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He was too strong, too stubborn, to let it seep into his lungs or burrow in his chest Instead it ski his hair as it crawled across his skin, unforgiving and stifling He had killed his sister, disposed of her, but the deefulness and bitter rage, reainst hi to force hi his best to ignore the sensation, he spent the next hour going through the house, sifting through desk drawers and scouring roohly tossed the place, turning furniture upside down and destroying things with no regard in his search He came up empty in the way of personal effects, but he found a bit of hidden cash and soeable in his eyes, nothing worth saving

No photographs Noshe was family or that anyone who ever lived in that home cared she existed

He was in a downstairs closet, throwing things around, when he hit a wall panel and knocked it loose He kicked it aside, peering into the hole, and caught a flash of sorabbed a handle, having to use so with it Corrado coughed forcefully as it infiltrated his lungs, his eyes stinging

After stepping back out of the closet, Corrado surveyed the object with puzzlee Halliburton alue had dulled the outside, but it held sturdily together

He tried to pry it open to no avail, striking at the lock, before conceding and throwing it to the floor He considered leaving it there, frustrated, but soed him not to It had clearly been hidden away for years, maybe decades He couldn’t fathom what the briefcase contained that warranted such protection

It was a riddle to him, a puzzleaup, he snatched it fro it into the back seat of his rental car He stared at the house, still feeling his skin trying to slink away Dusk had co fast as the sun dipped behind the desert cliffs After debating for a long athered so in the roo a container of paint thinner in the cellar, he splashed a bit on the belongings before pulling a book of Luna Rossa leit onto the pile

It ignited swiftly as Corradothe front door wide open He pulled away frohway out of Blackburn There was enough wind blowing and dirt in the dry air to cover his tire tracks, enough oxygen in the house to be certain the entire thing would go up in fla sky, it would be hours before someone spotted the sround

An orange glow lit up the bottolanced in the rearview round surrounding it The tension in hisat his skin fading away

A small smile lifted the corner of his lips What better way to send the evil back to Hell than a fiery grave?

13

While Dia was on her way to Durante to visit her parents, Haven awaited a visitor of her own She sat in the living rooent laying on her lap She had flipped through it countless ties as she hoped the words would soh Every tiet worse It was all there in black-and-white, everything she had promised to never tell spelled out with utter si to be sick

There was a knock after a while, firm and determined Haven set the notebook down and opened the door, her heart hae Dr DeMarco walked in without a word and she closed the door behind him "I’ ered on the wall splattered with art and photos before he turned to her "I’lad you called Where is it?"

She pointed to the table where the notebook lay "I had no idea they had it"

Dr DeMarco picked it up and sighed "I did"

She gaped at hient Cerone showed it to ht I would crack if I knehat you’d written"

Her stomach dropped so hard it was like she had taken a ten-story fall, stopping just shy of sla to sit down "You read it?"

"He read a few passages to me, but I couldn’t help that"

Her head swaht have heard "I’m sorry I really am I was upset when I wrote soize," he said, shaking his head "You have every right to feel how you feel"

"But they know the truth," she said "The government knows aboutthey can do about it You have an expectation of privacy with your diary They can’t use any of it without your cooperation"

Those words sent waves of relief through her "They can’t?"

"No, but it doesn’t et about it either The journal ally, but there are other ways for them to utilize it And trust me when I say they will They already are"

"How?" she asked "What can they do?"

"Exactly what they’ve done" He held up the notebook "He didn’t drop this off out of the kindness of his heart He did it to get to meto prove a point"

"What point?"

"It doesn’t matter," he said "It’s between me and him"

His voice was quiet, his tone clipped She didn’t ask any et any more information from him

"Do you have any more notebooks?" he asked "Any more diaries?"