Page 9 of Splintered Memories
I shrugged, finally shifting my eyes from Emersyn’s dark-green ones. Her brother, Jake, sat next to her, fidgeting nervously. His dark hair was disheveled, his face pale. His fingers twisted into knots on the table surface, his arms shaking.
“I thought the blanket might help,” I finally answered.
The truth was, I’d been waiting for Emersyn to start showing signs of shock. Other than the brief bout of dizziness and confusion right after the incident, she’d seemed nothing but calm and unfazed.
Almost too calm.
“I’m fine,” she said.
Her mouth was a hard line as she stared at me. There was a scratch on one of the lenses of her glasses, but other than that, there was no sign that anything had happened to her. I wasn’t sure whether to be worried or fascinated by her. Maybe I was a little bit of both.
A sharp knock drew my attention. I glanced over at the door, and then briefly to the cop in the corner before striding across the room and leaning my eye against the peephole.
Two men stood outside dressed in suits and ties. One I recognized, the other I did not.
“It’s the detectives,” the cop inside said, his voice coming from over my shoulder.
I’m sure it was, but I wasn’t about to open this door unless one hundred percent sure.
“Identify yourselves,” I commanded, voice loud enough to penetrate through.
The two men shared a brief look before the one on the right, the older one with a salt-and-pepper beard, reached into his coat pocket. He pulled out a leather badge case and opened it, holding it up toward the lens of the peephole.
I couldn’t stop the slight widening of my eye at the gleam of the golden shield. I didn’t need to see the identification card to know that he was FBI.
“I’m Special Agent Hoffner, from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and this is Detective Whize, from the Ember Hollow PD. We’re here to speak with Emersyn Hawthorn.”
The FBI.
Why the hell was the FBI here?
I unlocked the door and opened it. Agent Hoffner returned his badge to his pocket. The man’s eyes scanned me, taking in every little detail of my appearance, from my laced-up boots to my short-cropped hair.
“May we come in?” the agent asked.
I nodded, gesturing inside. Agent Hoffner stepped in first, followed by Whize.
Whize glanced at me as he came in. “August,” he said with an acknowledging dip of his chin.
“Hey, Brandon.” I knew the man mostly by name. My brother Reid had worked in the department for years before he came to Hearthstone. Apparently, Brandon was promoted to detective within the last five months, replacing Xander Cohen—the man who confessed to murdering my sister after getting away with the crime for almost a decade.
It had all come crashing down after Xander had become so paranoid and delusional and he had tried to murder Lark Meadows—my brother’s fiancée. But Xander ended up losing his life instead.
I didn’t mourn the loss of someone so horrible, but I hated what Lark had gone through. Reid was the one who pulled her through it, though. And now, they were getting married. A happy ending to a horrible story.
I shut the door behind the two men, watching them as they approached the table where Emersyn and her brother sat, unmoving.
Agent Hoffner introduced them, and Emersyn blinked. “FBI?” Her brows rose. “Why is the FBI here?”
I fought the smile pulling at my lips at the tone in her voice. Strong and demanding.
Emersyn’s attention shifted to Brandon Whize. “Since when do you work with the federal government?”
The familiarity in her voice made something stir in my chest. She knew him, fairly well, it seemed, because the wayward caution that lingered in her eyes when she’d looked at Agent Hoffner disappeared when she spoke to Brandon.
Brandon straightened. “Since we have a serial killer loose in town.”
Her shoulders stiffened. Her eyes flicked to me before refocusing on the two officers in front of her.
