C34 The Hidden Message’s Weight

Morning came too quickly, the thin wash of sunlight spilling across the room like an accusation. Rachel hadn’t slept. The torn halves of the coin lay on the nightstand, the strip of paper hidden beneath her pillow.

He killed her.

The words pulsed through her skull, a steady drum she couldn’t silence.

Her mother’s face flickered in her memory — warm, gentle, but blurred now