Scared Yet? by Jaye Ford Page B

sent Kelly a thumbs up as she headed for her own office. While she waited for her computer to come to life, she flicked through the pile of mail. Wow, she really was popular. There were cards and notes from some of their temp staff, one from a client she hadn’t spoken to since he retired a couple of years ago, one signature she couldn’t read – and one unsigned sheet of paper.
    Her hand stopped. The unsigned page was halfway through the pile, most of its contents hidden by the mail above it. She slid it from the stack slowly, as though caution might make it something else.
    It didn’t. It was plain, white, A4 paper. Two crossed crease marks where it’d been folded into quarters. The lines were arranged down the centre like a poem. And the smallish, scrawled handwriting made her heart pound.

11
    It was ink on a page but it felt like words whispered in her ear. I know it and you know it.
    It had been just the two of them that night. Terrifying and intimate. And now he was stretching out the moment.
    Blood pulsed in Liv’s swollen cheek as she tried to make sense of it. Not the meaning, she got that loud and clear. How his message had got on her desk.
    It was in the mail. It had been sent to Prescott and Weeks.
    Which meant he knew where she worked.
    She lifted her eyes swiftly from the page, half expecting to see a black-clad figure hovering in her doorway. But her office was empty. So was the reception area, except for Teagan behind the counter talking into her headset.
    That’s right. Teagan had opened the mail, taken the cards and letters out of their envelopes. Had he bought a stamp and posted it from far away or stood in the street outside and delivered it by hand?
    Liv raised her voice as she walked to reception. ‘Where are the envelopes?’
    Teagan turned, still on the phone, smiling. A private kind of giggle.
    â€˜Finish up on the phone, Tee. I need the envelopes.’ She waved the note about. ‘Where are the envelopes?’
    Teagan frowned as though she didn’t understand the question, covered her mouthpiece and hooked a thumb over her shoulder. ‘Where they usually are, in the storeroom.’
    Liv didn’t have the brain space for a discussion about personal phone time with the office junior. ‘Get off the phone, Teagan. I need your attention.’
    The girl whispered, ‘Gotta go,’ pressed a button on her console and looked at Liv.
    â€˜I mean the envelopes the mail came in this morning. Where are they?’
    â€˜I put them in the recycling,’ Teagan said as if she’d already saved the world.
    â€˜Can you dig them out again?’
    â€˜Well, I . . . put them in the big bin outside. It’s pickup day.’
    Liv glanced over her shoulder in the direction of the bin bay out in the lane. ‘When does the truck come?’
    â€˜This morning, I think, bu-ut . . .’
    Liv raised her eyebrows. ‘But what?’
    â€˜The travel agents dumped a bunch of cartons and shredded stuff just after me. There was, like, a heap of it.’
    Liv pushed a hand through her hair. ‘Shit.’
    â€˜Everything okay?’ Kelly asked from the doorway of her office.
    Teagan held her hands up as though she had no idea. ‘I didn’t know Liv needed the envelopes.’
    â€˜It’s all right, Teagan. It’s not your fault,’ Liv told her then spoke to Kelly. ‘I got another one.’
    â€˜Another what?’ Teagan asked.
    As Liv explained about the first note, Kelly took the new one from her and read it. ‘Oh my God.’
    â€˜What?’ Teagan looked back and forth between them. ‘What’s it say?’
    Kelly passed it to her. ‘Have you called the police?’
    â€˜Not yet,’ Liv told her. ‘I wanted to find the envelope to see whether it was mailed or hand-delivered first.’
    â€˜That’s totally creepy.’ Teagan handed it back to