The letter remained on Adeline's desk long after Jarvis had arrived.
She had read it repeatedly, but the words still made little sense to her.
My dearest Dee.
She looked up at Jarvis.
"Who is Dee?"
Jarvis was examining the envelope.
"I don't know."
"Do you think it's a name?"
"Perhaps."
"Or someone's nickname?"
He glanced at her.
"Why?"
"Because the letter doesn't sound like it was written to me."
Jarvis paused.
"What makes you say that?"
She picked up the paper.
"It talks about someone giving their heart to another person. It mentions a man who doesn't understand its value. And then there's this line."
She pointed to the paragraph.
You were never meant to belong to a woman like her.
could that woman be me?
Jarvis read it again.
Adeline lowered the paper.
"What if this person isn't writing to me at all?"
For a moment, Jarvis said nothing.
Then his eyes returned to the words at the top.
MY DEAREST DEE.
A thought crossed his mind.
But he dismissed it almost immediately.
"Whatever the meaning, someone deliberately left this for you to find. That makes it a threat."
Adeline sighed.
"I'm beginning to think everyone around me has a secret."
Jarvis gently took the letter from her.
"Then we'll find out what those secrets are."
She looked at him.
"You say that as though it's easy."
"It isn't. But I'll help you."
There was something different about the way he said it this time.
He wasn't simply promising to protect her.
He was promising to find the truth, even if the truth led somewhere neither of them wanted to go.
Detective Inspector Blackwood Hawthorne had spent most of the morning reviewing the statements from the previous interviews.
He had three things on his mind.
Oliver's murder.
Anthony Brown's suspicious death.
And Dwayne Davies.
He placed the photographs of the seven friends on his desk and studied them carefully.
The faces had become familiar to him.
Too familiar.
One was dead.
Another was killed ten years back.
And the others appeared to be doing everything possible to avoid giving him a complete account of their past.
"Wait….."
"Seven friends? But why are there only six in this photograph?"
He turned towards Detective Inspector Eleanor Whitmore.
"Have we established where Dwayne Davies was during the period immediately before Oliver's murder?"
Whitmore checked her notes.
"Not completely. He was in North Yorkshire for part of the investigation period, but there are gaps in his movements."
"And after Oliver's death?"
"He returned to London briefly, then came back to North Yorkshire."
Hawthorne frowned.
"Why?"
"His wife is here."
"Convenient."
Whitmore looked up.
"You think he was avoiding something?"
"I think his movements deserve more attention than we've given them."
He picked up another file.
"There's something else. When we first questioned him, he was remarkably concerned about what Jarvis might say. Now he's suddenly travelling between London and North Yorkshire while his friends are being murdered."
moreover, everyone including him have been mentioning seven friends but look closely here, there are only six people in this photograph"
"could he know the last person or did he mistakenly mention them"
There was a brief silence before Whitmore spoke
"Should we bring him in?"
"Again," Hawthorne replied. "And this time, I want a clear explanation for his absence from North Yorkshire during the relevant period."
He returned to the photographs.
His eyes settled on the young Dwayne smiling from cheek to cheek
There were not many people left to question.
And he intended to speak to every one of them.
Adeline received a strange call.
She had been sitting in the balcony of her sophisticated apartment and the voice reaching her from the other end of the phone made her rise to her feet in shock
"Dad!"
He hesitated for a moment then spoke softly
"My little girl."
She closed her eyes.
It had been too long.
Her parents had separated years earlier, and the distance between them had only grown after her mother's death. Her father had remained in contact, but their relationship had never quite returned to what it once was.
Since her mother's passing, Adeline had often felt as though she had lost the person who understood her best.
Her father wasn't even there for her during her marriage to Dwayne. She had felt terrible, but Rose undoubtedly filled in the gap but why in the heavens was he back now.
"What do you want ?"
"I want to see you Addy."
"I've missed you"
She smiled faintly.
"It's too late for this"
"you need protection Addy, I have seen the news "
"I also want to know Joe's murderer"
Adeline was quiet for a while
"you didn't care about mom and now, suddenly, you care about uncle Joe?"
"suit yourself dad "
Robert Brown stood still as his phone beeped once. Adeline had hung up the call on him
"I'm coming to you my little one, I'll atone for my sins " He said
Dwayne had returned to Northyorkshire and had lodged in an apartment very close to Adeline's
That evening, Jarvis found himself alone with Dwayne in the study.
Dwayne's hands kept shaking as he read the content of the letter
"why was it so familiar?"
"Did she speak to the police?"
"No, I sneaked this out of her office"
"Have you heard from Hawthorne?"
Jarvis looked at him.
"Why?"
"He's been asking questions."
"That's his job."
"Don't be clever."
Jarvis leaned against the desk.
"He wants to know why you were absent from North Yorkshire."
Dwayne looked up.
"And what did you tell him?"
"Nothing he didn't already know."
"Good."
Jarvis studied his brother.
"Why did you leave?"
"I had things to attend to in London."
"What things?"
Dwayne closed his phone.
"Why are you suddenly interested?"
"Because people are dying, Dwayne."
"Oliver is dead. I know that."
"And now another one of your friends is missing from the picture."
Dwayne's expression changed.
"Who?"
Jarvis stared at him.
"You haven't heard?"
"Heard what?"
"The police have been investigating, they are aiming to question everyone in that photograph"
"But Daniel Mercer left North Yorkshire this afternoon. Apparently, he was frightened. He told someone he wasn't staying around to become the next body."
Dwayne stood.
"Where is he now?"
"Nobody knows."
"Have you contacted him?"
"why would I?"
Dwayne reached for his phone.
Jarvis watched him.
"You look worried."
"Of course I'm worried."
"About Daniel?"
Dwayne ignored the question.
"Did he say anything?"
"Only that he thought the killer was coming for all of them."
Dwayne swore under his breath.
Jarvis moved closer.
"Is that true?"
"What?"
"Are we all targets?"
Dwayne looked at him.
"Jarvis, I need you to understand something. This isn't a game. We need to be careful about what we say and who we say it to."
"That's exactly what you told me before Oliver died."
"And look what happened."
Jarvis shook his head.
"No. Look what happened because nobody told the truth."
Dwayne grabbed his jacket.
"You're leaving Adeline again?"
"She's not the only person I'm worried about."
Dwayne stopped.
"What do you mean?" He asked sternly
Jarvis looked directly at him.
"It means I am no longer certain I can protect you from the consequences of your own decisions."
Dwayne stared at his brother for a moment.
"Adeline deserves better" Jarvis spoke up
Dwayne felt a surge of anger welding up in his chest.
He saw the look in Jarvis eyes he recognized that look and wasn't in anyway comfy with it
"From today, I don't want you any close to Adeline"
"She remains my wife and you dare not cross the lines"
He stormed out leaving the letter behind
Jarvis remained in the study.
He had spent years protecting Dwayne.
He had defended him when others questioned his behaviour. He had kept quiet when he should have spoken.
But Adeline was suffering.
And he could no longer convince himself that loyalty to his brother was more important than her right to know the truth.
ANOTHER BODY
Daniel Mercer had been driving for almost an hour when he noticed the car behind him.
At first, he paid little attention.
The road out of North Yorkshire was quiet, and there were several vehicles travelling in the same direction.
But after turning onto a narrower road, he noticed the same headlights behind him.
He checked his mirror.
The car was still there.
He increased his speed.
So did the other driver.
Daniel's breathing became uneven.
"Come on," he muttered.
He reached for his phone and dialled a number.
It rang twice.
No answer.
He tried again.
This time, the call connected.
"Hello?"
"It's Daniel."
"Where are you?"
"I'm leaving."
A pause.
"Leaving where?"
"North Yorkshire. I'm done with this."
"Daniel, slow down."
"No! I've had enough. Logan and Michael are dead, now Oliver as well. And everyone is pretending we're not next."
"Listen to me—"
"I know what happened that night. I know what we did."
The voice on the other end went silent.
Daniel looked into his mirror.
The headlights were closer.
"Someone is following me."
"Daniel?"
"I think they know."
The call suddenly broke.
He looked down at his phone.
No signal.
Then the car behind him accelerated.
Daniel's eyes widened.
He pressed his foot against the accelerator.
The road curved ahead.
He tried to take the bend, but the pursuing vehicle struck the rear of his car with tremendous force.
His steering wheel jerked.
The car spun.
Metal screamed against the road.
Then everything went dark.
Hawthorne was informed of Daniel Mercer's death shortly before midnight.
He stood beside his desk, listening to the officer on the other end of the telephone.
"Where was he found?"
"Outside North Yorkshire, Inspector. His vehicle appears to have been forced off the road."
"Accident?"
"We're still investigating. There are indications another vehicle may have been involved."
Hawthorne closed his eyes briefly.
"Do we have a time of death?"
"Not yet."
"Keep me informed."
He ended the call.
Whitmore looked at him.
"Another one?"
"Daniel Mercer."
She approached the desk.
"Was he connected to Oliver?"
"One of the original group."
Hawthorne picked up the photograph again.
He placed a finger over Daniel's face.
Then Oliver's.
Then the two men standing close to Oliver and Daniel, Logan Gates and Michael Stuart.
The four had now been confirmed dead
He looked at the remaining men.
"How many are left?"
Whitmore studied the photograph.
"Two, depending on how we're counting the men who are still alive."
"they're seven where is the last face here?"
Hawthorne nodded slowly.
"That's what I thought."
He moved to the board and began arranging the photographs in a line.
"These deaths are not random. They're connected to a particular group of people and something that happened years ago."
"Do you think the killer is working through the photograph?"
"Possibly. But I don't think the photograph is simply a list of victims."
He paused.
"Look at their expressions. They weren't posing for an ordinary photograph. Something happened before it was taken."
Whitmore examined it.
"Do you think the killer was there?"
"I think the killer knows what happened. And I think whoever remains in that photograph knows more than they've told us."
He picked up his phone.
"Find the last person."
"His name is Graham Ellis."
"Then I want to speak to Graham Ellis tonight."
Jarvis received the news about Daniel while sitting in the living room.
Adeline was beside him, her head resting against the back of the sofa.
"What happened?" she asked when she noticed his expression.
"Daniel Mercer is dead."
She sat upright.
"Another one?"
Jarvis nodded.
"His car was forced off the road while he was leaving North Yorkshire."
Adeline covered her mouth.
"Why would someone do that?"
Jarvis looked at her.
"Because he knew something."
"What?"
"I don't know."
She looked at him helplessly.
"How many more people have to die before somebody tells the truth?"
Jarvis reached for her hand.
"I wish I could answer that."
"Does Dwayne know?"
"He will."
Adeline looked down at their hands.
"Jarvis, I don't think I can keep doing this."
He moved closer.
"You don't have to do it alone."
She leaned against his shoulder.
He wrapped an arm around her.
For a while, neither spoke.
"can you convince him Jarvis?" She asked softly
Jarvis looked down at her.
He could feel her exhaustion. He could see how much she wanted to believe that the people around her were capable of protecting her.
And he knew that if he continued protecting Dwayne's secrets, he might eventually lose her trust completely.
His phone vibrated.
A message from Hawthorne.
I need to speak with you urgently. There are developments concerning Daniel Mercer. Call me.
Jarvis read it twice.
Then he typed.
I am willing to cooperate. There are things you need to know about Dwayne.
He stared at the message.
His thumb hovered over the screen.
He knew what sending it would mean.
It would be a betrayal.
It could destroy his relationship with his brother.
But he looked at Adeline again.
And he sent it.