Such a Beautiful Family: A Thriller(58)

“Thank you.”

“I could have sent you these things, but I wanted to talk to you in person . . . I wanted to warn you.”

Nora’s insides flickered. “Warn me?”

“To be careful. I don’t know what Jane wants from you, but I’ve known Jane long enough to know she won’t stop until she gets it.”

Jane wanted Nora’s family. But why? What was her motive? Nothing made any sense. “Do you know anything about the accident Jane’s parents were in when they were killed?”

Heather shook her head. “When I first met Jane, I was very curious to know how she managed to start her own business at such a young age. Doing so takes smarts. It also takes a good amount of funds. I asked if her parents had helped, and that’s when she told me they were dead. We never talked about it again. Jane has always been very closemouthed when it comes to her private life.”

“Thanks for letting me know,” Nora said. “I should go.”

Heather agreed.

Nora walked out into the cold, feeling as if she were in a trance. As she made her way across the parking lot, she spotted a man getting out of his car. He looked familiar. Memories of grocery shopping, dinners out, mindless errands circled her mind.

And then it hit her. She could see it all so very clearly in her mind’s eye—reaching for his jet-black hair and yanking hard. He had screamed, then looked her in the eyes. It was him. The purse snatcher.

“Hey!” she called out as she veered his way.

He looked up.

The second his eyes met hers, he whipped around and ran back to his car, jumping inside in one swift motion. The engine revved.

Nora ran toward him. “Stop! I need to talk to you.”

Tires screeched as he pulled out of the parking spot, the corner of his bumper just missing her. She only caught part of his license plate before he sped off.

Nora stood there watching, her chest rising and falling. It had to be the same man who had almost gotten away with her purse in San Francisco. Why else would he have run away like that? And if it were the same man, what was he doing here?

What the hell was going on?





CHAPTER THIRTY

It was dark by the time Nora returned home. The kids were both in their rooms. Hailey was on her phone, and Trevor was on the computer, so she let them be. She wanted to talk to David. She had waited long enough. She joined him in the family room, sat next to him on the well-used couch Mom had left, since it was too big for the cottage.

“I was about to call you when you walked in the door,” David said. “Where have you been?”

She took her shoes off, turned toward him, and tucked one foot under the leg next to his. “It’s been a strange day, that’s for sure. How did it go with Alex?”

“He’s quiet and reeks of cannabis.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive.” He lifted an eyebrow. “Hey, I might not have been as cool and hip as you back when we met, but I’ve smoked my share of marijuana. I know what it smells like.”

Nora gave him a long look. “You have smoked a joint?”

He nodded.

“With whom?”

“With the family dog Ginger. I was fourteen. Ginger didn’t take a hit, but she watched.”

She chuckled. “So you liked him, right?” she asked, her tone dripping with sarcasm.

“Sure. It could be worse.”

“How so?”

“He could have two tattoos on his neck.” He smiled. “I’m kidding. Like I told you before, as long as he and Hailey are right here where I can keep an eye on them, I like him just fine.”

Nora swallowed a lump in her throat. “I have something I need to talk to you about.”

“Anything to do with the message scrawled on the wall back home?”

“Who told you about that?”

“Henry called to make sure I didn’t have paint stored away at the house.” David reached over and rested his hand on her leg. “Don’t take it personally. Kids do this kind of thing all the time.”

“That’s what Karen Jorgenson said. But there’s something you don’t know . . . something I should have told you years ago.”

“Okay.”

“When I was seventeen, I was at home studying when my friend Allina Cline called me in a panic. She was at a fraternity party near UC Davis. She had been drinking, and her words were slurred. She said something about the party being out of control. And she was scared.”

David looked concerned. “What happened? Did someone hurt you or your friend?”

Nora clasped her hands together, wondering how he might feel about her after she told him what she’d done. “No. It’s not that,” she said. “Twenty minutes after Allina called, I arrived at the party. She was supposed to meet me outside, but she wasn’t there. Her car was parked at the end of the driveway, so I knew she had to be inside.” Nora paused to take a breath, her stomach roiling at the thought of finally telling David something she should have told him long ago. “A boy I knew from school was hanging out in the kitchen. There were open bottles of booze and a punch bowl. His name was—is Shane. He offered me a drink, but I told him I was there to find my friend and then I needed to leave. He told me the punch was nonalcoholic and said no one would bother me if I had a drink in my hand while I searched for Allina.”