Page 52 of Splintered Memories
August
Emersyn’stoo-palefacestaredat me blankly from across the small living room.
It was after eight in the morning. We were gathered with my brothers, plus Lark, in the living room of my house that was too small for so many people. I hadn’t known where else to bring her, though. Emersyn’s home hadn’t completely burned to the ground, but it might as well have with the amount of damage the fire caused.
I leaned against the wall with my arms folded over my chest. We were both physically uninjured. We were taken to the hospital to get checked out and other than a slight sprain in my ankle, we were fine.
“You spoke with the FBI?” Fox asked.
My twin stood a few steps from me, his body rigid and mouth tight with anger.
I didn’t look away from Emersyn as I nodded. “Agent Hoffner and Detective Whize met us at the hospital shortly after we arrived. They wanted to take our statements.”
“And?” Lark said, terse and impatient. She sat next to Emersyn on the couch, holding onto her hand. “I feel like they’re acting as if they are doing something when they really aren’t. Reid even asked about their investigation and they won’t give him any information.”
My jaw worked. I couldn’t disagree with her. I had a feeling they knew something I didn’t and were keeping it sealed. “They didn’t tell us anything.”
To Detective Whize’s credit, he had seemed like he was about to throttle someone for what had happened. When they’d finished asking questions, he’d leaned close to Emersyn and swore that they would find who had done this. I only hoped that he’d make good on that promise.
My gaze bore into Emersyn as she sat there, her face eerily expressionless.
I wasn’t sure what I expected from her after witnessing her home go up in literal flames, but it wasn’t this. She was a strong woman. She was steel coated in beauty, but there was no spark in her eyes. There was no pain. There was…nothing. That scared me most of all.
“I can try harder to put pressure on my contacts in the department, but if they’re hiding what they know, they have a reason for it.” I felt Reid’s gaze on me from where he sat in the only armchair.
“Do you think they have a lead on the Shadow Stalker?” Fox asked.
Reid let out a short huff of air. “I don’t know. We can hope. I think it’s safe to say that they know something, though.”
“How?” Lark snapped. “How do you know they have something? I’m not entirely convinced they know what they are doing.”
I didn’t blame Lark for her stark distrust. After what she had been through, it was warranted. It bothered me that Alex Cohen, the formersheriff and father of the man who tried to kill her, was walking around this town as if he still owned it.
Reid reached over and squeezed her knee.
“It doesn’t matter,” I cut in, “because we are going to figure this out, with or without the police or the FBI.”
It would be easier if they’d work with us, but we could do it on our own if we had to. We just had to work harder.
I glanced away from Emersyn for the first time, meeting Fox’s gray stare. He looked about as tired as I felt, shadows lingering under his eyes. “Do you have anything more on the internet trolls?”
For the past two weeks, Fox had been working on gathering information about the accounts leaving questionable comments on Emersyn’s social media. It was taking longer than I’d anticipated because, as it turned out, she had a lot of comments to wade through.
Fox raised one shoulder in a half shrug. “I’ve been whittling the accounts down as fast as I can. Most of them are anonymous or burner accounts, which take more time, but from what I can tell, no one seems like a valid, real-life threat.” He shook his head. “Not like this.”
I wasn’t sure whether I was relieved to hear it or not. An ache pulsed in my temple, and I massaged it with a palm, letting out a frustrated breath. “How the hell did this even happen?” I muttered, more to myself. “We had cameras and one of the best security systems on the market. How did anyone get near that house without me knowing?”
The thought had haunted me since my brain had cleared enough to start trying to put the puzzle pieces together. Roman had confirmed the fire was set on purpose. He said the place reeked of gasoline; even though the fire department hadn’t done their full investigation yet, he was confident of that. This was the first opportunity I’d had to talk tomy other brothers and figure out what happened, and where we needed to go from here.
The way Fox’s face drained of color had my gut clenching. His Adam’s apple bobbed as he swallowed. “I’ve been going through the footage and the security log…” He trailed off, which was unlike him.
The hairs on the back of my neck rose.
“The cameras were blacked out shortly before the fire.”
“Blacked out?” I frowned.
“Covered with something, probably spray paint. But the issue is that whoever did it knew exactly where the cameras were and how to avoid being seen by them. It was someone very familiar with the house.”
