Chapter 39
Thomas
Chapter Thirty-Nine
I groaned when Kinsley’s phone got a new notification for the fourth time in a minute. I slipped my arm out from under her head and rolled to my back. I had a long night after she finally fell asleep. Connor, Kevin, and I called the police because of the threat left on her mirror. I could still see the bloody letters pouring down on the clean surface, and I clenched my jaw, grabbing the phone off the nightstand. I was about to turn off the sound when another notification came in, lighting up the screen again.
MYSTERY INC. (brAXTON’S VERSION)
brAXTON
mom got home
brAXTON
I repeat MAMA LEE IS BACK IN TOWN
brAXTON
do you guys still want to talk to her or is that off?
brAXTON
???
AALIYAH
Braxton, it’s six in the morning, go back to sleep
ME
We will go over later today.
I put the phone down after typing the message. I turned back around and stared at Kinsley. She was resting on my pillow, her hair spread out around her, and she was breathing softly. I closed my eyes, trying to get some more sleep as I barely slept for two hours, but it seemed impossible. I let out a frustrated sigh and pushed myself off the bed. I walked to my closet and pulled on a T-shirt and jeans before sliding out the door. I walked past my brother’s room, where he was probably still asleep with Kevin, and jogged down the stairs.
I looked out of the living room’s window, overlooking the lake, which was now surrounded by fog. I wanted to make sure the officer who got assigned to keep an eye on the land was still here. Yesterday, Officer Greg, who I met at the police station’s restroom, and Officer Maeve Diaz, the chief’s right hand, came over to check out the threat on the mirror. After that, Kevin made them promise that they wouldn’t tell his father that he was here. Officer Diaz agreed to postpone it, but with one term only, which was assigning an officer to the house as a lookout. The officer in question was now sitting on the porch, half-asleep.
I walked away from the window to the sofa, where I had left my laptop yesterday, and sat down, opening it up and scanning the screen. I managed to capture a blurry video of the person who broke into the house last night with that old video camera I assumed didn’t work. It did. After chasing the masked guy in the woods, I placed it on the windowsill, facing toward the staircase. But it wasn’t worth much until I could get the picture cleared. I clicked on the other open tab on the screen and read over the very few lines I found about Philip Bowman. As it turned out, he was a firefighter who died of a heart attack back in 2000. Hyacinth Cooper Bowman and Ethan Bowman, on the other hand, were ghosts. I couldn’t find anything about them, except for the same article we found yesterday.
I tried other combinations of their names and even sent an email to the newspaper that released the article about them. Maybe they still had their contact information. Now all I could do was wait. When I noticed it was already ten a.m. I closed the laptop and went into the kitchen, grabbing some eggs out of the refrigerator. I spent weeks trying to perfect my omelet when I overheard Helena tell my father that it was Kinsley’s favorite morning meal. She liked it light but not too light, with some seasoning on top of it with a mix of vegetables and cheese. I cracked the eggs on the edge of the pan when I heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
“Morning.” I heard Kevin’s tired voice from behind my back, and I looked around to see him sit down at the kitchen island.
“Morning.” I turned back to the eggs.
“You couldn’t sleep either?” he asked, and I glanced back at him again.
“Lee woke me up.”
He moved his head in an understanding way.
“Can I ask you something?” he added after a moment, and I turned off the stove, turning around.
“What’s up?”
Kevin bit the inside of his cheek. “I was thinking about yesterday. Have you considered at least once that maybe someone from the group left those threats?” he asked, and I was about to lie when he continued. “You can tell me, honestly.”
I pushed myself away from the counter. “I may have considered it.”
“I knew it.” He let out a long breath. “That’s why you let everyone help, you wanted to keep an eye on them.” I rested my hands on the cold stone of the kitchen island. “So, you also don’t think it was a coincidence that Bob Marley ended up in Kinsley’s room from all, right?”
I shook my head. It had been bugging me since yesterday. That bird ending up in Kinsley’s bed the day after it came to light that she had ornithophobia didn’t sit right in my head.
“You remember how it came up in the library?” Kevin started, and I looked up. Something dark moved in my chest from the way he became nervous. “Afterward they asked me about it, and I may have?—”
They. That’s why he asked me if I suspected them.
“You told them,” I stated, and he lowered his head. My hands flexed, the veins popping out.
“We’re fucked, aren’t we?”
Before I could have answered, we heard another set of feet coming down the stairs.
“Sorry,” Kinsley said alertly when she saw us in the kitchen. Her expression was still sleepy. “I can go back up if I’m interrupting.” I noticed she was still wearing the T-shirt I had given her yesterday, only now she had pulled on some shorts to accompany it.
“It’s okay,” Kevin replied, the same time I said:
“You are not interrupting.”
“I’m sorry about Bob Marley.” She chewed on her bottom lip as she stepped to the sink.
I was surprised she could talk about it, but it seemed sleep helped her a lot. God, she was strong.
“Thanks.” Kevin sent her a sorrowful smile.
I turned the stove back on and as quickly as I could, I made the omelet. Kinsley took a seat at the kitchen island, too, but it was like she wasn’t there. She seemed zoned out. She did that a lot, and sometimes it worried me. She could go so deep within her mind, I feared she would choose to stay there one day. I squeezed my eyes shut and split the omelet into three portions. Only when I sat down next to Kinsley, she shook out of the trance.
“I hope it’s as good as last time.” She smiled.
“It’s better.”
Kevin moaned. “If I knew that you could cook I would have moved in already,” he said with his mouth full.
Well, to be fair, this was the only thing I could make…for now. And pizza.
“You shouldn’t have,” Kinsley added, elbowing me in the side.
“I wanted to.” I spoke into her hair, taking a deep breath of her sweet scent carefully so she wouldn’t notice. Then, watched with pleasure as the goose bumps spread on her skin. “Lee’s mom is in town,” I added, and she finally lifted her light brown eyes at me. At that moment she reminded me of the setting sun just before the sky turned dark and dusk became night.
“Are we going over?” She gathered a bite onto her fork.
I nodded, ignoring Kevin’s stare.
“Do you think that’s wise?” he asked anyway, and I sighed.
“What do you mean?” Kinsley turned to him, and Kevin swept over his hair.
“I-I may have told the others about your phobia.”
Kinsley’s lips parted. “Oh,” was all she said, and Kevin made a remorseful face.
“Sorry.”
Kinsley shook her head. “It’s okay,” she sighed. “I guess when you are solving a case together, there cannot be secrets involved.” I hugged her waist, gripping her closer to me. All I could think about was that I was failing her.
“You think one of our friends left…Bob Marley on the guest room’s bed,” she stated, and Kevin’s eyes went wide.
“We can’t rule out that it’s a coincidence, but?—”
“There are no coincidences in a situation like this,” I cut Kevin off. He pressed his lips into a thin line and brushed a hand over his tattoos.
“When do we leave?” Kinsley devoured the rest of her food, and a small smile formed on my lips.
“You want to go in spite of that?” Kevin asked the same time I said:
“Whenever you would like.”