But the notes were all the same—the same note that was in David’s lifeless hand.
“Sorry.”
“I don’t understand,” I said as I sat with all three men in the apartment and we looked over the small pile of notes that was amassing on the table. “What does it mean?”
“I don’t know,” Michael said. “It’s some sort of message, I think. Someone is trying to apologize maybe?”
“I don’t think so,” Rob said. “I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I can tell you from my experience in the precinct that if these notes match the one that was in David’s hand, and we all know that he didn’t kill himself, then these notes all have something to do with his murder.”
“Do you think someone is trying to come after Lisette?” Adam asked. His voice sounded worried and upset.
“I don’t know. But everything on campus has been peaceful since Lisette took over as Headmistress and everyone seems to love her. So, I’m not sure why anyone would do this,” Rob answered.
“What if it’s the person who murdered David? The same person who was in Asheville to kill him and is now here to kill me?” I asked as I felt myself becoming more paranoid by the minute.
“Calm down,” Michael said. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We’ll just stay with you to make sure when you’re walking around on campus. But I’m sure it’s not that.”
I got the definite feeling that Michael was more concerned about it then he was letting on. He was trying to downplay things in order to keep me from panicking.
And it wasn’t really working.
For the rest of the week, the notes kept popping up everywhere that I went. It got to the point that I didn’t want to leave the apartment because that seemed to be the only place that the notes weren’t left.
“I think we should take a weekend away,” Michael said after I had been holed up in the apartment for two whole days. “Just for a couple days to get out of here and away from all these notes and to take a breath and think straight for a minute. What do you think?”
“Where would we go?” I asked.
“Asheville,” Michael smiled. “I think you could use a couple of days to recharge.”
I liked the idea, I wanted to get out of here for a bit and I really missed being in Asheville. Nothing said we couldn’t just take a quick and refreshing weekend getaway.
“I’ll stay here,” Rob said. “To keep trying to figure out where these notes are coming from. Maybe by the time you guys get back, I’ll have figured out who’s behind this.”
“Thanks,” I said as I leaned against Michael’s shoulder on the couch.
“I think I’ll stay too,” Adam said.
“Really?” I asked. “I was incredibly surprised that he would be cool with letting me and Michael take a weekend trip alone and not want to come himself. In fact, I expected all of the guys to jump at the ready to go with us.
Yet, they didn’t.
But still, Adam nodded. “Yeah, as much as I really, really want to come with you; I think it would be better for me to keep an on things here and keep the halfway house under a watchful eye. If there’s someone prowling the campus and up to no good, I don’t want them targeting those kids. They’ve been through enough as it is. Besides, I think you could use some quiet time, and it would probably be the quietest if only one of us goes with you. But that means I have dibs on alone time with you when you get back.”
I laughed and leaned over to snuggle up against Adam’s chest.
“Agreed,” Michael said. “What do you think, Lisette? Want to take a couple days in Asheville this weekend?”
I nodded my head against Adam’s soft shirt. “Yeah, for sure.”
When Michael and I got to the cottage, everything was exactly as we had left it. Michael had hired a little old handyman that lived not too far away to keep watch on the place for the year until we returned. He did a good job of running the pipes every so often and making sure things were running smoothly and undisturbed. He even kept up my garden for me.
We were only going to stay for a couple of nights, and immediately after we walked into the cottage, I felt a weight lifted off me and began to relax a bit. It was the perfect temperature outside and all the trees on the mountainside were showing off a brilliant display of orange and red and yellow leaves that shouted a burst of color at the sky. We sat on the mountaintop with blankets and a bottle of wine, and we waited for the sun to go down. Even here amidst the solitude, I still felt a little worried. But I also felt safe and at home.
It made me not want to go back to Lineage.
“Are you thinking about not wanting to go back?” Michael asked me at the exact moment that I had been thinking about it.
“Yeah,” I said. “Actually, I was. How did you know?”
He chuckled. “Well, for one thing I can always tell when you’re deep in thought because you do this thing where you curl your lip up and smoosh your chin.”
I laughed at the thought of how that must look. “That doesn’t sound like a very attractive look,” I said.
“You’re always attractive to me,” he smiled, gazing into my eyes. “The other way that I knew, however, was because it’s exactly what I was thinking. And so I thought maybe you were thinking the same thing, too.”
“We do have to go back though,” I said. “For a while longer.”
Michael nodded his head slowly. “I know.”
At first, I had thought that nine months would go by really fast, but then when I thought about being here, it seemed to make the nine months pass really slowly. I didn’t know which way I wanted it yet, because whether it went by fast or slow, each scenario had its things to make it seem either too short or too long for what would come next.
“Look,” Michael said as he pointed up at the sky.
I looked to where his finger seemed to touch the night and I saw a shooting star. I’d never seen one before and it was magically beautiful.
“Make a wish,” he said.
“What if I have more than one wish to make?” I asked.
