Page 37 of When You're Safe

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Finn stood in the quiet Londonsuburb, looking at the idyllic houses bathed in the afternoon sun, and wonderingif one of them hid a killer. That made sense to Finn. He often felt that in theend, evil had to hide in the most unlikely of places to remain undetected.

Winters was walking along thestreet toward him. “How did you get here first?”

“I took a shortcut,” Finn said.

“A shortcut? Which one?” Wintersasked.

“That’s a secret,” Finn replied.The truth was, he’d gotten lost. He just got lucky with some traffic on analternative route.

“Number 14 is over there,” Finnsaid, nodding further down the street.

It was Alan Ross’s registeredaddress.

“Let’s do this,” Winters said,hope in her voice.

But if Finn had learned one thingin his time as a special agent, it was that things rarely went according toplan.

They walked across the quiet road,small yet picturesque front yards releasing the scent of cut grass and freshblooming summer flowers into the air.

When they reached the gate tonumber 14, they walked along a small white-stoned path and reached the frontdoor.

Winters knocked on it.

But no reply came.

She knocked again. “Dammit. No one’sin.”

“Are you sure?” Finn asked. Hedipped his sunglasses and looked at the red and white door. It wasn’t sittingas it should have been. Finn reached out with his hand and gave it a littlepush. The door creaked open a few inches.

“Who leaves their front door unlockedin London?” Winters observed.

Long ago, it may have been normalfor people to leave their doors unlocked. But not now. Not with crime andburglary rampant across most major cities in the world. People knew to locktheir doors. Danger was never too far away.

“Hello?” Winters asked through thegap.

No reply came.

Finn began to feel uncomfortable.Something was wrong there. He pushed the door a little further, revealing acarpeted hall with cream wallpaper broken up by the smiling faces of familyphotographs. But the house did not feel happy to Finn. It feltdisturbed.

“Should we go in?” Finn asked.

Winters stood there for a moment,pondering.

And in that silence, somethingcame from the house. It was faint, but there nonetheless. Finn heard a strangegasp. Then the silence reclaimed whatever or whoever had made the noise.

“Did you hear that?” Finn asked.

Winters nodded. Then she said, “Hello,this is the police, is anyone in there?”

Another slight gasp came, and itwas clear Winters had waited long enough. “Let’s go in, but be careful.”

Finn nodded. He pushed the dooropen fully and stepped inside. The home was clean and clear of clutter, exceptfor what was behind the door. It was what looked like several unopened envelopesthat had been posted through the front letterbox.

Looking down at the pile, Finncould see that several of them had words written in red on them. Although someof the writing was partially obscured, it didn’t take a genius to conclude thatthe words said “Final Notice.”

It was all coming together. AlanRoss was under financial difficulty. He now had a motive for getting his handson a substantial amount of money and assets coming into the museum, of which hewas a trustee board member.

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