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Her mind went to the other officer who came over the other night. Did he tell his friends when she told him? Had the officer moved the stuffed animal to prank her tonight? Put her on edge? He wouldn’t do that, would he?
She didn’t have her eyes on him the whole time. She wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings as she talked to Officer Parker. Officer Johnson could have very well snuck off and moved one of the zebras.
Margery took a step forward and looked closely at the stuffed zebra, trying to see which one he picked. But her breath got stuck in her throat.
For.
The word was written on the stuffed zebra along with the same initials as before:Y.L.What did that mean?
Her eyes went wide as she thought about it. Ethan used to sign the notes he sent her with Your Love.
“No,” she whispered. “No. No. No.”
It wasn’t possible. Ethan couldn’t have done it. He was dead. It couldn’t be possible. No one else knew he signed his letters like that.
Margery took a step back and started to shake her head. There was no way it could be Ethan. No way at all. Tears formed in her eyes as she continued to walk backward, staring at the stuffed zebra the whole time.
How did it get there? How had theperson come in without her knowing? Was it there before the guy attacked her?Was this Ethan?
There were so many questions running through her head. So many things to try and make sense of, but she couldn’t.
Her back hit the wall, and she screamed before sliding down, her bottom hitting the floor. She wrapped her arms around her legs and started to rock slowly.
This wasn’t possible.
This couldn’t be happening.
There was no way Ethan was alive.
CHAPTER FIVE
MARGERY
Margery was still looking at the stuffed animal sitting on her coffee table. She didn’t know how long she had been sitting there.
Hours.
The sun had gone down, and it was back up now. She was exhausted, but she was also completely freaked out. Her mind kept going back to Ethan and his sign-off.
Had he told one of his friends, and they were playing a sick joke on her now? Because Ethan couldn’t be alive. There was no explanation.
The police officers who were there at his car crash asked Bonnie and Margery to identify the body. They told her they weren’t sure Bonnie was going to come, and they needed somebody who knew him really well. She saw the body on that cold table. Bonnie had come in several minutes after her and broken down.
She had seen his body. There was’ no way he could be alive. There was’ no way he set this up to send gifts so manyyears after his death. He couldn’t have known he was going to die.
Margery’s phone went off loudly, and she jumped. Who was it? Why were they calling her? She grabbed her phone, which was sitting right next to her, and saw Adalisa’s name on it.
“Hello?” she asked when she picked up.
“Margery? Are you okay?” Adalisa asked.
She could tell that coworker was worried about her. Her voice was off. Pure exhaustion? She figured it was that, but Margery thought she also detected a little worry or panic in her own voice. But that could just be because she knew what was going on. Her coworker didn’t.
“Yeah, everything’s okay,” Margery replied.
She wasn’t going to talk about everything over the phone. She didn’t know if she was going to tell Adalisa about it. It just didn’t seem like something to talk about, but she knew her friend would ask about it the next time she saw her. Which hopefully wouldn’t be so soon.
Margery needed some time to think about what she was going to say and how she was going to say it. Would Addy believe her? Would she tell her she’s going crazy?
