Page 65 of The Silent Note

Which doesn’t make sense because I personally saw to it that the elderly woman was received by her family.

She smiled at them.

They thanked us.

And then we left.

So how did she find her way back to the nursing home to die in the very bed we carried her out of?

Cadence is the first to look away from the cell phone. She starts laughing.

Sloane points at her.“Is she okay? Did the shock break something in her brain?”

If there’s anyone with a broken brain in here, it’s the one seeing visions of her dead best friend.

Sloane scowls at me, eyes narrowed.“These aren’t visions. I’m real. I just don’t have a body.”

“Brahms, you want to spell out what’s so funny?” Dutch demands.

“Sorry, guys. I just…”

Finn frowns in concern.

Zane rubs the back of his neck. “Look, Cadey, I love a good joke as much as anyone, but this doesn’t seem like it.”

She swipes under her eyes. Slowly, her laughter subsides and a poignant sadness replaces it.

Dutch turns on protective husband mode. “Babe, you good?”

Cadey’s smile is ruined by her teary eyes. “Remember…” She pauses. “Remember how my mom ‘died’ before I went to Redwood?”

“You mean when she faked her death?” Finn clarifies.

Cadence gives us a knowing look.

Dutch gets it first. He whirls around. “You did this?”

“Nah.” Zane lifts both arms. “Wasn’t me.”

“I was in the computer room the entire time.”

“But… not Sol,” I breathe.

Cadence’s smile slowly dims.

“Sol was supposed to set a fire in the grandmother’s room,” I say, gaze falling to the news article.

“Yeah, but the fire was just to hide the fact that her bags and valuables were gone. We didn’t want the cops on our tail while we were getting away.”

“I think Sol misunderstood.” Cadence’s gaze flicks up to Dutch.

“Or went rogue,” Zane murmurs, rubbing his thumb under his lip.

“It works either way. The news is classifying it as an accident,” I say.

Finn’s eyes sharpen on me. “Variables matter. The guards we paid off didn’t count on someone ‘dying’. If one of them has a guilty conscience?—”

“What matters,” Zane says, stepping in front of me, “is that we get what we need from Slavno.”

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