Page 4 of Colton's Second Chance
“Noelle, I’m so sorry. You’ll need to come to Shelby to sign paperwork at the ME’s office. If you need anything while you’re here for the funeral…if I can help in any way…”
While she wastherefor the funeral?
Her chest squeezed. Oh hell! She had to go back to Alaska to make the arrangements for her sister’s funeral. Back to the state she’d avoided for half her life. To the town where Eli, the man who’d broken her heart, lived.
Her lungs seized, and she could only take small, shallow breaths.
Would she have to see Eli, deal with him at the ABI in order to claim her sister’s body? She prayed not.
“Ma’am?” the officer nearest her said, leaning closer as she sucked in rapid pants.
“No.” She lifted a hand to the officer and shook her head, answering both Eli and the Seattle uniform at the same time.
Get a grip!Fighting for calm, she mustered a firmer tone along with some semblance of composure. “No, Eli. I don’t need anything from you. I don’twantanything from you. It’s too late for that.”
Eli scoffed. “Right. I gotthatmessage a long time ago.”
She bristled at his angry tone. “What does that mean?”
“Never mind. I didn’t call to rehash our history. Again, I’m sorry for your loss. I’ll text you the details about claiming Allison’s remains. The Seattle officers can take it from here. Goodbye, Noelle.”
She was still swallowing the harsh grittiness of the termremainsand all it implied when he hung up. Before she could say any more. Before she could ask any more questions. Before they could poke any more old wounds.
Probably for the best. Her past with Eli was better off left in the past.
Lowering her phone from her ear, she stared at the floor blankly while the conversation rewound in her mind.
Allison. Murdered. Serial killer.
“Ms. Harris?”
She jerked her head up, having almost forgotten the two policemen in her living room. “I—I’m fine.”
“Would you like a glass of water?”
She shook her head and rose unsteadily. “I’d just like to be alone right now.”
The two officers exchanged dubious looks.
“Really. I’ll be fine. Thank you for coming, but… I just need time to process it all.” She crossed to her front door, signaling her readiness for the men to leave.
Finally with stiff nods and expressions of their sympathy, the two officers left.
Noelle leaned back against the closed door and choked on the sob that rose in her throat.
Despite the years of silence, the teenage disagreements, the favoritism her parents showed Allison, Noelle loved her sister. Allison had been her only family since their parents’ deaths—if you didn’t count her cold and cruel Aunt Jean and Uncle Clyde, whom Noelle didn’t. Her mother’s sister and brother-in-law had never accepted Noelle’s adoption, never considered her real family. Especially after Allison, a daughter by birth, had come along. Noelle, being Korean-American, had been ostracized by her mother’s family, not just because of her race, but because they felt Noelle’s parents had been too hasty in adopting, too eager to have a child and had settled for Noelle too easily.
Settled.Damn that word still stung.Settledreeked of second best, of last resort and not good enough.
Noelle wiped the silent tears that rolled down her face. She’d lived with the stigma of being the lesser daughter, her parents’ bad decision, from the day Allison was born. From age ten until she’d left Alaska in her rearview mirror to attend college, Noelle had felt like an outsider in her own family. Or, as she’d overheard her parents call her one night when she was fourteen,the mistake.
So why was she going back to Alaska? Back to the hostile environment where she’d always felt so unwelcome and unwanted?
Noelle dragged herself back to the couch and flopped down on it. She leaned her head back and groaned. She was going back because it wasn’t Allison’s fault she’d been born. Allison mighthave been spoiled and held in higher esteem by the family, but she’d been an okay sister. Though Allison was not close in age or much of a friend, Noelle had loved her just the same.
And Noelle was going back to Alaska because it wasn’t Allison’s fault she’d been murdered. Allison deserved to have a proper burial and to have her only sister there to grieve her death.
More important, Allison deserved to have her killer caught and punished. Rising from the couch, Noelle firmed her resolve. Before she left Alaska again, she intended to see that Allison had justice.
