Page 72 of Cryptic Curse

Eagle kept his promise.

He stayed far away from this place.

Even when he was gunning for a hit and he knew where a huge-ass stash was.

It wasn’t my brother.It wasn’t Falcon, and I don’t think it was Vinnie.

So who the fuck did this?

Whoever did it wanted to remove the evidence of the fake Diego Vega, but not the evidence of drugs being planted here on Bellamy property.

“Sorry,” I say to Eagle.“It wasn’t you.”

He rolls his eyes.“You think?Did it occur to you that if I wanted a hit that badly I would’ve just unburied the drugs and not the body?”

I nod.“Yeah, I know.”

He scratches his arm.“I’ve got to tell you.Looking at those bags right there.I’m not sure I’ve ever wanted a hit more.”

“These are going down the toilet,” I say.

He kicks at the dirt.“I know.”

My cellphone vibrates in my back pocket.

I pull it out.

It’s Daniela.

I haven’t heard from her since the dinner at our house the other night.

Despite the situation Eagle and I are in at the moment, my heart races.

“Hello,” I say into the phone.

“Hawk, hi, it’s Daniela.”Her voice is breathy.

“Yeah?Are you okay?”

“I’m okay,” she says, “but I just didn’t know where else to turn.I mean, I suppose I could’ve gone to Vinnie.I’m not sure he’s home yet.But he and Raven are so happy right now.I don’t want to?—”

“What’s wrong?”I interrupt.

She gulps audibly.“When I got home after cooking school tonight, there was an envelope taped to the door.”

“The front door?”I ask.

“No.To the door to my private entrance.Vinnie calls it the mother-in-law suite.It’s actually at the back of the house.You get there by this little cobblestone path.”

I’m not familiar with Vinnie’s house.It was his parents’ house until his father got sent to prison for life for killing Miles McAllister and his mother died of a heart attack several months ago.

“Okay,” I say.

“It had this really creepy valentine inside.It saidBe Mine, but theBewas crossed out andYou Arewas written in its place.The valentine itself was creepy.The heart was dripping blood.”

“Real blood?”I ask, my stomach dropping.

“No, of course not.It was marker.On the picture.”She pauses a moment.“But when I opened it, it said,You locked the door, but you forgot—I have the key.I always have.”