A Measure of Guilt
by
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The first note, stuck to the windshield of her car, had seemed innocent enough—just saying that she was beautiful and that he thought of her all the time. Kate had dismissed it as a prank. She wasn’t dating material, all right? The second note verged on the creepy, saying that he dreamed of her every night wearing Victoria’s Secret lingerie and asking if she wore it. She decided it was just a retaliation of some nut who’d been hitting on her without getting anywhere. The third one said he watched her everywhere. It made her scoff—He doesn’t have anything else to do? Seriously? Kate had tossed it into the glove compartment, to join the others, and had put them out of her mind. Or tried to. She couldn’t easily dismiss the fourth note, however, which said: I know all about you, Kate. It sent a chill of fear down her spine. What exactly did he know about her?
Now, after waving goodbye to Sandra’s mother, Kate glanced at her Mazda Miata and froze. Note number five, just two days since the last one, seemed to glow eerily under the windshield wiper in the sunlight. When had he managed to put it there? She’d spent, like, only a few minutes with Mrs. Galvin. God, what was it now?
Rubbing her arms, suddenly covered with goose bumps, Kate stalled. Maybe it was just a sales ad, pushing…whatever. But it was the same color again—lavender.
She dragged herself along the pathway toward her car. Warily she pulled the paper and unfolded it.
The line, printed in bold caps, snaked across the page.
I HAVE INFO ABOUT YOUR SISTER. NO COPS! SEE YOU…
Info? What info? Who are you? What do you want? Kate wanted to scream. Who was this freak? The kidnapper? Her stalker? How long did she have to wait for another note?
Cautiously she scanned the street. It seemed deserted, except for a woman several houses down babying her roses with a yellow watering can. Should she ask her? But who paid attention to passers-by slapping ads on cars?
Her vision blurry, Kate looked skyward, to blink her tears away, but the blazing sun spilled them onto her cheeks. She licked her lips, tasting salt, and shifted her gaze to the palm trees clustered on the left, their fronded crowns surveying the neighborhood from above. The only witnesses and silent at that…
Kate slid into her car and clutched the steering wheel, trying to stop the trembling in her hands. She should’ve walked here, stupid. It was only ten minutes away. But he would’ve left this note for her anyway—at home. He watched her everywhere, right? That note didn’t make her want to scoff anymore. Just what information did he have? Was it something to do with the news that Mrs. Galvin had just told her?
Kate crumpled the paper in her fist and threw it onto the passenger seat. She started the engine, but let it idle. She had some time to kill before her shift at Dolly’s. What should she do? The usual? The image of her Miata accelerating along the curve of the Coronado Bridge flashed through her mind. The briny air tickling her nostrils, the wind tousling her hair, and Sandra’s whooping, Woo-hoo! This bridge is so freakin’ high! We’re, like, zipping through the clouds. And look down, Kate. Those sail boats are totally cool! They’re like little toy ships made of paper.
Sandra…
A lump in Kate’s throat made it difficult to breathe. No, a drive on the bridge wouldn’t bring her relief. Nothing could. Unless… Should she pay him another visit? It’d been a month. She wouldn’t—couldn’t—tell him about the notes, but at least she’d get his attention by spilling the news.
“Kate, are you all right?” Sandra’s mother called out of the window.
With a wave of her hand, Kate sped down the street.
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About the Book
Nineteen-year-old Kate Flanagan has already endured entirely too much in her young life. Two years earlier, her kid sister, Angie, and her best friend, Sandra, were kidnapped from a San Diego amusement park, and Kate’s guilt over the part she played in the tragedy is beyond measure. Believing herself undeserving of a normal life, Kate avoids relationships, feels estranged from her parents, and has no social life. When she begins receiving increasingly chilling anonymous notes on her windshield, she dismisses them as the work of a random stalker.
The fifth note, however, claims that the writer has information about her sister. Hopeful that Angie and Sandra are still alive, distrustful of the police, and frightened by the escalating threat of the notes, Kate nevertheless decides to smoke out the source of the notes. With the help of an amateur private investigator, Kate sets out on a mission to find her sister and best friend—a hunt that leads her straight to her deranged stalker.
In this intriguing mystery tale, a woman desperate to atone for the past mistakes that have cost her nearly everything puts her life on the line in a desperate attempt to right a terrible wrong and catch a determined criminal.
About the Author
Nadezhda Seiler is the coauthor of the mystery novel Disengaged and the author of the romance novel Without Thinking Twice. She lives with her husband and their two dogs in Springfield, Virginia.