Page 85 of Secrets and Sin

“You do realize that it’s probably just something dropped off by Cooper for Zack.”

“Tara knows who Cooper is,” Jane pointed out. “It couldn’t be him.”

“Okay, then one of Zack’s other brothers. Maybe Tate or Sam.”

“She knows Tate, but maybe Sam. But it’s still intriguing. Who would drop something here for Zack?”

“Because the whole town knows we’re dating?”

“True, but you’d think they’d drop it at Tate’s or with Cooper.” Jane ran her fingers over the bump again. “It feels square.”

“It’s probably something from Sam. Maybe Sam dropped it here for Zack, knowing that he’d be coming here.”

Jane sat back in her chair, shaking her head.

“That’s a great theory except for one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Sam was at the apartment with all of us last night. He never mentioned it once. Don’t you think he would? At least to ask Zack if he’d received it? I don’t think this is from Sam.”

“Who do you think it’s from?”

“I don’t know, but if you opened it, we would know.”

“I’m not opening it. Zack can when he gets here.”

Now Jane had Lucy wondering what was inside, piquing her curiosity. Five minutes ago, she hadn’t cared all that much. Now she wanted to know.

Except that this envelope wasn’t nearly as exciting as what Zack was currently doing.

It was simply a plain white envelope. Nothing exciting in the least.

* * *

Zack found Jay at his parents’ house, hanging out in the backyard while his kids played in the sprinklers. A pretty dark-haired woman who was probably Jay’s wife was handing out popsicles and trying to corral the boisterous trio of children. Jay’s parents sat on a couple of patio chairs, the mom relaxing with a book.

Jay jumped up from his chair when he saw Zack, a grin spreading on his face.

“Hey, what a surprise. I didn’t expect to see you again so soon. What’s going on? Do you want a cool drink?”

Cooper had decided to wait in the car, saying that Jay might not talk in front of someone he didn’t know well. Zack had agreed but wasn’t sure that Jay would say much anyway. The last time they’d met, Jay had clearly not wanted to talk about Sarah at all.

Zac glanced quickly over to Jay’s wife who was busy with the kids but had given a small wave to acknowledge that they had a visitor.

“I was hoping you and I could talk for a few minutes. Can we go inside? This won’t take long.”

Jay appeared confused but agreed, opening the sliding glass door to the kitchen so that Zack could pass through.

“What did you want to talk about?”

The welcome that had been there only moments before was now replaced by an uneasiness that Jay wasn’t bothering to hide.

“I’ll get straight to the point,” Zack replied. “I want to talk about Sarah and what she was into right before she died. Did she go to that campus bar that let teenagers in? Farrow’s? Was she drinking or doing drugs? She was my half-sister, and she deserves to rest in peace.”

Sighing, Jay dropped into a kitchen chair, his shoulders dropping.

“Why won’t you just leave this alone? Nothing good is going to come from this.”

---