Her Dead Sister Was Watching From Across the Street

CHAPTER 1 - The Boy With Her Sister's Earring

Ava Collins was sitting outside a crowded cafe when a poorly dressed boy reached toward her earring.

She caught his wrist and pushed his hand away.

"Hey, get your hands off me!"

The boy stepped back but did not run. His blond hair was unwashed, and his jacket was several sizes too large.

Instead of looking frightened, he smiled.

"The same earrings."

"What are you talking about?"

The boy opened his hand.

An identical gold tassel earring lay in his palm.

Ava's anger disappeared.

Her late mother had owned the earrings. Shortly before her death, she separated the pair and gave one to each of her daughters.

Ava had worn hers ever since.

The other belonged to her older sister, Emma.

Emma had supposedly died seven years earlier when her car went over a cliff. Her one-year-old son, Noah, had vanished with her and was also declared dead.

Ava touched her earring.

"Where did you get that?"

"My mom gave it to me," the boy answered. "She said I'd find you here."

Ava stood abruptly.

"Your mom?"

The boy pointed across the street.

A woman in a cream-colored suit stood near a green wall. Her face was thinner, and a scar crossed her temple, but Ava recognized her instantly.

"Emma?"

The woman began crying.

Ava crossed the street and threw her arms around the sister she had mourned for seven years.

Emma did not return the embrace immediately.

She stared over Ava's shoulder as though expecting someone to follow them.

The boy took her hand.

"I'm Noah," he said.

Ava looked into his familiar gray eyes.

Her nephew was alive.

"Why didn't you come home?" Ava asked.

Emma's expression hardened.

"Because I was told you helped them bury me."

She pulled a folded letter from her pocket.

It carried Ava's forged signature.

The message said Emma had disgraced the family and would be arrested if she ever returned.

Ava recognized the expensive stationery.

It belonged to Margaret Whitmore, Emma's mother-in-law.

Emma looked toward a black car parked at the corner.

"We have to leave. She knows we're here."

Before Ava could respond, the car door opened.

Margaret stepped onto the pavement and stared at Emma like a ghost who had refused to remain buried.