Page 43 of Just My Ex

I smirk.

Palpitating it and running the envelope under my nose tells me it’s likely there’s not any kind of metal or powdery substance inside.

“Stand back,” I tell her, and then shoot her a glance. “And actually listen to me this time, okay?”

She bites her bottom lip, one part contriteness, the other part pure vinegar.

That’s what she is: vinegar. Sweet, sweet vinegar.

And it got in my blood a long time ago.

I pick up the envelope, slice one end of it open with the tip of the knife, and peer inside, and when I see there’s only one thin sheet of paper inside, I dump the contents out onto the paper towel on the countertop.

I grasp the sheet of paper using a pair of tongs and shake it open.

“Quinn, please do the right thing. You know what the right thing is. We don’t want to resort to harsher measures, so please don’t force our hand. The Delfini Family.”

Quinn exhales sharply. “Seriously? This has to be Marley.”

I pull up the loop of the last few minutes of the security feed. “There she is. Plain as day.” I show it to Quinn, who shakes her head as Marley, wearing a zippered sweatshirt and sweatpants, casually places the envelope against the door, knocks, and then runs to the stairwell.

“The question is, did she write this, or is she simply delivering it for her parents?” I stare at the paper. “Can you confirm this is her handwriting?”

She massages the back of her neck. “Probably? I don’t know.”

“No matter what, we have to assume they’re all in on this.”

Quinn’s expression clouds.

I wish I could give her a hug. I don’t want to push her boundaries, and the minimal touching so far, which I could argue was necessary, could really be pushing her boundaries.

“I know how it feels to be blindsided by family,” I offer. Telling her what actually happened with my father now feels right. “Look. You know how the family’s upset with me that I missed Oliver and Sophie’s wedding?”

She bobs her head.

“Well, I didn’t actually miss it. A few days before, my father showed up unannounced at my place in D.C. and said there was a man who’d been harassing him who was threatening to come to the wedding.”

“Oh no.”

“He knows I’m trained in surveillance, so he asked me to tell the family I couldn’t come. He wanted me to watch from a distance.”

Her lips part. “Whoa, that’s crazy. Did you see anything? Did anything happen?”

“No. Everything was fine.”

“I’m not surprised you agreed to do it, even though it’s made your relationships with your family worse. You’re selfless like that. Noble.”

I grunt. “It didn’t feel noble. I couldn’t say no.”

She steps to me and grasps my upper arms. The heat from her hands pulls on me like a magnet. “I know. And I’m sorry.”

I wrap her in the quickest of hugs, but then straighten away from her. We are not supposed to be touching, but it’s the default setting, and it’s nearly impossible to override.

I sit on the barstool, iPad in front of me, and pull up the Persons of Interest document. Let’s talk about something else. “I don’t like that the note mentions harsher measures. And we need to get details on Marley and Nancy.”

Quinn presses her hand on the countertop near me. “Marley really surprised me tonight, but Nancy is the loveliest person alive—” she hedges. “Er, actually she’s second to Stella.” Tears well up in her eyes and she stops herself and grabs the letter off the paper towels.

“Hey!” I don’t have access to the right materials to do a hazardous substance sweep on it. “We don’t know what’s happening. But I’ve learned over the years we can’t make any assumptions.”

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