Page 31 of Our Darkest Summer

After we put almost everything back to its place, Thomas disappeared behind his door on the other end of the hallway and I turned the doorknob of the guest room.

We decided to call it quits for tonight as we were going nowhere with what we found so far and my head was aching. I opened the door and a cold wind slicked through my hair. I turned the lights on, my eyes darting toward the slightly cracked window. I was pretty sure I hadn’t touched it yet. The small hairs stood up on my arms.

I crossed the room, barely breathing to shut the window, but then I noticed something else left on the stool. My eyes landed on the dark forest, and this time just as before, I could’ve sworn it stared back at me.

Chapter Fifteen

Thomas

Tonight was…something.We found so many things the police didn’t, but somehow it still became a serious setback. The possibilities seemed endless. But one thing I was sure of. We had to find who sent my father that letter.

I pulled my T-shirt over my head, and was about to unbutton my pants, when a knock on my door stopped me.

I opened the door to find Kinsley on the other side. “Have you been in the guest room?” she asked, her eyes lingering on my chest, and my brows rose.

She came here to ask me if I was in the guest room? What kind of game was she playing?

“I haven’t,” I answered, and she raised her eyes at me.

“Well, someone has been.”

My forehead creased.

“What?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

“Someone left a message in the room.”

I glanced over the hallway.Someone left a message in the room.I stepped around Kinsley, and rushed into the guest room.

“The window was open when I came in,” she explained, following me.

My gaze shifted over the space, landing on the window. It was still cracked open, and when I stepped closer to ran my fingers over its frame looking for any signs of forced entry, I noticed the message Kinsley had mentioned. One word, carved into the wood:

Shit.This wasn’t just some note left on the door anymore. Someone broke into the house to threaten us.

“You agree that whoever wrote this, has to know something, right? Why else would he want us to leave?”

I surveyed the dark forest on the other side of the window.

“Except why would they call Joshua here then?” And why did it bother them so much that it wasn’t him who came?

I heard Kinsley sit on the mattress. “Maybe they never really wanted to help. Maybe this was about something else, and they just wantedhimhere.”

My chest heaved as I considered her words.

“But they wanted himhere,” I thought out loud. “If not, they wouldn’t have left the Coldwater stamp on the envelope. So it has to have something to do with my mom.”

Kinsley nodded. “Do you realize this hardly stands as a kidnapping case right? Kidnappers don’t contact the family after years. Whoever sent that letter wanted Josh to come here. I just can’t figure out why.”

I brushed my thumb over my bottom lip. We circled back to the first question again. Why would someone want my fatherhere and us gone? This seemed to be a lot harder to answer than it should’ve been.

Kinsley pulled out a paper from her bag and stopped beside me.

“We would’ve heard a car pull up to the house, but we didn’t. Which means even if they came with one, they parked further away, probably out of sight, right?”

I nodded. It was true. The pebbles on the driveway made it impossible to miss a car.

“So we can cross out the use of a ladder. Whoever left this,” she pointed at the carving with her pen. “Had to be strong enough to climb up here.”