Page 98 of Echoes of a Silent Song

And this one was just another empty guest room.How charming.Iris’s house had more bedrooms than people.Whole rooms for nothing but extras and trinkets.

This exact level of overindulgence justified his actions.Of course Iris had talent.She also had money.Even if she didn’t have talent, or if hertalent didn’t get her where she wanted, she could buy any future she desired.

He, on the other hand, would be cannon fodder in the jungle.He didn’t have her money.

So he needed her talent.

It was only fair.

Ah.There.That had to be her room.The one next to the main staircase.The messy desk, the clothes strewn on the floor ...this room had life in it.This was Iris’s room.

He peeked in the doorway, then immediately flattened himself against the hallway wall, heart pounding.Someone was in there.Flora, heading away from the bed with a pillow in her hand.

He hadn’t planned for Flora.He hadn’t realized she lived with them.

Had she seen him?

He ducked into the guest room and waited until Flora passed by.She didn’t even turn in his direction.She just went into another room—the neat one—and closed the door.

He waited in pregnant silence.Counted to a hundred.Two hundred.

Flora didn’t come back.

Okay.Maybe it was safe now.He’d only be in there a minute or two anyway, and then he’d leave.Crawl out through the window if he had to.

Shoes in hand, he crept silently back to Iris’s room.She was in bed, fast asleep.And just as he’d suspected, her notebook lay open on her desk.

Huh.She must be working on something new.No time to ponder that, though.He’d ponder at home.For now, he just needed to take it.

He picked it up and stuffed it between his sweater and his undershirt, then tucked them into his belt.

Mission accomplished.

An orange pill bottle was spilled on its side, with a few pills scattered on the desk.Knocked over, as if someone had taken them in a hurry.Good.She’d done what he’d told her to do and taken her medicine.Maybe now she’d get back to normal and he wouldn’t have to resort to risky maneuvers like this one to get what he needed.

This too was all her fault.

Wait.What was that note?He picked it up.

The waters are come into my soul

The calm, cool face of the river

I am come into deep waters

The river asked me for a kiss

The floods overflow me.

The spilled pills ...the note ...

He whirled around and studied Iris more closely.

She wasn’t breathing.

He felt her neck for a pulse and found none.

He jerked his hand away.