Chapter 34
Chapter Thirty-Four
After what felt like the longest week of my life, I stumbled into my bedroom and closed the door behind me. I was completely wiped out.
In the distance, another firework went off and I glanced towards the massive doggy bed in the corner of the room that Kenna had snuck in when I wasn’t looking.
Rogue lifted his head but only to stare back at me.
He appeared unbothered by the fireworks, which I was both grateful for and confused by.
Considering the number of things that set him off I had fully expected him to keep me up fairly late.
It seemed I was finally due a good night’s sleep. Tucked away safely in Kenna’s home—my home now too—with a killer caught and a young girl saved, I decided I had earned it.
Still looking over at Rogue, I furrowed my brow as I caught sight of a package sitting on the bright yellow armchair in the corner. I took the two steps across the room to get a closer look at it, but it took a long moment before the memory came back to me.
The package that had been mistakenly left at my door.
Kenna wouldn’t have known the difference between the things I owned and the one that just happened to be in my apartment because I didn’t know what else to do with it.
And now it had come with me during my move, yet another degree removed from whoever it was meant for. The tag on the front caused a little zing of guilt to flash through me, though I knew there was no way to get it back to the person it was intended for at this point.
My only options now were to throw the entire basket out or to claim its contents as my own.
Rogue lifted his head at the sound of the cellophane crinkling when I picked it up and carried it to the bed, decision made. Sitting atop the comforter I carefully untied the white ribbon and peeled away the plastic until all that was left was the basket full of goodies.
As I pulled out each item—the coffee beans, the lotion, the peach-scented candle—I set them on the bed in front of me. There were twelve items in all, each one more useful than the last.
And at the bottom of the basket, only visible now that all the other items were removed, there was a thick white envelope with the words For You inked out in neat black lettering.
I pulled the envelope out, hoping that whatever was inside would give me a hint to where this basket was meant to end up. I hadn’t damaged anything while unpacking it and could easily put it all back together if I could just figure out who it was meant for.
The envelope was heavier than I expected, and rather than finding a letter inside, I pulled out a thick stack of photos that showed various locations in and around Bend.
As I flipped through the first three, a dawning sense of horror filled me, and I quickly shuffled through the rest to confirm what I already knew.
Because the focus of each and every photo was me.
To be continued…