Page 18 of Secrets on Sapphire

Kamikaze

Edie couldn’t wait until she could get her brother out of here. The room was damp and filled with people. She sat down on the cold metal seat across from Tim. He had bags under his eyes and the everlasting tan he had was fading away into gray. Edie quickly reached across and squeezed Tim’s hand before a guard could catch her touch. Tim smiled at her and moved his hands to his lap. Edie did the same.

“I would ask how you’re doing, but I can see it.” Edie found herself whispering.

“It’s just lack of sunlight Edie. I’m doing okay.” He stared across the table at her with dead eyes.

“Have they said anything about your trial?”

“They’re trying to push it off as far as they can until they find the body.” His eyes shifted from his sister’s face to the floor.

“How can they even hold you here without one? No body, no crime right?”

“They have enough to start a trial, they just haven’t yet.”

The siblings sat in silence.

“I brought you some books.” Edie tried to perk up the mood as best she could considering the circumstances.

“You don’t think she just left me, do you?” Tim looked back up at his sister.

“I . . . I don’t know Tim. She’s your wife.” Edie began fiddling with her fingers.

“Look you used to be a cop and now you’re an investigator. Don’t you always study things and put two and two together. You’ve been in the house. You’ve been with her friends. What do you think Edie?” Tim was trying not to yell.

“I know you’re upset Tim, but please do not get frustrated with me. I’m trying my best to figure out what is going on. What do you know about a loose floorboard?”

“What?” Tim snapped.

“A loose floorboard? I was with those women the other night for some awful book club meeting. We went to some male strip show. Parker planned it. It was apparently something similar to a ‘meeting’ Calista had planned. Anyway, I got the women talking about Calista and Taylor mentioned something about a loose floorboard. She said she was trying to fix it or something when she was doing a walkthrough of y’alls house way back and when she went to reach for it, Calista acted all weird.”

Tim just stared at his sister. He said nothing and waited for her to continue.

“Okay . . . so I got back from the male revue and the floorboard wasn’t in place. I never touched it.”

“It wasn’t in place?” Tim’s eyes grew large in fear. “Who’s been in the house?”

“I’m trying to figure that out Tim. The floorboard was definitely in place before I left because I didn’t know a loose floorboard existed. Is there something you need to tell me Tim? I can’t keep trying to protect you if you don’t tell me everything.”

Tim again sat in silence. He stared at his sister with tensed lips.

“Tim!” Edie said tersely.

“Look, I can’t tell you that right now, not here. Did you look underneath the floorboard?”

“No. I put it back in place.”

Tim began whispering. “I need you to go back and lift the floorboard. Look in the hole. There should be a key, a piece of a red plaid flannel shirt, a melted cup, and a black dress. There should also be some paperwork and photographs of Brielle and a guy named Miles and a handwritten letter with only two words on it. Can you remember all of that?”

“Yeah. Tim, what is going on?”

“I can’t tell you right now. Trust me. Just please check for those things when you get home.” Tim was pleading with his sister.

“Okay.”

***

It was her turn to host the next book club meeting. The women had finished reading the Fifty Shades series and Edie needed to pick up a copy of what they were going to read next. Her fingers skimmed across the Janet Evanovich books on the shelves.

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