Dying to Tell by Rita Herron

Amelia innocent...
    Still, it looked as if someone had broken into her house. “I could stay tonight,” he offered.
    Sadie took a step back. “I...don’t think that’s a good idea.”
    Jake suddenly realized Sadie thought he was suggesting more. Obviously she didn’t want to rekindle a relationship with him. “Nothing personal, Sadie,” he said, his voice tight. “Just in case the intruder returns.”
    “No,” Sadie said quickly. “I’ve been on my own for a long time, Jake. I’ll be fine.”
    But she didn’t look fine. She looked nervous and wary. And if he didn’t know better, there were secrets in her eyes.

    Guilt crowded Sadie’s throat for playing off Jake’s sympathy, when she had lied to him for years.
    But what if Amelia had stowed something in the box about the night Jake’s father died?
    She didn’t understand what exactly had happened between Blackwood and her sister, only what Skid had told her—that Blackwood had hurt her—but he’d never explained what he’d done. Bessie claimed he’d hurt her, too, but she’d resorted to crying, and they couldn’t get anything more from her.
    And Amelia couldn’t remember.
    She sighed. She might never know the truth about why Amelia had killed Papaw either. Unless she or Dr. Tynsdale could persuade her or one of the alters to open up.
    Still, she needed to sort through this box alone. To spend some time with Amelia and try to understand her.
    To keep their secret, because telling Jake now would only hurt him.
    If only she knew why his father had come to their house that night.
    Arthur Blackwood had served as the hospital administrator at the sanitarium. He had access to the patients, could come and go at will without question. But he wasn’t a doctor or a counselor. Still, he’d known Amelia from the sanitarium.
    And he’d known that Sadie was dating Jake.
    Every time she was around him, he’d made her feel uneasy. He scrutinized her as if he were trying to pick her apart.
    Dissected her to see if she were demented or sick like her sister.
    He hadn’t approved of Jake dating her. She’d heard him mutter warnings to Jake when he thought she’d left the room. Of course, half the town had been skeptical of her because she was Amelia’s twin sister.
    Jake’s phone buzzed, startling her, and he checked the number. “Let me get this. It’s the medical examiner.”
    Sadie nodded and carried the wooden box to the living area while Jake stepped out onto the porch. She traced a finger over the rose, remembering the day her grandmother had given the boxes to them. They were having a mother-daughter day at school. She had wanted her mother with her so badly that day.
    Then Gran had dressed in her Sunday best. She had bought her and Amelia pretty dresses and attended the luncheon with them.
    Later, when they got home, she’d given them the keepsake boxes, each with a photograph of their parents inside.
    Sadie opened the box, looked at the picture, traced her finger over it. Would her sister have been normal had it not been for the accident that had taken her parents’ lives?
    A second later, Jake stepped back inside, and she snapped the box shut.
    Jake checked his watch. “I’m going to meet the ME,” he said.
    Sadie noticed the early-morning sunshine flickering through the sheers. “It’s about Papaw’s body?”
    Jake shook his head. “No—Grace Granger. But he did say he plans to release your grandfather to the funeral home this morning, if you want to start making arrangements.”
    Sadie’s mind raced with the tasks ahead. How was she going to make the arrangements all by herself?
    Jake laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”
    Sadie nodded. Of course she was. She had to be.
    “I’m fine—thanks for coming out. I’ll call the funeral home in a little while.”
    “If you need help with the arrangements, with...anything, call me.”
    Tears burned the backs of her eyelids, but she blinked them back. How could she keep