Page 45 of Little Hidden Fears

“A little while. I figured you both would’ve beat me to it.” I glanced at the clock on the wall. “I should get going, leave you both to question him yourselves.”

“You might want to stay.”

Whitlock nodded in agreement, and I realized I was about to be let in on something I didn’t yet know.

“We’ve just done another sweep of Dominic and Noelle’s home, and we found something we’d like to talk to you about, Gabe,” Whitlock said.

“All right,” Gabe said.

Whitlock reached into his pocket, producing what appeared to be a letter.

“We didn’t see it the first time we went through the house because it was stuck to the underside of the lamp on Noelle’s nightstand.”

“We’re thinking she may have put it there intentionally,” Foley said, “to perhaps hide it from her husband.”

“If she was hiding it, why wouldn’t she just throw it away?” I asked.

“Given Noelle and Dominic are both dead, I guess we’ll never know.”

“Who’s Dominic?” Gabe asked.

“Noelle’s husband,” I said.

“He’s dead, too?” Gabe said. “Strangled?”

“Not strangled,” I said. “After Noelle died, he killed himself.”

Gabe slapped a hand to his lips, his head shaking. “Oh, this is awful. So, so, so awful.”

“What we want to know is ... when did you write her this letter, and why?” Foley asked.

“Sure, I’ll tell you,” Gabe said. “I’ll tell you everything.”

“Hold on a minute,” I said. “May I see the letter so I can get up to speed on what’s happening here?”

Whitlock looked at Foley, who nodded, and passed the letter to me.

I opened it and began to read.

Dear Noelle,

I can’t thank you enough for your letter and for reaching out to me after all this time, and I want you to know how much your kind words mean to me. I’ve thought a lot about you over the years, wondering how you are and what your life might be like, as I hoped for every happiness for you and your family.

If it wasn’t for my concern about stirring up the past, I would have made contact as soon as I was released. There are so many things I’ve wanted to say to you.

First, no amount of apologies I could ever give could make up for that awful night. I pushed you to do something, even after you asked me to stop, and for that, I will never forgivemyself. The best thing I could do was to learn from my mistakes, and learn I have.

While I was serving my time, I found great comfort in the scriptures. Up to that point, I’d never considered myself a spiritual person. I was more of an atheist, if anything. But something about the many passages I read spoke to me, and I found the more I relied on the words, the more I began to feel real change.

Some people don’t believe others can change, and that’s all right. But I want you to know that I have changed, and I promise you, I am a better man, a humble man. And I will never harm anyone again.

I hope that you are living your best life, your fullest life, and that you’ve been able to shed the past, becoming the brilliant woman I’ve always known you to be.

Gabe Romero

P.S. I’d like to close with a scripture, one that holds great meaning to me:

Be sorry for your sins and cry because of them. Be sad and do not laugh. Let your joy be turned to sorrow.Let yourself be brought low before the Lord. Then He will lift you up and help you. – James 4:9-10

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