Chapter 13: Meeting Anna Croft

When we arrived back in Marston, the sun had set. Whatever that phone call had been about had set Valen on edge.

I had never felt this sort of tenseness from him before.

Other than his default calm and collected demeanor, I’d seen him irritated with my chatter at most. Even his outburst when he’d discovered me and Bethany had seemed somewhat controlled. The closest he’d come to this reaction was when he’d gotten the call that had interrupted our first meeting.

Had another body been found?

His tense urgency was making me nervous. And not the nice ‘I wonder what will happen next’ kind of nervous either.

When I’d asked what was wrong the first time, he’d only responded with a clipped, “We need to get back.”

And we’d had a whole ten minutes left.

The moment we arrived, he led me to Liz’s. He brought me inside and stopped just passed the entrance.

“I need you to stay here,” he said, his tone commanding.

“At least tell me what’s going on.”