Page 29 of Eden

She noticed Lachlan hadn’t driven away but seemed to be making sure she got into her car safely. She appreciated the sentiment, even though she was certain she could take care of herself.

She waved as she put the car in reverse, pulled out, and turned toward home. She looked in the rearview mirror and saw him drive in the other direction.

The streets were empty and she didn’t see another car for the entire drive, but she forced herself to remain alert. She couldn’t chance getting lost in her head again. She needed to be one hundred percent alert and ready to react, but that made driving exhausting. Luckily, it was a short drive.

She pressed the button to open her garage, tapping mindlessly on the steering wheel as the door rolled up before she drove in. She deactivated the house alarm on her phone, lowered the door, and got out of her car. Once she was safely inside her house, she exhaled a long breath; she didn’t want to think about why a photograph of her was found in that shed. Was it left for her? A message? Like the note was a message for Lachlan? Were they messages... or threats?

She shook her head, heading straight for her bedroom. She dumped her handbag on her bed, washed her face, brushed her teeth, and then crawled into bed, pulling the blankets up underneath her chin.

Lachlan had said in the woods that two years had passed since Eden’s death... so why would the threat come now? Also, if his suspicions that Eden’s murder was a revenge killing from a previous case he’d worked, hadn’t that revenge been fulfilled? She frowned, realizing Lachlan hadn’t provided any details on the case and who he’d been working for at that time. If his wife had been killed but that wasn’t enough revenge, Lachlan had been working a case that was way above his current pay grade.

Tomorrow, she would have a lot of questions for him. For now, in the safety of her home and the comfort of her bed, she let the darkness pull her into a deep slumber.

Bethenny’s alarm rang like a violent siren, slicing through her dream. Her eyes flung open and she bolted upright, her chest heaving.

She blinked, her eyes taking a moment to focus.

Pieces of her dream flooded back to her, but she pushed them away. Even in her dreams, she couldn’t escape the blood and violence.

She exhaled a long breath, grabbed her Bible from her bedside table, and padded into the kitchen. She made a cup of coffee and curled up on the couch to do her morning devotions and prayers. The longer she sat still in God’s word, the more her anxiety diminished and the world began to feel less like a hopeless cause. God was good—she truly believed that in her heart, but her job indicated that the war against evil was not going so well. She knew in her mind, though, that she looked at the world through a biased lens because she was constantly exposed to murder and violence. Probably much like nurses and doctors who worked in hospitals thought everyone was always sick. The world was powerful at conditioning the mind, Bethenny knew, but God’s word was the truth.

She flipped to the page of 1 Peter, her favorite book of the Bible, giving herself a few more moments to sit in peace before she needed to get dressed and head into the station.

Bethenny finished the verse, closed her eyes, and prayed:

Lord,

Guide me to find the person responsible for these deaths.

Open my eyes to things I may have missed or have been hidden from me.

Give me the courage, wisdom, and strength to resolve these cases.

Lord, hear my prayers.

Amen.

She inhaled deeply, then gently closed her Bible.

Her phone rang—and she doubted the caller had good news.

“Hello.”

“It’s Mitch. I’m scheduling a meeting to discuss the murders. Can you be at the station in an hour?” he asked, reconfirming he wasn’t one for much small talk.

Bethenny smiled, sharing his sentiments toward pleasantries. “I’ll be there in thirty minutes,” she said.

“Great. Also, heads up: the handwriting on that letter matches the handwriting on the letter left beside Lachlan’s wife,” he said.

Bethenny swallowed the lump in her throat. She’d been expecting this, of course, but she’d almost talked herself out of the possibility the two cases were linked.

“We have no idea how the cases are connected,” Mitch continued quickly. “I’ll see you at the station.”

He hung up and left Bethenny grappling with his revelation.

She stared hard at the wall.

It was time for Lachlan to face his past.

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