Fractured Sky (Tattered & Torn #5)(31)

Shiloh shrugged. “I’m guessing he had someone else send them.”

“And they were like this one?” The words and tone made me sick. Purity? “Shiloh, did he…?” I couldn’t even say the words.

She shook her head vigorously. “No. Nothing like that. He told me I was going to marry his son. That I had to stay pure and that my family would taint me. That they were evil.” She looked up. “But he’s dead. And this handwriting…it’s different. Plus, he never would’ve used words like carefully crafted.”

I snatched up the envelope from the porch step. “Mailed two days ago.” My pulse stuttered. “From Wolf Gap.”

Fear blazed brightly in Shiloh’s eyes. “Someone here sent it?”

“We need to call your brother. He’ll know who had the most contact with Howard while he was in prison.”

Her hand snaked out to grip mine. “No. Hayes is the last person I want to know about this.”

I was far from a fan of law enforcement, but this was one case where we needed it.

“Shiloh.”

“No. He finds out about this, and he’ll force me to move in with him and Everly. He’ll never let me out of his sight.”

“He has the resources—”

“He doesn’t know about the letters.”

I stilled. “You never told anyone about them.” It wasn’t a question. I knew it with a certainty I couldn’t entirely explain.

“What good would it do? Besides freak them out.”

“They could’ve talked to the prison to make it stop.”

Shiloh looked towards the horizon, tracing the mountains with her gaze. “I’ve had so few things that are mine. Even my loft at the ranch wasn’t really mine. It belonged to my parents. I had Sky and my mailbox, and that’s about it. When so little is yours, you’re not willing to lose any of it. Even if it would stop something that terrifies you.”

A jagged stab lit pain through my chest. “Someone wants to hurt you. And it’s someone seriously messed in the head if they’re sending fake letters from a dead man.”

I ran through the possibilities in my mind, trying to put together a list of names from the articles I’d read about the case. Howard had a son, but he was in jail for his part in a kidnapping. He’d had a brother, but Allen Kemper had been killed in a shootout with the police after kidnapping his daughter, Addie.

Shiloh pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging them tightly. “I don’t know who would do something like this. Who would hate me that much? But there were so many letters, Ramsey. Someone could easily copy that tone if they’d seen one.”

The vise returned at the forlorn bent to her voice.

“Sometimes, I’d get a packet full of them. Like he’d written every day for a month but hadn’t gotten the opportunity to send them.” Her knuckles bleached white as her fingers dug into her legs. “Who knows how many there were floating around or who might’ve seen one?”

That meant she could’ve been leveled with one at any time, like invisible landmines that could appear in her mailbox without warning. And if they were capable of putting her through what I’d just seen? It was too much.

“I think you need to talk to your brother.”

“My life will be over. Everything I’ve worked so hard for…gone.” More unshed tears shone in her eyes. “Howard Kemper doesn’t get to win. He stole so much of my life. I don’t want to let him keep taking from me after he’s gone.”

Emotions warred, a back-and-forth battle between keeping Shiloh safe and not clipping her wings. “Promise to tell me if you get another one?”

She swallowed but nodded.

“You need to keep an eye out for anything suspicious. Someone who shows too much interest. Any cars that might be following you.”

“Ramsey, I’m always on alert. I have been since I was ten years old. Those days changed me. I haven’t trusted the same way since. I feel safe because I know how to handle myself and because I notice everything. If someone was tailing me, I’d know.”

My jaw worked back and forth. “It’s only ever been the letters?”

“That’s it. People in town are curious about me, but they mostly steer clear.” The corner of her mouth kicked up. “I think they’re worried my oddness might be catching.”

“You’re not odd.”

“I am. But I’m okay with it. People are overrated anyway.”

The chuckle that escaped me took me by surprise. I never would’ve thought I could move from threats to laughing so quickly. “I’ve never been much of a people fan either.”

Shiloh’s gaze locked with mine. “I know. That’s why it means everything that you let me stay here. I’ll never forget it. I know I can’t repay you—”

I took her hand in mine, weaving our fingers together. Her breath hitched, and I saw her pulse quicken.

“I like having you here. I think I needed it just as much as you did.”

The truth of those words hit somewhere deep in my chest, burning. But it was a beautiful kind of pain. One I welcomed. One that belonged only to Shiloh.





13





SHILOH