The Photo Said I Must Die novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: The Rail

Briana's car pulled into the gravel lot at five to twelve.

I watched from the kitchen window with a dish towel in my hands, because Judd had said hiding in the office would make me look guilty.

Oliver got out first and opened her door.

Briana stepped out in a cream cardigan, with her hair in its neat twist and her eyes already red.

The inn had a few early lunch guests out front, an older couple and three men in fishing boots.

They all looked up when she started to cry.

"Dani!" she called, before she could possibly have seen me. "Dani, please! Come home!"

I went out through the front door, because I would not be dragged.

Judd came out behind me and stood a step to my left.

Briana ran across the gravel and caught me by both shoulders.

"You scared me to death," she said. "Do you know what you did to Oliver? He's been up all night. You took Mom's camera and you didn't even say goodbye."

"You took my phone."

"For your safety." Her voice cracked. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, it was wrong to do it in front of people. I panicked. I only wanted to keep you alive."

Her tears were real, and that was the worst part.

They always had been, and I had never once asked what they were for.

"You booked this table in July," I said. "You hired a stranger to watch me. You told him I was ill."

The older couple stopped eating.

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