Page 24 of For Dear Life

“Do you have the burner phone?” I ask.

“Oh. Yes. That’s irritated me too.” She delves into her skirt pocket. “Look.”

I tense. There’s a message on the screen.

What happened?

Thank the stars Violet never replied.

“What a vague and useless clue,” she says.

“When did you get this message?”

“On my way here.”

“Okay. Can I look?” Violet hands me the phone.

I type and send a message:

Still dealing with it. Meet soon to explain.

“What are you doing?” she asks.

“Um. Replying?”

A reply pings through.

I’m in town tomorrow. Why the delay?

I’m on it. Meet where?

Usual place. 8

I huff. “Great.”

Violet purses her lips and studies the screen. “If this is Maxwell’s phone, the person sending messages doesn’t know he’s dead. That’s helpful.”

“See.” I smile and rub her arm. “Not all bad news.”

Her mouth tightens. “I understand you’re attempting to comfort me, but you sound rather condescending. The bad news is we’ve no idea where ‘usual’ is, Rowan. We have until that meeting to figure out where, or the person will know Maxwell’s dead.”

“Well, you know what’s interesting?” I ask.

“Is that one of your rhetorical questions or am I to answer?”

I smile. “There’s no report of a fire.”

“What?” Violet’s miserable face brightens—a little.

“I’ve checked local news sites. Sawyer never reported the fire. Nobody attended one since I extinguished it. Interesting, huh?”

“And Kai?”

“Nothing public.”

“Maybe Sawyer’s too scared to say anything? But scared of who?” Violet scratches her nose. “More moving parts.” She points at the book. “Tell me what you find, and I’ll investigate Holly.”

“And what about the witch?” I ask.

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