My whole body seized up, and Grace arched her back, flailing with her fists. “What kind of things?”

“Hold on.” I could hear muffled talking, like Alondra was answering someone with her hand over the phone, and just then my own doorbell rang. I jumped up, tightening my grip on Grace, and the doorbell rang again. Were the police already here, ready to drag Michael away?

Alondra came back on as I was hurrying down the hall. “They’ve pulled in the FBI. I want Michael to wait in the parking lot until I get there, do you understand?”

I wrenched open the front door, expecting to see the police, but it was just a white van peeling away. On our doormat was a cardboard box, no address, no stamps, not even taped shut, with a card tucked under the loose flap.

Alondra asked, “Kacy, are you listening? Do you understand?”

“Someone dropped off a box at our front door. It looks weird.” The cardboard was unmarked, freshly folded.

“Weird how?”

“No address, not sealed up, just dropped off by some white van. There’s a card.”

“Don’t touch anything,” Alondra snapped, but my hand was already reaching for what I could see was a postcard. Was it from Aimee?

“Kacy.” Alondra was used to being obeyed. “Kacy, get back inside the house. Let the police handle the box.”

As I straightened up, a shriek made me jump, but it was just a little boy two blocks away, sprinting across the street to the pocket park, followed by an indulgent grandparent.

I flipped the postcard over, half expecting to see Aimee’s bold scrawl. Instead, in loopy black marker, I read, Working on another surprise for you. xoxoxo. Despite the humidity, the back of my neck grew cold.

This wasn’t Aimee’s handwriting. It was Lena’s.

C2C TRANSCRIPT

11

Helen: So the number of known victims is over a dozen at this point, but only a few have been identified. The police are working on that, they have Brady in custody, and the FBI is involved.

Julia: And they’re going over all the information and reinterviewing all the witnesses.

Helen: They’re planning to. But on the very day the neighbor, Michael, is supposed to come in for questioning, a package is dropped off at his house. It’s got a note from Lena on top and a dead rat inside.

Julia: Ew. Very Mafia. But isn’t it a little late for a “don’t rat me out” warning? I mean, the neighbor’s already turned Brady in, made a statement, taken the cops around the crime scene, the whole deal.