Her Love Came Too Late novel · Chapter 24 of 24

Chapter 24: The Front Door

The package was a flat cardboard sleeve.

The desk sergeant handed it over the counter with both hands.

It had waited behind the counter since Sunday night, and on Monday afternoon the Fourth Precinct was quiet.

Hannah stood beside Elliott with her badge back on her belt.

Her leave had ended on Saturday night, in front of fourteen thousand people, and the captain had stamped the paper himself.

Elliott turned the sleeve over.

There was no return address.

Inside was an envelope, cream-colored, soft at the corners from being handled.

His name was written on the front in Marin's handwriting.

It was five years old.

He knew it from the ink, which had gone brown, and from the little tulip she had drawn in the corner.

The flap was sealed.

"You don't have to open it here," Hannah said.

"I'd like to."

He slit it with the sergeant's letter opener.

Inside was a wedding card, with a plain white cover and a line of gold print.

He opened it.

The handwriting slanted, and he could tell she had written it fast, with the paper on her knee.

Elliott, I'm writing this on the courthouse steps while you feed the parking meter.

I'll give it to you tonight at dinner, when we're alone. I want you to know I'm not afraid. I know exactly who you are.

I will carry your coat for the rest of our lives. Marin.

Under it was a second note, in a different pen, added later.

I never gave you this. I found it in the glove box on Saturday night, after the arena.

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