I couldn’t bring myself to answer her right away.

Whatever Brandon had been trying to tell me, he had deliberately hidden it where only a member of our own family would eventually find it.

After five long years of believing his death was simply a tragic accident, I was suddenly terrified to read the rest of the message.

PART 2

For several long seconds, neither Daisy nor I made a sound.

The bedroom seemed to hold its breath around us while rain tapped softly against the glass and the old timber frame of the house creaked in the darkness.