Page 88 of Tempt Me

But what do I know? It’s not like she would have toldmeif she’d been cheating. And why keep the letters in a locked drawer?

“Hm,” Von says again, reading over the second letter now. “These don’t sound like an affair to me. More like unrequited love on the part of the letter writer. There’s no signature. There’s no date. We have no idea when she received them.”

“Yeah, maybe they’re old,” Finn says, clearly relieved that an affair seems off the table. “I mean, who writes letters anymore anyway?”

“People who want to ensure their anonymity,” Von says. “Emails can be traced.”

“How old though?” I ask. “Like from before she was married?”

“I don’t think so,” Von says. “The pages would be more yellowed if they were that old. And probably on a different kind of printer paper too. These look fairly recent.”

“Are you an expert on printer paper?”

“You wouldn’t believe the kind of evidence that can make a difference at trial,” Von says. “I once got a client off because of typesetting.”

I find myself kind of impressed. “Seriously?”

“The law is a weird and wonderful thing,” she says.

The doorbell rings, echoing through the house. Seems like Noah has finally arrived.

“I’ll get the door,” Von says with authority, storming out of the room.

Finn looks at me, his expression pained. “What does this mean?” he says. “Someone was in love with Mom?”

“I don’t know,” I say. “I think Von is right though—the letters seem kind of one-sided.”

“And aggressive,” Finn says. “Surrender to the inevitabledoesn’t sound very romantic to me. More like a stalker or something.”

“But why keep a stalker’s letters?” I ask.

Neither of us have an answer to that. How could the police have missed this? Why didn’t they investigate the house more thoroughly?

“What made you think to look in that drawer?” Finn asks.

“Secrets,” I say.

“Huh?”

There’s the pounding of feet down the hall and then Sheriff Briggs appears in the doorway, Noah right behind him with three other officers.

“Caden, Finn, step out here please,” the sheriff says curtly. My brother and I do as we’re asked just as Dad comes striding down the hall. I didn’t realize he was home.

“What the hell is going on?” he demands.

“Your son found something, Russell,” the sheriff says. Dad looks at Finn who points at me.

“Found what?” Dad says.

No one answers him as Sheriff Briggs enters the study. Von goes with him.

“Stay back, young lady,” the sheriff says.

Von’s glare could melt metal. “I am the attorney for this family,” she says. “I’m going to ensure this evidence is properly collected.”

The sheriff puts on a pair of latex gloves and beckons to Noah who hurries forward with evidence bags.

“My brother handled this one briefly when we first found them,” Von says, pointing to the first letter.

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