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“Who are you?” Fallon’s voice pierced the damp air.
Fallon tensed her entire body, the light rain falling on her face and on the plastic surrounding the flowers gripped tightly in her right hand. The stranger had a long black jacket on, one that nearly reached their mid-calves. But this stranger was definitely standing right in front of the grave Fallon had come to see, the one she knew she was the only one to visit in the last year.
The stranger jerked with a start, turned around and faced Fallon.Shehad a head full of bleached blonde hair, bright brown eyes, and pale cheeks in a heart-shaped face.Shewas short, much shorter than Fallon herself, andshestill hadn’t explained her purpose for being here.
“What are you doing?” Fallon tried again, wanting to know what was going on and why some stranger would be mumbling things over her mother’s grave.
The stranger shook her head and put her hands up in front of her defensively. “I… I don’t even know where to begin, honestly.”
“You better start talking now.” Fallon clenched her free hand into a tight fist, her knees locked as she stood her ground. She wanted answers, and she wanted them immediately. Shecouldn’t let anyone else stand on her mother’s grave. It could only be people who deserved to be there.
“I come here—on occasion—to apologize.”
“What the hell for?” Fallon’s voice had a serious bite to it, the one where she meant business. It worked on her sister every time she used it, but this stranger seemed impervious almost. Like she wasn’t bothered by the venom Fallon spewed in her direction.
“That really is a long story where I play the dumb innocent victim.” She winced, glanced back at the headstone, and then moved forward with her hand out. “Savannah Logan.”
“I’m not shaking your hand.” Fallon kept that anger front and center in her chest. She crossed her arms tightly, the crunching plastic around the flowers she’d brought for her mother loud in her ears. She raised her eyebrows at Savannah and shook her head. Had she heard that name before? It had a familiar ring, but she couldn’t place it. Besides, it was too odd that someone was standing over her mother’s grave. Fallon was going to hold her ground on this one until she knew what was going on.
Savannah again put her hand up defensively before placing it down by her side. “The rain is picking up.” She pointed to the sky. “Why don’t we go get some coffee and then I can tell you the story where I look like an idiot?”
“I won’t even shake your hand and you think I’m going anywhere with you?” Fallon couldn’t believe this woman. Did she really think that Fallon was so easy? Was this some kind of kidnapping gone wild or something? She’d never heard of the traffickers taking women from cemeteries. That wasn’t a bad idea, though. She’d have to ask Athena how many cases like that had happened in the last ten years.
“It’s a public place for coffee.” Savannah shook her head. “I’m not that scary of a person, I promise. Just a bumbling idiot on a good day. But the rain really is picking up.”
Fallon could feel it. The drops weren’t light anymore, but heavy and cold as they landed on her head and shoulders. It wouldn’t be long before it seeped into her jacket and drenched her hair. But she really didn’t want to go anywhere with Savannah.
“Why were you here?” Fallon asked. She wanted answers now, not later, not when Savannah would be able to come up with a reason, not when she’d be able to better formulate a lie.
“It’s a long story that spans about six months…” Savannah grimaced and pointed at the head stone. “I felt bad, so I’ve been bringing flowers any time that I come.”
“To make yourself feel better?” Fallon didn’t believe it. Why would this woman bring flowers to a stranger’s grave? Because she would be too young to have known Fallon’s mother prior to her death over thirty years ago. Hell, was she even old enough to have been alive at that point?
“Yeah, I guess. To assuage some of my guilt.” Savannah blew out a breath, drops of rain sliding down her face, but she didn’t reach up to brush them away. She wouldn’t turn her gaze away from Fallon, either. Those deep brown eyes didn’t waver.
“I’m not here to fix your problems, and neither is my mother.”
“Mother?” Savannah’s eyebrows shot up, behind her bangs. “I… I didn’t realize she was your mother.”
Fallon shook her head sharply. “Do you even know who you’re bringing flowers to?”
“Are you Fallon or Monti, then?”
Fallon tensed even more sharply than she had before. A chill rushed through her from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. Her lips parted in surprise, and she had no idea how to even respond to that question. How had Savannah known their names? What the hell was going on?
“Are you stalking me?” Fallon’s voice wobbled.
“What? No!” Savannah shook her head wildly, eyes wide, and plump cheeks pale. “I’m not stalking you. If I was, then I’d know which daughter you are.”
Well, that was sound logic. Still, she could be lying, and Fallon didn’t like liars. She clenched onto the flowers even tighter than before. She wanted to leave them on the headstone and stomp out of there, never looking back, but she also didn’t want to turn her back on a potential threat. She wouldn’t let herself ever be in that situation again.
“I don’t know what you’re doing here, but you should leave.” Fallon stared wide-eyed at Savannah, unable to remove her gaze. She wanted to look somewhere else, but she couldn’t. She wanted to know more about what was happening, but she couldn’t force herself to ask any more questions.
She would just chalk this up to some weird encounter and go on with her day when she got back to the office. Until then, she was going to have to live with the fact that her time with her mother was interrupted and that it was going to be a much shorter visit than she had anticipated.
Which didn’t sit well with Fallon.
