”
“Report it to who? Deputy Boverman?” Tyler shook his head. “He’d probably use it as evidence I’m guilty, say I wrote it myself to throw suspicion elsewhere.”
“Not to Boverman,” Sue said. “To Edi. You two are friends, aren’t you? She’ll take this seriously.”
Tyler wasn’t sure she would, but Sue was right that Edi was the better option.
“I’ll call her,” Sue offered, already reaching for her purse. “I still have her card from when we found—” She stopped, not finishing the sentence: from when they found Sheila’s body.
“I’ll do it,” Tyler said. “This is my problem.”
He made the call. Edi answered on the third ring, sounding harried. “Deputy Reeves.”
“Edi, it’s Tyler. Tyler Gillis.”
A pause. “Hey. Everything okay?”
“Not really. Someone left a threatening note on my truck. I think you should see it.”
Another pause. “Where are you?”
“Work. The shop.”
“I’m in the middle of something, but I’ll be there when I can.”
Edi showed up around two o’clock, her expression serious as Tyler and Robert entered the office. Sue opened a file folder.
“I put it in here.”
Edi read the note, her face giving nothing away. “When did you find this?”
“A couple of hours ago. When I went to lunch. It was under my windshield wiper.”
