That night, he lay in bed listening to the wind shove against the farmhouse siding, and for the first time since his wife left, he wished there was another adult in the house—someone to share the weight with, someone to say, You did the right thing, and have it sound like fact instead of an opinion.
Noah slept in the next room, the door cracked like always.
Daniel didn’t sleep much at all.
The envelope
The first threat didn’t come as a phone call or a masked stranger.
It came as an envelope tucked into his mailbox with no stamp.
No return address.
Just his name in block letters.
DANIEL HARPER
He stood in the kitchen holding it over the sink like it might leak poison.
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