Chapter 1 - The Envelope Under the Mat
I saw my name first, written in careful block letters on the front of a plain envelope: DIANE.
Inside was a single folded page in a plastic sleeve — a property transfer record, decades old, for the house on Larkspur Lane. My old house. The one Russell had kept in the divorce. The original owner listed on it was a name I'd never heard: Walter.
Clipped to it, a note in the same careful hand.
Diane — he had no right to take this house. Please don't tell Russell you saw this. I'm sorry it has to be this way. — W.
My hands were shaking by the second line. I sat down right there on the wet porch step.
"Mom?" Poppy's voice came from behind the screen door. "Why are you sitting outside?"
I folded the paper against my chest before she could see it. "Just dropped something."
"Where's the man from last night?"
"He must have left early."
She studied me the way she'd started doing lately, since the divorce — checking my face for cracks before deciding whether to worry. "You look scared."
"I'm not," I said, and even Poppy, at eight, knew that was the wrong kind of fast answer. "Go eat your pancakes. I'll be right in."
May you like
Once she'd gone, I read the note again. He'd known my address. He'd known Russell's name. Whoever this man was, that storm hadn't just happened to strand him near my house. He'd chosen it.
That thought sat colder in my stomach than the rain had.
