“Find out if there are cameras anywhere. Now.” I toss my donuts onto his seat. To his credit, he doesn’t ask questions. He’s already moving, shutting his door, walking back to the donut shop. I round the vehicle, bag the note, and glance down at the message. As in the past it’s short, not at all to any point, and created with cut out of letters from a newspaper. It reads: M is for money, M is also for more, and M is for Mendez.

Again, with the jabs at Kane. What the hell is Junior’s problem? And why now? I glance at my ring and decide the timing is no accident.

I toss the note in the seat and shut the door, with me on the outside, and start walking, checking the vacant spaces and finding them all locked and dark. When all is said and done, I’ve checked the perimeter and further, and I don’t even find a suspiciously parked vehicle. I head back to the Escalade and Jay is walking toward me. “No cameras. What’s going on?”

“Someone left me a note on my door,” I say.

“Then we were followed.”

“It looks that way,” I say, but I offer nothing more.

I motion to the vehicle and we make our way in that direction. Once I’m inside, I think about the timing of the note. They first started when I returned to the Hamptons after years gone. And now, they start again when Pocher returns to the Hamptons after weeks gone.

There is no such thing as a coincidence. And I know then that whoever this is, stands close to Pocher’s side. That detail makes Junior easier to find. And I will.

CHAPTER THIRTY

Never ignore a theme in your life. And never blame that theme on someone else. You’re responsible for it, at least on some level. And if someone else is controlling the theme, then you had better fix it fast. That’s where I’m at.

For me right now, the theme of my life is “the games we play.”

My father is playing a game with my life. If that’s what you call tormenting my mother and potentially helping to plot her murder. Pocher has long been playing a game with my entire family’s lives. Emma’s killer is dragging me into a game. Junior has long been playing a game with me. And I’ve let it happen. I give Junior props, though. She, for I’ve always thought Junior a female, chooses times when I’m hunting a killer and when a note writer is not my priority. And therefore, Junior goes untouched, but not this time. This time, I will find and deal with Junior.

I won’t be sidetracked.

This time I will deal with Pocher, once and for all.