Page 129 of The Silent Note

My lips twitch.

Sloane laughs loudly.

“That’s a front though, right? She’s not only a lot of fun, she’s the most generous and loyal person you’ll ever meet. The kind you’d want on your side. She missed you a lot though. It hurts to think how alone she must have felt when you were gone.”

My heart is suddenly paper-thin and this conversation is tearing it into tiny little shreds. I feel tears cropping up in my eyes.

Sloane looks equally weepy.“Okay. I take it back. The hottest thing about him isn’t his face or his muscles.”Her eyes sink into mine.“It’s his love for you.”

Zane twists around so he can ask me, “What did she say?”

“She’s impressed.”

“By my abs?” He looks like he’s genuinely asking that question.

I smirk. “No.”

“That’s it!”

Sloane’s sudden outburst makes me jump.

“What’s it?” I ask her.

“What’s it?” Zane glances between me and Sloane, not at all awkward about what I’m sure is the empty space that he sees instead of a person.

Sloane bounces on the tips of her toes.“Love. Family. Mothers. Slavno’s mother died twenty years ago. He lit candles for her every year. Every. Year.”

I stop. My breathing goes quick and hollow. Looking around wildly, I rush over to my cell phone.

“Okay, babe. Talk to me,” Zane says, concerned.

“Love.”

He looks shocked. “You love me?”

“No, no. Sloane said something about love.”

“Tell Sloane, I’m a married man.”

“No, it’s about Slavno.”

“You love Slavno?”

I’m going to smack him.

“Zane, Slavno wanted to save his grandmother. He’s despicable, but even the worst human beings have love for their family. Where is it? Where is it?”

“What are you looking fo?” Zane asks.

I open the secure folder on my phone and scroll until I find the photos of all the police interviews and newspaper clippings from my investigation. I catalogued them in my phone in case I ever lost the physical files.

“Here!” I zoom in triumphantly.

“A church?”

I walk up to Zane, my eyes bright. “Slavno’s mother attended this church. He lit a candle for her every year after her passing. When he went to jail, his grandmother took over for him. Even in the nursing home, she never forgot. She was mumbling about it when we sent her to her family.”

The confusion lasts only for a second before he stampedes over to his bag and pulls out his cell phone. “I’ll ask Finn to check if there are any storage lockers around that location.”

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