Page 17 of Shattered Truth (Off The Grid: FBI #15)

"She wouldn't have tried to run me off the road.

" She paused, suddenly realizing that Julia was one of the few people who had known she was at Cipher.

But she still didn't believe Julia had had anything to do with that attack.

She was just letting Matt's doubts get into her head. "Let's focus on my brother."

"If we're going to do that, it's time to get into his boxes. Are you ready?"

"As I'll ever be," she muttered as they got up from the table.

She grabbed a pair of scissors from a drawer and then moved into the living room, kneeling next to the big box.

She slit the tape and opened the box. "This has academic stuff," she said, waving her hand toward the textbooks, notebooks, and papers inside.

"But there aren't any black notebooks. And definitely no computer, no phone. "

"I'll start there. Maybe there's something written down about his passion project."

"Okay." As Matt looked through that box, she opened the other, finding Landon's favorite Westbridge sweatshirt on top. She picked it up and held it to her, thinking it still smelled faintly of her brother, or maybe that was just her mind wanting the connection.

"Your brother took a lot of notes in his classes," Matt said. "And old school, too, handwritten on binder paper. I bet his grades were never less than an A."

"Never," she agreed. "He would freak out if he got a B. Controlling how he did in school was his way of dealing with the unpredictability in our lives."

"Makes sense."

"Landon didn't voluntarily drink himself to death, Matt. I knew him better than anyone. I raised him. That wasn't who he was. He didn't use alcohol to drown his sorrows, not after watching my mother chase the highs only to fall even lower when they ended."

He looked up from the box and met her gaze. "I believe you, Haley."

"Really?" she asked in surprise. "You do?"

He nodded. "I do."

His words touched her deeply because no one except Julia had ever believed her, and even Julia had expressed doubts at times. She'd always felt so alone in her fierce defense of her brother. "Thank you," she said, blinking away the moisture in her eyes. "That means a lot to me."

"But we still have to prove it."

She looked back in her box and pulled out a couple of framed photos that had been in Landon's room. Her heart twisted again at the first one, which was a picture of her and Landon in Hawaii.

"What did you find?" Matt asked.

She showed him the photo. "I took Landon to Hawaii for his high school graduation.

I scrimped and saved for months. It was the first time either of us had left the state.

We could only afford four nights in a cheap motel, but the beach was beautiful, and we felt like we were starting a new chapter.

" She shook her head and let out a sigh, then picked up the next photo.

"This is Landon and Brooke, his girlfriend. "

"I'd like to see that." She handed him the photo of Brooke, a very pretty brunette wearing a tight mini dress, her hand on Landon's chest, as they smiled for the camera.

In the background, there were Greek letters on a banister, but they weren't at the fraternity house.

"I think that was taken at one of Brooke's sorority events," she said. "They look happy."

"Your brother doesn't look exactly like you, but there's definitely a resemblance," Matt commented.

"That's true. Landon had dark-blond hair like our mother, while I inherited the brown hair from my dad.

But we both had the same blue eyes." She paused for a moment.

"I looked at the photo a bunch of times in the first few days and told myself that I should be happy that Landon was smiling and had a girlfriend and was enjoying his life.

But after talking to AJ, I wonder if this moment captured his true feelings. "

"Are there any more photos?"

"Just this one," she said, picking up a loose, unframed photo. "It's a picture of all the guys in the fraternity house. I guess everyone must have gotten one. I circled the faces of the guys I talked to." She handed him the photo.

"I met Henry earlier today at Adler and Briggs."

She started at his comment. "That's right. You were going to go to Sabrina's law firm. I never asked you what happened."

"Not much. I met Henry and his father, Graham, and Sabrina's supervisor, a woman by the name of Lindsay.

The company had already secured Sabrina's files and refused to discuss the clients she was working with.

It wasn't a productive meeting. I did bring up Landon's death, but Graham immediately insisted it was an accident. "

"I'm sure no one is going to change their story now, not unless we find evidence to prove they are lying. What did they say about Sabrina?"

"They expressed the appropriate amount of concern.

They presented a theory of Sabrina being stalked or harassed by someone on a dating app, but no one had a name, just random comments Sabrina had made about someone bothering her.

Her manager claimed Sabrina was a friend, then almost immediately recanted, saying they only had a professional relationship. "

She met his gaze. "Interesting that they already had their own theory ready to go. They want you to start looking for Sabrina on dating apps, talk to people she might have matched with, look through her texts for men she dated."

"You're very quick, Haley. You have an investigative mind."

"Journalism requires research. It's easy to get distracted by a shiny penny when someone puts it right in front of you."

"I wasn't distracted. I immediately recognized their theory as a ploy to steer my investigation in a specific direction. I wasn't going to fall for that."

She liked that Matt was sharp, too. They needed to be at the top of their game if they were going to get justice for Landon and Sabrina. "I'm glad you saw through them."

"It wasn't difficult." He looked back at the photo. "Thanks for putting names next to faces."

"You're welcome, but as you can see, I only spoke to about eight out of forty guys in that house."

"Trent Adler has lighter hair than his cousin Henry."

"He's nicer, too, and he comes across as more genuine than Henry.

But that could have been an act. Honestly, I felt like they were all acting when I met them.

I couldn't tell who was genuinely sad and who was just saying the right things.

I do know that Trent was not at the house that night.

His alibi was confirmed. As was Brooke's.

The others at the party didn't have alibis.

But no one seemed interested in confirming their whereabouts through photos or eyewitness accounts. "

"I noticed the timeline was vague. And there were also a lot of drunk kids at the house that night, not just the fraternity brothers. There were plenty of girls there, too."

"I'm sure it was a chaotic scene, but I still believe someone knew something or saw something. They were just afraid to come forward."

"Did you talk to Landon the day he died?"

She shook her head, more anger and guilt running through her. "No. It had been a few days since we'd spoken. We were planning to get together the following week for my birthday. I was working in Santa Barbara at the time, at a small newspaper, and I was going to drive down to have dinner with him."

"Santa Barbara, huh? Did you move to LA after his death?"

"About ten months after he died. I needed to be busier.

Santa Barbara was too quiet. The Sentinel was a better place to escape.

After I got that job, I moved in here, and that's the last time I looked in these boxes.

" She dug through the rest of the box, but aside from some of his favorite hats and childhood mementos she hadn't been able to throw away, there was nothing of significance. "There isn't anything here," she said.

He gave her a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry I'm making you look through all this, Haley."

"As soon as Sabrina contacted me, I knew it was all going to start up again. I just thought I'd have more information to go on." She opened the last box, and her breath caught in her chest. "Oh, my God. I forgot about this."

"What is it?"

She pulled out the small white box carefully. It was tied with a blue ribbon and had a birthday card taped to the top, her name written in Landon's careful handwriting.

"Landon had gotten me a birthday present. I found it in his room when I was cleaning up. I couldn't bear to open it at the time. Or even later. I'm not sure I can do it now."

"You don't have to."

"No, I should. It's been long enough." Her hands trembled slightly as she opened the card, her eyes blurring with tears as she read his note.

"Do you mind telling me what he said?" Matt asked.

She nodded, then read aloud. "You know you've always been my North Star, Haley.

Whenever I felt lost, I looked to you, and I knew where home was.

You're the only person I've ever trusted completely, and that will never change.

When I saw this, I had to get it for you.

I hope you'll think of me when you wear it. Love, Landon."

She opened the box and found a heavy silver star pendant on a long silver chain with intricate designs around its shimmering edges. She pulled it out to show Matt.

"It's beautiful," he said.

"I can't believe he found this." She put the necklace on, fingering the pendant as she gazed down at it.

"He told me I was his North Star when he went to Westbridge.

And I told him that I felt the same way about him.

It had always been the two of us. When we were together, wherever that was, that was home.

" She blew out a ragged breath. "I'm sorry for getting so emotional.

This is more difficult than I thought it would be. "

"Don't apologize for loving your brother, for grieving him. I'm glad you have something to wear to remember him by."

She gave him a teary smile. "Me, too. I should have opened the gift before. I just couldn't do it. Then I forgot about it. I tried to forget about everything because it hurt so much." As Matt's phone buzzed, her thoughts returned to the present. "Has something happened?"

He looked up from the text he was reading. "Alanna boarded a plane for Melbourne at four o'clock this afternoon."

"As in Australia?" she asked in surprise.

"Yes. She apparently wanted to get as far away from LA as she could. Anyway, we have one less person to worry about."

"That's good." She looked back into the box, pulling out some of Landon's favorite books that she'd also kept for no real reason, except she had fond memories of him reading before bed. "There's nothing else here that can provide us a clue."

"Nothing here, either," he said as he leaned back in his chair while she got up to sit on the couch.

"I didn't really think there would be, but it was good we looked," she said with a tired yawn.

"I would like to go over the notes you made at the time. I noticed a big stack of files on that chair over there."

"You're welcome to look through them." She couldn't help yawning again. "Sorry. I guess the day is catching up to me."

"It's been a long day. You should get some sleep, Haley."

"Do you think I'm safe here after what happened earlier? Should I go to a hotel?"

He gave her a thoughtful look, then said, "What do you think about me sleeping on your couch?"

"I think you'd be pretty uncomfortable."

"I'm not worried about that. I can sleep anywhere."

"It's not necessary. I can take care of myself," she said. "I've been doing it for a long time."

"I know you have, but I'd feel better if you weren't alone."

As he finished speaking, her phone rang. She didn't recognize the number, but with everything going on, she decided to answer. "Hello?"

"Stop," the robotic voice said. "Stop before it's too late."

She paled as the call ended.

"Who was it?" Matt asked.

"I don't know. It sounded like a bot. They said, 'Stop before it's too late.'"

His lips tightened as his serious expression met hers. "I'm definitely sleeping on the couch."

"Maybe you should," she agreed. "I'm surprised you didn’t suggest I do what they asked, that I stop looking into my brother's death. Why didn't you?"

His brown eyes darkened. "Because it's already too late."

His honest but harsh words stole the breath from her chest.

"Sorry. I should have sugarcoated that," he said, reading her expression.

"No. I want you to be honest, and you're right. They're already worrying about what I know. That’s why they tried to run me off the road tonight. If they get an opportunity to silence me, they will."

"I won't let that happen."

"I like your confidence," she murmured.

"I'm going to remind you of that next time you think I'm taking over."

"I said confidence, not controlling attitude."

"I'm afraid they go together. Go to bed, Haley. I promise you'll be safe tonight."

She got to her feet. "Okay, thanks for staying.

But if you have to leave, if you get a call or something, or you're just too uncomfortable and you need to go home, can you tell me before you go?

I'd rather wake up and be told you're leaving than just find you gone in the morning.

" It was the closest she'd come to sharing that particular fear with anyone.

Hopefully, he would relate it only to the extreme circumstances they were in and nothing else.

"I won't leave without telling you. You can count on that."

"Thank you. I'll get you a pillow and a blanket," she said as she headed into the bedroom. She'd stopped counting on people a long time ago, but maybe tonight she would let herself count on him.