Perfect Night (Mason Creek #4) - Terri E. Laine Page 0,33

my eyes before I could read on.

If you are reading this, I guess I’ve passed on and I’m sorry for it. Because otherwise I would be telling you these words while on my death bed long in the future instead of you reading them.

First, I want to say how incredibly proud I am of you and the woman you’ve become. Yes, you are still finding your place in the world, but I have no doubt you’re on the right path.

I hope you find happiness as I did with your mother even if it’s with Evan. It’s the greatest gift one can have next to the love of one’s child.

He’d obviously written this recently, I thought. Why had he been thinking about death? Had something really been wrong with his health? I continued reading.

I know you want to leave Mason Creek. I can’t blame you. When I was young, I wanted to leave too until I met your mother. Then, I didn’t want to share her with the world. It was safer to keep her here.

I smiled a little.

I never stopped loving her and I’ll never stop loving you in this life or the next. Don’t tell the reverend I said that.

Then, I did laugh a little.

My Emma. Your life is your own. Though I leave everything to you, you choose to do what it is as you want. The house, the pub, everything. Those things are your Mom’s and my dreams. They don’t have to be yours. I’ll leave that up to you. Whatever you decide, don’t let things hold you back from being you. I trust and respect you.

If I haven’t said it enough, I love you, always,

Dad

I curled in a ball on the floor and cried while clutching the letter. My heart once again broke into a million pieces.

When my tears dried, my first instinct was to call Aiden. I didn’t want to acknowledge that. Instead, I picked myself up and went back down to the room below to purge my house of any evidence of Evan’s presence. I started with the bed sheets. Before I started the laundry, Aiden’s shirts sat neatly folded where I’d done laundry the other day. I’d caused Aiden too much embarrassment. I would need to figure out a way to return them to him without the entire town finding out.

Chapter 16

Aiden

For the last few days, I combed through hours of footage I’d gotten from the jewelry store and the auto shop because I couldn’t enter a day or time to find the segment I wanted.

The jewelry store footage hadn’t gone back far enough. Though I did watch for vehicles late at night for the BOLO for the missing girl. I found nothing.

I hit pay dirt with auto shop store footage. On the night of Doug’s death, I spotted his car go into the lot at a little past midnight. Maybe twenty minutes later, another vehicle passed the bar, but it didn’t turn into the lot. The car disappeared on Highland Place at a slow pace. I couldn’t tell if it stopped and parked before it went out of range. I made a note of the license plate. A quick search led me to a car rental company.

Since Emma’s father’s death hadn’t been ruled a homicide or suspicious death, I couldn’t compel the rental company to give me the name of the person who rented that car.

I’d sent Emma the information she needed to set up a private autopsy a few days ago. I’d gotten back a thank you and nothing else. I hadn’t seen or heard from her since. I had to assume she was avoiding me. Since I hadn’t called her, was I doing the same?

Sighing, I scrubbed a hand over my face. I was tired and considering what I would have for dinner when I got a call.

“Cory?” I asked.

“Hey man. Can you meet me at Sal’s?”

It was the name of a bar a few towns over. I checked my watch. My shift was nearly over, and I needed to eat. I would finish looking at footage later. “Okay. I’ll be there in thirty minutes.”

The place was more than half empty when I walked in. I spotted Cory sitting alone at a four top. I took the seat across from him.

“You couldn’t meet me in town?” I asked.

“Everyone hates me,” he complained.

The everyone he talked about sided with my sister on how he’d treated her. “What’s going on?” I asked, because he had to have a reason to want to