Cas pulled his phone back out, dialed Mac and quickly filled him in, recounting the latest threat and how it had been delivered. Harper could hear Mac’s voice on the other end, sharp and serious, asking for details and promising to get back to him soon.
Within half an hour, the sheriff arrived and surveyed the scene in the driveway. Harper watched out the window, Cas on one side of her and Sadie on the other. Gabe methodically processed the scene, taking photos of the newspaper and rock, bagging the evidence with a grim expression.
Fear and fury gripped her tightly. It was one thing to dig into old family secrets, but it was another to have those secrets turn into a real, present danger.
After several long minutes, Dale and Gabe headed toward the house. The three of them moved from the window to stand in front of the couch and face the door. Dale and Gabe entered, the sheriff’s badge catching the light as he stepped into the living room. He surveyed the scene with a practiced eye, no doubt taking in their concerned expressions.
“Sorry this keeps happening,” Gabe said, his voice low. “This is a threat, plain and simple. Whoever did it wants you to back off, and they’re not being subtle about it.”
“Maybe Dale’s security camera caught something good,” Cas said, slipping his arm back around her shoulders.
God, she hoped it had so they could put this to rest already.
Dale shook his head. “No. I already viewed the footage through the app on my phone. Someone pulled up to the driveway in an Escalade, rolled the window down and tossed the rock into the truck before racing away. They wore a gray hoodie and a mask. No idea if they were male or female.”
“Did you get a license plate?” Cas asked.
His brother nodded. “Yep, but Gabe ran the plates and found out it had been stolen early this morning.”
The sheriff nodded. “There’s a BOLO out on it. I’m sure it’ll show up now that they used it for the drop-off. It’ll probably be wiped clean, but I’ll let you know when we find it and process it. In the meantime, I’m going to go speak with the person who reported it missing. I’m also going to run the rock and paper back to the station and see what we can pull. But, Harper,” he said, his tone gentle but firm, “you need to be careful. Whoever’s behind this is serious about keeping you from finding out what happened.”
She nodded, swallowing hard. “I understand, Gabe. I’ll be careful.”
“I’ll take care of her,” Cas said, his arm tightening around her. “You just find this asshole.”
Gabe gave them a curt nod, and after he left, the tension in the room remained thick. Harper sat back down, her eyes drifting to the diary on the table. A surge of determination rose up in her chest, pushing past the fear.
“We need to read the rest of the diary,” she said, reaching for the book. “Right now. We can’t let whoever’s doing this scare us off.”
Cas nodded, sitting next to her. “Agreed. Let’s see what else Mary left behind.”
Sadie and Dale returned to their spot on the loveseat as Harper opened the diary again, this time with a renewed sense of urgency. The familiar, looping handwriting covered each page, and she read aloud as they moved through the entries. Mary’s words painted a vivid picture of the past, her emotions laid bare as she recounted the struggles of her forbidden love, the lies she’d been forced to tell, and the betrayal that had changed everything.
“June 20th, 1937. Every day I feel the walls closing in. The truth is a burden I can’t carry much longer, but I’m terrified of what will happen if I speak up. They have eyes everywhere, and I know they’re watching me. My brother says we need to wait, that it’s too dangerous to come forward now. But I don’t know how much longer I can wait. The guilt is eating me alive, and I fear I won’t survive this. I have to find a way out for my family. But at what cost?”
Harper’s voice trembled as she read. Her poor great-grandmother. It was clear that Mary had been caught in something far more dangerous than just a family dispute. There were forces at play that had threatened her life, and now those same forces seemed determined to keep them from uncovering the truth.
She continued reading out loud, but as she neared the end of the diary, Harper’s heart sank. Several pages had been torn out, the jagged edges a stark reminder that some secrets had been deliberately erased.
“There’s more missing,” Harper said, her frustration boiling over. “It’s like someone went through and tore out the most important parts. How are we supposed to figure this out if the answers keep getting ripped away?”
Sadie reached over, squeezing Harper’s arm gently. “We’ll get there, Harper. We’ve already uncovered so much. Besides, there are still several antiques in this house that our great-grandmother owned. Perhaps she hid those pages in one of them.”
She closed the diary, her mind racing with possibilities. She was angry, but that anger fueled her resolve. Mary had been silenced once, but Harper refused to let that happen again. “We need to keep going,” she said firmly. “This isn’t just about the past anymore. It’s about making sure our great-grandmother’s story gets told, no matter who’s trying to stop us.”
Cas nodded, his hand finding hers and squeezing it tightly. “We’re not backing down.”
She looked around at Cas, Dale, and Sadie—her makeshift team of allies—and felt a surge of gratitude mixed with determination. They were all in this together, bound by the desire to uncover the truth and protect each other from whatever came next.
“Then let’s figure out our next move,” she said. “We’re not going to let some threats scare us off. I was a victim once. Never again. We’re going to find out who’s behind this, and we’re going to make sure Mary’s story sees the light of day.”
The group nodded in unison, a shared sense of purpose settling over them. The challenges ahead were daunting, but she’d meant what she said. She was done being a victim. It was time to dig deeper, to confront the past head-on, and to finally bring the truth to light—no matter the cost.
“Let’s start searching her furniture,” Sadie suggested. “I have her vanity in my room. Dale and I can take a look. Herdresser with the mirror is in the guest room if you two want to check that out.”
“Sounds good.” Harper nodded and rose to her feet along with the others.
Anticipation upped her pulse as she and Cas made their way to the guest room. If they could just find those missing pages, she was sure everything would come to light.
