Page 67 of Haunted Ever After

That made the breath whoosh out of Cassie’s body. That, more than anything else she’d seen and heard these past few months, drove home the point that Sarah Hawkins had died alone. No friends, no family. No one to miss her. All she’d left behind were her beloved cabbage roses, and those were long gone.

“I’m going to get this right.” Sophie’s usually small voice was strong, backed with steel. “I know this ghost tour’s just a stupid thing for tourists, but I owe it to these people I’m talking about. If I’m going to tell those stories, I need to tell them right.”

“I know you will.” Theo’s voice was kind. “Anything I can do to help, let me know.”

“Same here,” Cassie said. “I still have the Hawkins House stuff at home. Come over anytime if you want to take a look.”

Sophie’s smile was thin, but genuine, and Cassie could relate. Her mind was in a jumble, turning over these moments of Sarah’s life that she’d just figured out. But the puzzle pieces were clicking into place now.

Twenty-Seven

Cassie knew that Sophie was determined to get things right when it came to the ghost tour, but she hadn’t expected her to show up that next Monday afternoon with a bag of Chinese takeout.

Cassie blinked dumbly at the food. “We have a Chinese place here?”

“They keep it quiet,” Sophie said with a smile. “They’re over behind Eternal Rest, and are only open three days a week right now. Even less during the offseason.”

“That’s…that’s pretty quiet,” Cassie agreed.

Sophie hoisted the bag. “I was hoping to bribe you with chicken lo mein to see that research on your house.”

Cassie opened the door wide. “Come on in.”

They made short work of the lo mein as Cassie took Sophie on a little tour of her own, narrating the photos that were still lined up on her coffee table. “Maybe you can help me,” she said. “There’s something here, and I’m just not seeing it. I think I’ve been looking at these pictures too long.”

“Is this them?” Sophie picked up the wedding photo, studying Mr. and Mrs. Hawkins. “He looks kinda mean, doesn’t he?”

“He does…” Cassie trailed off as another mental puzzle piece clicked into place. Mean. My man bad. Good Lord. She’d been so excited about the family tree discovery that she’d forgotten the other, very important thing that Sarah had told her.

“Sarah.” Cassie kept her eyes on the wedding photo as she raised her voice, directing it toward the kitchen. “Did your husband ever hurt you? Is that how he was bad?” She knew the answer to this question already, but damn did she want to be wrong. She steeled herself before going into the kitchen to look at the fridge.

yes

“Wow.” Sophie’s eyes were huge behind her glasses. “That still gives me the shivers, her moving the words around like that. Do you ever get used to it?”

“Trying to,” Cassie said absently, more focused on Sarah’s answer and what it meant. She glanced down at the photo in her hand, then back up at the fridge, and the message had already changed.

husband want baby

no

man bad

“He…he wanted kids, and when they didn’t come he got angry?” Cassie blinked hard against sudden tears. Go back a hundred years or so and that could have been her. With a husband who thought she was useless because she couldn’t have children. But it wasn’t her fault, any more than it was Sarah’s.

little pain

more control

Cassie nodded. “So it wasn’t so much that he hit you as he was a controlling douchebag. Got it.”

“You really should have that as one of the words she can use.” Sophie stepped closer to examine the words on the fridge.

But Cassie had more questions to ask. “Did you ever hurt him?” That was the big question, and both she and Sophie held their breath. They couldn’t see the words move, but suddenly just one word was in the middle of the fridge.

no

Cassie exhaled a huge sigh. She wasn’t roommates with a murderer. She could work with that. “But people thought you did.”

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