Mortal Remains by Mary Ann Fraser

Author:Mary Ann Fraser [Fraser, Mary Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sterling Teen
Published: 2021-05-11T00:00:00+00:00

RULE #21

THERE ARE SOME REQUESTS THAT SHOULD NOT AND CANNOT BE HONORED.

A plain white envelope addressed to N. M. Lassiter with an Oakland, California, postmark and no return address rested atop a house deed, a key, and a pink slip for a car long gone. There was no will and not a single birth, marriage, or death certificate to vouch for lives lived or lost. It was as if Adam never existed. The answers I’d hoped for were not there.

Adam shuffled through the papers, setting aside the envelope and pocketing the key, but not before I noted that it had the same engraved emblem as the box and the hatch. The hatch had been bolted, not locked, so it was probably a spare key for the box but not a very useful one if it was locked inside.

“See this,” I said, my finger circling my face. “This is what disappointment looks like.”

“What were you expecting? Gemstones?”

He knew what I was after—proof he wasn’t lying about his identity. But I was not about to admit it. “Maybe. You were acting like whatever was in here was a big deal.”

“It is a big deal,” he said, holding up the envelope and giving it a wave. “By Fortuna, this letter will tell me who came to the house the night my father died.”

“For tuna? What do fish have to do with it?”

He looked at me like I was an imbecile. “The goddess Fortuna.”

Man, I’m starting to take things as literally as him. “What makes you think this letter can tell us anything?”

“It arrived the day before the explosion. After he read it, Neil locked it in this box, then went through the house, bolting doors and closing all the shades. At first I assumed it was more of his usual paranoia. But the next night Neil woke me saying there was a man at the gate and that I needed to go. I asked for a few minutes to pack, but he refused. Said there was no time. He took me to the hatch hidden in the shed and told me to climb inside. He promised he would come for me as soon as it was safe. He promised.”

If the letter could tell us anything about the man who came to the house that night, it would be well worth the effort it took to retrieve it. “Go on, read it.”

Adam removed a single sheet of yellow paper from the envelope, took one look at it, and passed it to me. “I can’t.”

I could see why. It was in cursive, each rushed word flowing into the next. With stubborn determination, I worked it out.

Neil:

Don’t think anything has changed between us. What’s done is done, but that doesn’t mean I wouldn’t warn you if I thought you were in danger. Despite what you think of me, I’m not that vindictive.

Today I received a phone call—the one we’ve both been dreading. Our conversation was brief. Miles said he’d been released early on good behavior, and he needed to reach you.

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