A Grave Beneath the Floorboards novel · Chapter 11 of 24

Chapter 11: Not Tonight

I did not open the envelope at the station.

I carried it out to Burke's car in both hands, and I held it in my lap the whole drive, and I did not say a word.

Peyton had said she found it in Carly's coat pocket that night and had been too afraid to open it.

Burke didn't ask where we were going.

My house was still wrapped in yellow tape, so he took me to his.

It was a narrow second-floor apartment above a hardware store, with a couch, a table and a single lamp, and the sink was full of clean dishes stacked in a neat tower.

"I don't have much," he said, setting his keys in a bowl. "There's coffee, and there's whiskey, and there's a bed in the other room that's yours if you want it."

"Thank you."

"I'll be on the couch."

I sat down at his table under the lamp and opened the envelope with my thumb.

The paper inside was folded in thirds, and it smelled faintly of the lavender lotion she always wore.

It was dated the twenty-eighth of February, the night before I left for Tucson.

Macy,

I'm writing this because I'm a coward, and I'll lose my nerve if I try to say it out loud.

Her name is Peyton, and she asked me last week if she could meet you.

I told her yes before I asked you, so be mad at me for that part.

When you get home from the wedding, I'm going to tell you everything at dinner.

I'll bring her with me if she'll come.

You taught me to eat the hot stuff.

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