The last envelope, long and rectangular, appeared to contain a letter, and it didn’t have a return address. It had been postmarked in Willow Springs, Colorado. She opened the envelope and removed the letter from inside, scanning it quickly.
And then she went back to the beginning to read it again.
Hair prickled at the base of her neck. It was another love letter, but this one wasn’t sappy like Brody’s. “Read this, Detective,” she said, putting the letter down on top of the chest of drawers.
Anya diverted her gaze while Stella read, pursing her lips in concentration, an expression familiar to Mattie. Stella shared a pointed look with Mattie before turning to Anya.
“Please read this, Anya, and tell me if you know who might have sent it.”
Mattie studied the chilling letter again while Anya read.
Adrienne,
It’s been a month since you left, and I feel like my chest is hollow. I love you no less today than I did then, and I believe that in your heart, you love me, too.
I don’t know why you ran.
Please, call. Please, talk to me. Please, come home. If you don’t, I can’t be responsible for what I’ll do next.
Yours forever
Anya’s fingers trembled as she moved them to her throat. She looked at Mattie with tear-brimmed eyes. “There was a boyfriend in Willow Springs, but I don’t know his name.”
“Was she running from him?”
“I didn’t have that impression. Adrienne said she had a relationship with someone in Willow Springs, but they broke up. That’s all I know.”
“Have you heard the name Kevin Conrad?” Stella asked. “He lives in California.”
“Yes, her old high school boyfriend. She speaks of him fondly. The last boyfriend . . . well, she doesn’t say much about him.”
With gloved fingers, Mattie picked up the letter and placed it in a plastic evidence sleeve to protect it. She put the envelope inside a different transparent sheet. It had been postmarked on May twenty-fifth, about a month after Adrienne moved to Timber Creek.
“If you remember anything at all that would help us trace this man, please call,” Stella said, handing Anya one of her cards.
Tears spilled and etched fluid tracks down her cheeks as Anya took the card with one hand and wiped her face with the other. “I will.”
“We need a list of Adrienne’s clients,” Mattie said.
A look of concern crossed Anya’s face.
“You can call them to get permission to release their names to us, or we can get a separate search warrant to go through your medical records,” Stella said. “Either way, we’re going to talk to these people. Your help will let us get to them sooner rather than later.”
“I’ve contacted everyone once to ask if they knew where she went,” Anya said. “I’ll call each one again and get back to you as soon as I can.”
Mattie and Stella finished up in Adrienne’s living quarters, and then followed Anya to the yurt where she worked. The peaceful space, set up for optimal client relaxation, clashed with the reason they were there: a homicide. Mattie tried to disturb the furnishings as little as possible while she searched through cabinets that held soft linens, massage oils, and a set of tuning forks of various sizes. It took only a few minutes for Stella and her to decide that the room held no information for them whatsoever.
After saying good-bye to Anya, they went back to Mattie’s SUV.
“I’m going to send that letter and envelope back to Byers County by courier to see if the crime scene techs can lift any prints,” Stella said as they climbed inside. “We need to track down who sent it. This photo album and Adrienne’s mother might be our best sources.”
Turning the key to start the engine, Mattie nodded.
“Let’s head over to Hightower to talk with her. Maybe she can tell us the names of some of these people. Especially the mystery man there at the end,” Stella said.
“Okay,” Mattie said. “I need to check in on Robo when we go through town, but we can get to Hightower in under an hour.”
They rode in silence for a few minutes, Mattie thinking about the letter. She hoped they could track down the writer; she suspected it would lead them to Adrienne’s killer.
Stella interrupted her thoughts. “Mattie? Did Hornsby actually say they select employees by having Anya read their auras?”
“That’s what he said,” Mattie replied.
“Well . . . I’ll be damned.”
Chapter 15
Cole headed toward the stable call at Dark Horse with Angela in the passenger seat beside him and Sophie and Belle in back. Belle sat strapped into the seat beside Sophie with a large-dog seatbelt Angela had found on the Internet. Having the dog along as a passenger kept Sophie from squabbling with her older sister over who got to ride shotgun, making Cole consider the belt well worth the investment.
Talk about his night away in the mountains, the mountain lion, and Sophie’s camping stories dominated the conversation all the way up to the stable. Everyone avoided speaking about the reason for the night’s stay: guarding Adrienne’s corpse. Angela seemed quieter than usual, but maybe she just couldn’t get a word in edgewise around her chatty little sister.
“Sophie,” Cole said as they drove toward the red metal barn. “I need you to keep your mouth zipped while we’re inside, sweetheart. Too much talking spooks the horses.”
“Okay, Dad,” Sophie said, not appearing to mind. Being told to keep quiet was a common enough occurrence.
At the front of the barn, the Doberman lunged against a chain.
“Oh, yeah,” Cole said. “I forgot to tell you about the guard dog. I want you girls to keep your distance.”
Angela got out of the truck and started to help her sister out of the backseat while Cole retrieved supplies from the vet box in back.
Sophie had unfastened Belle’s seatbelt, and the dog jumped up to await her turn at the door. “Belle needs to stay here,” Cole warned the kids, not wanting to infuriate the guard dog even more.
Belle’s ears flattened and she hung her head.
“Poor Belle,” Sophie said. “I’ll come out and check on her later”
“Don’t come out here by yourself, Sophie,” Cole said. “I think that chain will hold the dog, but I don’t want to take any chances.”
“I won’t,” Sophie said, looking at the Doberman fascinated. When they passed by, she spoke to him using baby talk. “It’s okay, doggie. We’re not going to hurt you.”
The Doberman stopped barking and stood stock-still, staring hard at Sophie. Then he dropped into a “let’s play” position before rising up to bark again.
“I wonder if he was raised around a little girl,” Angela said.
Cole placed a hand on Sophie’s head and smiled. “Either that or this one’s a dog whisperer. I still don’t want you coming out here by yourself though, Sophie. You understand.”
“Okay,” she replied, looking disappointed.
Carmen met them inside the barn. She wore snug riding breeches and a sweater that accentuated her slender shape, and her long, black hair had been woven into a braid that trailed down her back. She leaned forward with a soft smile as Cole introduced his children. “I’m so happy to meet you girls,” she said. And then to Cole: “You have gorgeous daughters.”
Cole knew that to be true. “What do you say, girls?”