Chapter 7
NORTH CAROLINA
Despite Elena’s protests, Adria sent Frances a text in the car.
Adria: I need to talk, coming over.
…
The three dots appeared and fell several times before she received a response.
Frances: Of course. I’m not home right now. Tomorrow?
Adria knew that there was no changing Elena’s mind.
If Frances wasn’t home, Adria would just have to convince one of the staff to let them look around.
Technically speaking, the estate was hers as Loretta left her everything after her death.
Adria just hadn’t decided what she wanted to do with the property.
Forty-five minutes later, the three of them pulled into Loretta’s drive.
Adria tensed. She hadn’t been there since Loretta’s funeral.
The home that used to make her feel so welcome and safe was a stranger to her now. She didn’t know it anymore.
She didn’t want to know it.
As far as Adria was concerned, with Loretta gone, the manor would only ever be a shell of its former self. There was no repairing that for her.
No cars were parked in the drive, and the home seemed dark.
“Frances says she is out for the day. Maybe we can come back tomorrow?” Adria said, hopeful.
Elena barely even acknowledged her as she barged out of the car, making her way to the front door.
“Or we can knock on the clearly empty house,” Adria said, exasperated.
Adria’s heels scraped against the stone walkway as she made her way to Elena. A feeling of unease crept along Adria’s neck. Something felt off.
Loretta trusted Frances, and Adria had no reason to doubt that, but standing on the dark doorstep, there were pieces that didn’t quite fit.
The trio stood wordlessly, while Elena pounded rhythmically on the door. Her tiny fist making a surprising amount of noise.
After a monumental effort in knocking, Elena said, “Forget this.”
Her hands balled into fists as she stomped down the steps, moving around the yard, swearing under her breath until she found something of interest on the ground.
As Elena came back, Adria noticed the object was a medium-sized rock. Elena swung her hand back, winding up to throw her newfound miniature boulder at the foyer window.
“Wait,” Adria yelled, waving her arms.
Elena froze.
“Just give me one second,” Adria said, pulling out her phone. The similarities between Bryson and Elena just kept piling up.
Adria: Frances, I’m here. I need to use my key, I’ll explain later.
Terrified that Elena would follow through on her plan to begin bashing windows open, Adria didn’t wait for Frances to respond before pushing the key into the lock and opening the door.
The house was silent and when Adria stepped in, the heaviness of the air put her nerves on edge.
Light streamed in from the windows, warming the surrounding space, but the home was unwelcoming. There was a coldness to the familiar space that unsettled Adria. She glanced back at Eric, who moved quickly ahead of her.
“No one’s home?” he asked, grabbing the Glock from his belt.
She shrugged.
He moved to the right.
Frances wasn’t here, but Adria had expected someone to be here.
She took a turn around the room. There was a layer of dust on the end table by the door and the air tasted stale. There was also a foul smell that lingered around them.
Subtle, but the sourness was distinct and demanded attention.
After a few moments, Eric returned.
“First floor is clear.”
The three of them simultaneously looked at the staircase to their right.
Elena, seeming to sense the tenor of the situation, for once, was silent. The three of them took the stairs quietly.
On the second floor, there was no escaping the smell. It hovered in the air, prodding their senses.
Familiar.
Each one of them knew what it meant, but they remained quiet.
Dust clung to the lamps and furniture they passed by. The air was still, as if the manor was holding its breath. Waiting for them to move further, and discover its secrets.
Adria replayed all the text message conversations she’d had with Frances over the past few weeks. It was clear now that everything they had spoken about was a lie. She tried to decide if there was a clue. Some hidden message she had missed.
When they opened the door to Loretta’s study, the scent punched her in the face, and Adria knew they had found its source.
Frances lay decomposing on the plush carpet floor.
Her hair stuck to her face, covered in blood.
Adria fell to her knees.
They hadn’t even bothered to move her.
They just left her here.
Whoever did this knew no one was coming.
And she hadn’t. Adria had just left her and this house to rot.
“Let me guess,” Elena said from behind her. “This is Fran.”
Adria didn’t say anything. She didn’t think she could take any more of Bryson’s sister’s accusations.
There was bruising around Frances’s neck, and her mouth was open. Her body frozen in a silent scream.
Adria knew she couldn’t touch her, but she wanted to close the girl’s eyes. Wanted to cover her.
To even, postmortem, save her from this life. A life Frances had no business being involved in.
“Do you have any other contacts, anyone else with connections to Franny here?” Elena asked.
Adria stood up, fury gripping her. “Her name was Frances.”
Elena didn’t flinch at her anger. “Frances is dead. Let’s hope my brother isn’t.”
The reality of it all came crashing in and an overwhelming sense of helplessness engulfed Adria. How could she have missed this? What had she overlooked? How could she have been so careless with…everything.
Adria shook her head. “Frances was Loretta’s contact. I don’t really know anything about her.”
“And Loretta is?” Elena asked.
“Dead.” Adria’s throat was dry.
Elena threw up her hands.
Adria’s mind swirled with how and why this would have happened.
“Bryson must have had enemies. Maybe instead of pointing the finger at me, you could help me understand more about your family and the dynamics,” Adria said.
Elena whirled around. “You want to put this on the Winters?” She stomped over until she was right in Adria’s face. “This happened on your watch.”
Elena pointed to Frances. “Right under your nose. This is your contact, whom you say you know nothing about. You want me to believe you wouldn’t hurt Bryson, but it’s all pointing to you.”
“I have texts.” Adria held up her phone. “I can prove I asked for the three of them to be sent to you. Prove I didn’t know anything about this.”
Elena crossed her arms. “Texts you sent to a dead girl. Easy to fake, even easier when the recipient is dead.”
Adria opened her mouth but then snapped it shut. It did look bad.
The air pushed out of her lungs as she felt like she had been punched.
“Someone has her phone,” Elena said. “Can you trace it?”
Adria brightened. “Maybe.”
Pulling out her phone, she sent a text to X, and it didn’t take long before she got a response.
X: It’ll take a few days.
Fuck, they didn’t have a few days. The implications. The set up.
Adria was sure someone was going to kill Bryson, Seth, and Kaydon to get to her.
But they hadn’t yet.
Adria didn’t know if it was delusional thinking or gut instinct. She just knew they had to still be alive.
But for how long?
She thought about all the mornings she had spent drinking tea and watching the sunrise. All the evenings she had wasted pushing her food around her plate, telling herself it wouldn’t have worked, anyway.
And all that time she could have spent finding them. Fighting for them. Saving them.
“Bryson trusted our father. Cared about him even. Despite all the evidence, my brother always stood up for him,” Elena said with a sickening tone.
“But when he said you were a good one, that he trusted you, for some reason I believed him. It’s a disease we have, letting ourselves trust the wrong people. ”
“We will find them,” Adria said.
“We aren’t doing anything. This is a dead end, your dead end. I am moving on without you,” Elena hissed.
Adria took a steadying breath. “You and I can look on our own, or we can look together and cover more ground.”
“Why would I trust you? You left them to die.”
Heat roared in Adria’s belly, and she bit out the next few words. “I tried to protect them.”
“You did a shit job; you abandoned them,” Elena screamed at her.
“I love them!” Adria screamed back, surprising them both.
Fuck.
She loved them?
The silence rippled around them as the pair stared at each other.
Elena whispered, “Then where are they?”
Adria was going to open her mouth to say she didn’t know, when something clicked.
Who was the one person who wanted to hurt her more than anyone?