I thought I heard her today. I stopped what I was doing and waited to hear something, anything. If it was her, she wouldn’t say anything else. Why won’t she talk to me?
Hilarie
Dear Diary,
I’ve run out of time. Harper announced her engagement today and turned in her resignation. In three weeks, she’s moving to Croftridge to marry that monster of a man and leave me here in Sugar Falls all alone. I don’t think so. Fuck her. Fuck her brother. Fuck her boyfriend. And fuck her boyfriend’s friend. Fuck them all. Hahahahaha!
Hilarie
Dear Diary,
My plan is coming together perfectly. Tomorrow, I will bring Harper to the home I have made for us. No one will find us, and no one will bother us for the rest of our lives. Well, after I get rid of her pain in the ass friend. At least there’s plenty of room to bury the body out here.
Hilarie
“That’s it. There’s nothing about Ants,” Chase said and placed the folder on the nightstand.
“Can we ask Byte to look into it and see if he can find anything?”
“Yeah, I’ll call him in the morning.” Chase was quiet for a few moments before he asked, “Are you sure you’re okay?”
I sighed. “Yeah, I think so. I was having trouble processing my feelings about everything that happened, but reading her journals has helped. She was obviously suffering from some significant mental health issues as a child, and no one was there to help her. I just hate that I didn’t pick up on any of her issues as an adult.”
“Stop right there, Harper. You’re not going down that path. She was very good at hiding her truths. Not a one of us picked up on her being anything other than your friend or coworker who could be slightly clingy at times. And correct me if I’m wrong, but it sounds like she was fairly stable until recently.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.”
Chase pulled me to his chest and gently kissed my lips. “Let’s get some sleep, baby.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
Harper
Several weeks had passed since Shaker and I were kidnapped, and we hadn’t learned anything new. Byte was fit to be tied when Phoenix told him Keegan found a crucial piece of information he missed. However, when his searches turned up nothing for Ivan Ceven, he didn’t hesitate to ask Keegan for help. Unfortunately, she was unable to find anything on an Ivan Ceven either.
They were both still trying to find something about Ants, but they weren’t having much luck and the only people we could ask, Valarie’s Aunt Violet and Uncle Darrell, were deceased.
A few days after the guys returned from searching Boar’s property, the boxes they discovered in the mine shaft arrived at the clubhouse. I felt an odd mixture of excitement and dread upon seeing the boxes. Swallowing my fear, I bravely opened and rifled through box after box. To my disappointment, the boxes were full of items I was mostly familiar with as they were things from Hilarie’s house in Sugar Falls and her office at the crisis center.
I knew the missing pieces to the rest of her story were out there somewhere, but I made the decision to let it go. I accepted the fact that some of my questions would never have answers. What’s done was done and couldn’t be changed. She was dead, and I was starting my new life with Chase.
Part of my new life was my job at Ember’s new counseling center. It had been open a little over a week, and I was pleasantly surprised by the number of appointments we had. I assumed the first few weeks would be slow until word got around town, and we established a client base. Apparently, Croftridge and the surrounding areas had a great need for a counseling center. Until we had a better understanding of that need, I agreed to see adult patients as well as children.
“When is my next session?” I asked the receptionist.
“In 30 minutes. Oh, I made a note here that this one is afraid of large dogs,” she informed me.
I looked at her quizzically. Did she tell the patient about Titan? Had she been asking all of the patients if they had a fear of dogs? She shrugged. “He told me that when he was making his appointment. I’m guessing that’s what he’s here to work on.”
“Okay. I’ve got time to take Titan down to the barn so Duke can watch him while I’m in session. I’ll be back soon.”
I walked Titan to the barn, talked to Duke for a few minutes, and trekked back to the counseling center. It wasn’t far enough away to drive, but it made for a decent walk. It would have been much shorter, but I had to go around the fences that separated the public portions of the farm from the private part of the property.
I rushed back into the building, trying to catch my breath and compose myself. “Sorry, that was a longer walk than I thought. Is my patient here yet?” I asked the receptionist.
“Yes, he’s waiting for you in your office,” she smiled.
I entered my office to find a man who looked to be around my brother’s age sitting on the sofa. He was wearing a button-down shirt and dress slacks, his appearance clean and well-kept. I hadn’t even introduced myself, and I was already assessing him. I cleared my throat and extended my hand. “Hi, I’m Harper Jackson. You must be Mr. Smith.”