Till Death(64)

“Yeah, babe, there was.” His tone was somber. “Tyron’s going to need to talk to you again.”

My fingers curled around his shirt. “That was a woman’s finger.”

He didn’t respond to that, and he didn’t need to, because I knew his thoughts had gone where mine had. The Groom always removed the ring finger of his victims. Always. For that—

I drew back, remembering that there was something about the package I didn’t know. “What was the address?”

Cole’s chest rose with a deep breath, but before he could respond, there was a knock on the door. “Yeah?” he called out.

“It’s me,” Detective Conrad said. “All right to come in?”

“Yes.” I stepped back, and Cole dropped one arm but kept his other arm around my waist as the detective came in. He left the door open. “Detective Conrad—”

“Call me Tyron,” he said.

“Okay.” I tried again. “What was the address on the package? Did it say who it was from?”

He stared at me a moment and then his gaze flickered above me. Looking over his shoulder, he called out, “Chris, can you bring the package in here?”

Bile rose as the investigator came back in, and my stomach only settled a little when I realized the package was closed and back in the plastic bag.

“Show her the address,” Tyron instructed.

Cole stiffened beside me and his hand slipped to the center of my back, but he didn’t stop the investigator when he lifted the baggy and turned it over.

At first the words sort of blurred together, and maybe I had recognized the name and address immediately but my brain refused to process them.

Because the address no longer existed.

And the name, the initials—I knew what V. Joan stood for.

Vernon Joan.

A sharp slice of panic lit up my stomach and my chest compressed. “Impossible.” My gaze darted from Tyron to Cole. “That’s impossible. That house was torn down and he . . .”

“The Groom is dead,” Tyron finished for me. “But someone obviously is saying something with this package.”

“But what could they be saying?” I looked at the baggy Chris held, and my mind went to the worst possible place. Only things nightmares were made of could be told with a package like that and with that address information.

“God.” I placed my hand around my throat. “What is going on?”

There was no answer.

At least none any of us wanted to hear.



Tyron posed the same questions Derek and Cole had asked after my car had been vandalized and the deer had been left in my mother’s truck, then he left, along with the investigator.

Cole remained, having already gone out to his truck and grabbed a gym bag. He deposited it on my couch and then turned to me. “It’s time for you to tell your mom what happened with her truck.”

Sighing, I closed my eyes. A moment passed. “This is insane.”

“I know. I wish I could tell you something that wouldn’t scare you, but this . . . this isn’t looking good.”

Wanting a glass of wine or maybe an entire bottle of it, I sat on the arm of the couch. I stared up at him. “What do you think is happening here? I want you to be honest with me and don’t try to hide anything.”

“My first thoughts?” Cole crossed his arms. “Someone is fixated on what happened here in the past. That package practically screams it, but this isn’t a harmless fixation some idiot develops. That was a person’s finger.”

“And unless that finger belonged to the person who sent it and they willingly cut off their own finger, it belonged to . . .” Trailing off, I bit down on my lip. The worst possible thought popped into my head. Angela was missing. What if it was her finger?

Cole walked over to me and placed his hands on my legs. His eyes met mine. “I hate to say that and I don’t want to scare you, but all of this is linking back to you.”

There was no denying that. I shuddered. I wanted to ask why, but I knew it had something to do with the Groom. What exactly it was I didn’t understand.

“Do you think what happened to Angela has something to do with me?” I asked, almost afraid of his answer.

He shook his head. “That I don’t know. Could be unrelated, but it could not be.”

“God,” I whispered and exhaled roughly. “I wish I could’ve seen that man’s face from yesterday.”

Cole studied me. “Truth is, if that person really did take Angela’s key and if he has anything to do with the other stuff, he’s been in here. He knew how to get in here.”

“So many people could know about that tunnel, Cole. It’s on the historic registry, for crying out loud.” Suddenly remembering I had a visitor today, I almost popped off the arm of the couch. “The mayor stopped by today. I totally forgot.”

Cole frowned. “What did he want?”

“He’d heard about what happened yesterday, but he wasn’t really checking on me to see if I was okay. He basically told me that I shouldn’t have come back here.”

“What?” His shoulders tensed. “What did he say exactly?”

I told him the best I could remember. “Isn’t that weird? I mean, I get that if I went to the media, it would drag up the past, but seriously, what would be the big deal? There has to be more to this.”