Page 70 of Cryptic Curse

I glance at the keypad beside the door.At the perfect, silent hedges.At the lavender brushing my ankles.It all feels wrong now—too quiet, too open, too exposed.My mouth goes dry.

I scan the garden behind me, the path I just walked.Someone was here.Someone close enough to reach my door.Someone who knows about the lock.The key.

Who still has it.

I tighten my fingers around the valentine, crumpling it slightly, and for the first time since I came to the United States, I feel truly, completely afraid.

23

HAWK

Eagle’s eyes go wide, his lips trembling.“What the fuck are you saying?”

“I’m pretty sure I didn’t stutter, Eagle.There’s no body.”I tug the bandana out of the dirt.“You recognize this?”

He cocks his head.“It’s a fucking bandana.I’ve got one just like it myself.”

“You might want to keep that to yourself.”

“What you mean?”

I wave the bandana in his face.“What I mean is, Diego Vega—or whoever that dude was that night—didn’t wear anything like this.”

“He didn’t?”

“No.That night is seared into my memory like a fucking brand.And if Diegodidhave a bandana on him, it would’ve been tucked inside a pocket.But Diego Vega—or whoever that was that night—would have been a big drug kingpin.He might have a silk handkerchief in his pocket, but not something as common as a bandana.”

Eagle wrinkles his forehead.“So?”

“So, someone else was here, Eagle.Someone was here and already dug up this damned body.And whoever it was left his bandana behind.”I widen my eyes.“Or it was planted.”

“So we just need to find whoever is missing a bandana,” Eagle says.

I laugh.A cackling laugh.“Every cowpoke and ranch hand in Texas has a bandana like this.”

Eagle nods.“Yeah, I know.”

“Who the hell got in here and took the body?And why the hell didn’t we know about it?”

“It’s not like we ever came back here,” Eagle says.

My brother’s right.Once in a blue fucking moon he is.

Falcon, Eagle, and I stayed far away from this place.We’ve been back once or twice, but we certainly never looked hard enough.We never would’ve noticed if anything was amiss.

Indeed, nothingwasamiss.

Whoever did this covered their tracks perfectly.

“It must’ve been Dad,” I say.Then I shake my head.“But he never knew about it.No one knew.Only Falcon—and he hasn’t been here—me…andyou.”I glare at my brother.

He widens his eyes.“Me?Are you serious?You think I did this?”

I sigh.“I don’t want to think it, Eagle.But I’m the only one who knows everything that’s happened to you during the past eight years.I’ve kept it from Mom and everyone else for their own good.Hell, I’m the one who’s cleaned up your messes.And there might’ve been one mess you didn’t come to me about.”I take a step toward him, glowering.“So if anyone should suspect you, it would be me.”

“I suppose I could see that point,” Eagle says, “if I didn’t just spend hours blistering my hands digging up what’s apparently nothing.”

Yeah, he has a point there.

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