Page 256 of Things Left Unsaid

“Now that they’ve tied you to Lydia’s death, I hope they figure out how you killed Marcy as well. You sick fuck. Getting a sixteen-year-old pregnant?—”

“What?!” Lindsay gasps.

Cole stares at his father. “I always knew you were a pile of horse manure, but you never fail to live up to my expectations.”

“Dumping the truck on our land was a shitty thing to do,” Cody growls.

“Did…” Clyde rolls onto his side and pukes. “…nothing.”

“This is better thanGeneral Hospital.”

Of course that comes fromGrand-mère.

I move over to Colt and curve an arm around his heaving side.

The whole thing couldn’t have taken more than three minutes. I feel like a whirlwind blew onto the Seven Cs?—

“What’s he even doing here?” Callan demands.

“Wanted. See. My. Boys,” Clyde mumbles before he plunks back on the soil.

Colton tenses and I can read the disbelief in his expression. Acting on a hunch, I snag one of the thin plastic gloves I bought soGrand-mèrecould pick up chicken wings without getting her fingers dirty.

Not giving Colton a say in the matter, I slide them on and drop to Clyde’s side.

“Don’t sully yourself by touching him,” my husband spits.

But I ignore him—Clyde came here for a reason and I want to know what that reason is.

“Why are you here?” I demand.

Head lolling from side to side, he pauses to blink at me. “Clarisse?”

I shut out the tender note to his voice as he utters my mom’s name, but I can hear the triplets discussing that among themselves as I pat his pockets.

When I find a piece of paper, I pull it out and spot the same handwriting as I did on the poison pen letters.

Korhonens think they can get away with murder.

I won’t let that happen.

You killed two people that day—my daughter and my grandchild.

You. Will. Pay.

The courts might never get any justice out of you, but I can.

I want a hundred thousand dollars before the month’s out.

You know where to find me.

“Why are you here? Is it because of this?”

Clyde groans as I thrust the piece of paper in his face.

I use his chin to hold him in place. “Tell me why you came here, Clyde.”

“Missed you, Clarisse.”

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