Page 65 of It Starts With A No

“Those are all death threats?”

She nodded. “Ha!” She stood and turned to him with another letter in hand. “Look at this.” She showed him a letter detailing how the letter writer would cut up her face and hair so she would become the monster she was on the inside.

This letter, however, wasn’t typed. The words were cut out from magazines.

“Even I think it would be too much work to go through magazines to cut out all those letters,” Clary continued before sighing softly.

“I feel like there’s something else you’re not telling me.”

“Two things. I’m not sure if I should tell you.”

“Why not?”

“Because the first thing would make me more one-of-them.”

“I promise it won’t. Even if it does, I promise I won’t say it.”

“And that’s all that matters.”

He nodded for her to go ahead.

“Hugh said he sent the deranged man who held us at gunpoint.”

Seth frowned. “That man was after me.”

“That was what I thought.” Clary leaned back against the desk. “I think Hugh was just bluffing. He saw my bandage and claimed to be the one behind it, hoping to scare me.”

“Have you told Edward Eolenfeld any of this?”

She shook her head. “Not about what Hugh said. Mr. E. seems to know about the threats, though.”

“And the second thing?”

“Is kind of irrelevant now that I think about it.”

Seth frowned. “I’d still like to know.”

“Back in New York, a man threatened to cut my face up.”

“Why?”

“For doing my job: keeping his children away from his violent self.”

Seth peered over at the mannequin, then at the letter in his hand. “How’s that irrelevant?”

“That man’s in jail.”

“Are you sure?”

She nodded. “Mr. E made some calls back then, too.”

“Because the man threatened you?” Seth already knew Clary had a good relationship with Edward Eolenfeld, but this seemed somewhat excessive. Was Edward Eolenfeld going to arrest everyone behind the threatening letters she’d kept in the box?

“Because Gavin Ressler decided threats weren’t enough.” She looked over at the box. “He broke into my apartment.” Her lips curled, and he frowned again. “But guess what? Of all the nights, that was the night a friend of mine came over to my apartment and literally dragged me out for supper. She’d never done that before.”

He shook his head because he knew where this was heading. “Why didn’t Jesus just appear and scare the man away? Or why didn’t He call his angels down and kill him? Don’t tell me it’s an Old Testament thing, because I know the angel of death appeared in Revelations.”

“Impressive, but that’s a discussion for another day. I don’t have the strength to debate with you today. There’s only one right reaction: be amazed at how God rescued me.”

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