The Photo Said I Must Die novel · Chapter 5 of 24

Chapter 5: The Letter in the Fire

Judd taped off the whole terrace with yellow rope before anyone could say a word about it.

Then he got down on his knees and went along the rail one board at a time, pressing each with his thumb.

I stood in the doorway with my arms wrapped around myself and watched him.

Briana sat on the bottom stair of the inn with Oliver kneeling at her feet, holding her hands.

She had not stopped shaking since the board broke.

I couldn't tell anymore whether I was supposed to feel sorry for her.

"Eleven more posts and two more boards," Judd said, standing. "Those are sound. Only the one near table four was cut."

"Who would do that?" Oliver asked.

"Someone with a handsaw and a quiet night." Judd showed us the pale end of the board. "Look at the sap. It's dried over. It was done weeks ago, and it was cut most of the way through so it would hold a few weeks and then go."

"Weeks ago," I said.

"June, maybe. July at the latest."

I looked at Briana.

She was looking at the broken board with her mouth open, white to the lips.

"It could have killed her," she whispered. "She could have gone over today. That isn't the date. That isn't when it's supposed to happen."

"No," Judd said. "It isn't."

She said it as if the date mattered more than the board.

If the rail had killed me today, the photo would have been wrong.

I saw on her face that she knew it.

Oliver stood up. "We're staying," he said. "Both of us. Briana won't leave her sister in a place where somebody's doing this, and I won't leave Briana."

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