Chapter 10

The next morning, Stella took Kira to a school event. Bo went to her appointment with Dr. Karen Wilson. Tamsin stayed home, thinking she'd spend some time looking for that book (or whatever it was) on which she could use that message decoder.

She had barely finished her breakfast when the doorbell rang.

Outside the front door, there stood a stranger. She was in her early forties, about 5'5", with a pair of sharp hazel eyes. Her lush, frizzy brown hair and her long, pronounced nose made her look like a lion.

Tamsin noticed the slight bulge under her black blazer. This woman was carrying two guns under her arms.

Tamsin also caught a glimpse of the strap on her ankle. It was a third firearm.

"Can I help you?" Tamsin asked as she glanced at the woman's black SUV parked at the guest parking, right beside her truck.

As Tamsin expected, the woman showed her a badge. She couldn't not be a law enforcement personnel.

To her surprise, though, the badge was issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

"FBI?" Tamsin frowned hard.

"I'm SSA Alex Rivera," the woman introduced herself. "Are you Tamsin Thornehurst?"

"Yeah, why?"

"Can we talk?"

"About what?" Tamsin crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"About your brother's death."

After shaking Tamsin's hand, Alex sat down in the great room. She briefly scanned her surroundings, before she took out a notepad and a pen. She placed them on the coffee table, and gave Tamsin a polite nod.

"How is it that Dylan's death involves the FBI?" Tamsin asked. "The cops never mentioned anything about inviting the feds."

"We have recently become aware of your brother's death. We also have reasons to believe that it might not be an accident."

"Really?" Tamsin raised her eyebrows. Her heart suddenly started to race.

"I'd like to ask you a few questions, if you don't mind."

"Depends on what questions you might have, Ma'am."

The agent asked for her drivers license first. She compared the name, date of birth and address with the one she had on record.

"Your purpose of visiting Crimson Rock?"

"Visiting family?"

"After 15 years of not setting a foot in or near Crimson Rock, you suddenly wanted to visit your family?" Alex stared at Tamsin.

"Yep."

"You came back because your brother went missing?"

"No, I had no idea that he was missing until I arrived," Tamsin corrected her.

"You were the one who discovered the body, correct?"

"I'd love to tell that story again, but I think it would be more convenient for both of us if you could just read the statement I gave at the station, signed and dated by me."

"I've read your statement and everything else in his case. What I am wondering is, the location where he had died was very peculiar. What made you decide to search inside the abandoned, and sealed, mine?"

"Ummm...I don't know, I passed by it earlier and noticed something unusual?"

"Right, the fallen rock and rusty nails," Alex nodded. "According to your statement, you actually noticed that rock the night before, but you didn't return until the next day. Why might that be? What took you so long?"

"I don't know, I'm no Sherlock and it took me some time to actually...find it worth investigating?"

"You have no idea that your brother went into entrance 9 before that?"

"If I had, I would have told the police," Tamsin raised her voice. She found the questions irritating.

"But, when you realized that he might have been inside, you did not contact the police, or anyone else. Instead you went in on your own."

"I did, because I really needed to figure out if he was really inside."

Alex nodded. She went quiet briefly as she wrote down Tamsin's statements in her notebook.

"You said that you have reasons to believe that Dylan's death might not be an accident. Why? Has there been newly surfaced evidence that I am not aware of?"

"Yes, some new evidence surfaced, however I'm not at liberty to discuss the details with you at this moment."

"Of course you are not."

"When did you arrive at Crimson Rock? At what time?"

"I don't know, past midnight for sure. Maybe 2am?"

"No, I meant, at what time did you enter the town?"

"That I have no idea. I gassed up after I got off the interstate. Probably around midnight or something. Before you ask, I didn't take the receipt with me and I paid with cash."

Alex observed her for a few seconds, stabbing her with her eyes, and Tamsin stared back with rising anger.

"The day your brother went missing, the post office on the Main Street of Crimson Rock had received a first class mail that is being mailed to your address listed on your driver's license. Would you tell me what you have received?"

Tamsin paused. "What? Like...are you saying that someone has sent me a letter or something?"

"Exactly."

"I haven't received anything," Tamsin said, shaking her head.

"Are you sure? It was delivered to your mailbox in the morning of the same day you left for Crimson Rock. Giving the distance and the time of arrival, you left home hours after it was delivered."

"Oh, let me introduce you to the concept of I-do-not-check-my-mailbox-every-minute-of-every-day then, agent," Tamsin said. "I have not received any mail, and I did not check my mailbox that day. Even if someone did send me something, I have no idea what's in it."

"I would answer those questions more carefully, and with more thoughts, if I were you," the agent commented.

"Or, you can stop treating me like a suspect and tell me what is going on," Tamsin hissed. "Either you arrest me right now, or get out of my house."

"We'll be seeing each other again soon," the agent stood up and gave her a quick nod. She scanned the room again, and then she left.

Tamsin wasted the entire day digesting the news. Dylan's death might not be an accident? Well... that technically wasn't any news. She had suspected it for a while now. She just had not figured out who might have killed him (or maybe she already had but she wasn't ready to face the truth).

And now, the FBI was involved? Why? The FBI wouldn't show up unless it was something big, like there was a serial killer or something…so there was a serial killer in town and Dylan's death had something to do with the killer? That was beyond absurd.

What bothered Tamsin the most, thought, was the fact that the FBI agent knew about the mail. How the hell did she know about that? Did she know that it was a postcard? Did she already know that she indeed checked her mailbox and got the postcard right before she left home?

Tamsin then did some digging on the agent. It seemed that she had worked on many cases, but most of her cases involved white collar crime. Why would the FBI send a white collar crime agent to investigate Dylan's death? Was his death somehow connected to a white collar crime? That sounded even more absurd than a possible serial killer connection.

Tamsin watched a few press conferences in which Alex Rivera had made appearances. She seemed fiercely determined and very experienced. For a moment there, Tamsin didn't know if she should be grateful or scared.

Stella came home, with Detective Philsburg. She was shaky and very emotional.

"John, is it really not an accident?" She asked the detective. "What exactly is going on? Did someone...murder Dylan?"

"Calm down, Stella. Everything's going to be okay," Philsburg assured her.

"Yeah...I was surprised by an FBI agent today. She mentioned that some new evidence has surfaced and that his death might not be an accident. Is that true?" Tamsin joined the conversation.

Philsburg sighed. "Off the record, just between us, okay?" He glanced at Stella, then Tamsin, then Bo, who had just come out of her room.

"Sure, we won't tell anymore."

"Yes, there was some new evidence."

"Like what?"

"It was those shoe prints we found in the cave. They were made by the same pair of shoes, well same type of shoes at least, but by different people."

"What do you mean?" Bo frowned hard.

"The front and the back depth of the prints, the sides...hell, they don't match. Some of them were made by someone with smaller feet."

"Like how much smaller?"

"It's hard to say, most of the shoe prints are just partial, but the FBI lady says that it's probably made by someone who wears men size 8 or 9."

Perfect. That eliminates...Kira.

"So that's all they have? Depth of shoe prints?"

"There is something else," Philsburg explained. "We thought the rope was ripped, but the FBI lady was convinced that it was cut partially, and that was why it wouldn't hold Dylan's weight."

"I checked the rope when I was there. It was impossible to tell," Tamsin said.

Philsburg shrugged. "She rushed the evidence to the FBI labs and that's their conclusion, so that's what we all believe now."

"Who invited her in the first place?" Tamsin asked.

"No one. She just showed up two days ago, demanding to see the case files. Technically she has to be invited first, but...she's with the FBI and we didn't want to offend her."

"So she examined the case files and then she told you guys that this wasn't an accident and that she wanted to investigate it?"

"Yep."

"Did he really-did someone...murder him?" Bo frowned hard in disbelief.

"We are still investigating."

"Are you gonna catch the killer? Are you gonna catch whoever that killed him?" Stella was on the verge of breaking down.

"We can not prove murder yet, Stella," the detective said as he firmly held her shoulders. "All we know is that there might be a second person at the scene. We are doing everything we can to find that person. I promise you that we'll figure everything out."

It was 1am and Tamsin couldn't sleep at all.

A second person inside the cave and possible murder...an FBI agent who apparently considered her as one of her top suspects, who also knew about the postcard….

Tamsin wondered if she should come clean with the agent. It was just a postcard, something she and Dylan came up with when they were kids. It wasn't hard to explain at all...but...if she would come clean she'd have to tell her about the earring as well. The agent would immediately put Bo as the primary suspect (if she hadn't already) and grill her….

What are you doing? Tamsin groaned. You should leave it to the law enforcement. You are not a cop anymore and this isn't your case. That FBI chick seemed quite qualified. Maybe you should just leave everything to her and….

But, what would happen to Bo, if you tell Alex about the earring?

Tamsin wanted to believe that Bo was innocent, and deep down she believed that Bo was indeed innocent. She had known Bo for years, and she wouldn't believe for a second that Bo would murder anyone. But, with that earring and the fact that a second person was at the scene...Could it be Bo? Did she wear a pair of Dylan's boots, follow him into the cave and cut the rope after he had descended? Maybe she did. Maybe there had been a struggle. Dylan snatched her earring and fell with it….

Tamsin immediately shook her head. Dylan was much stronger than Bo. If he was close enough to snatch her earring, he would be close enough to push her away. Bo wouldn't have a chance to cut the rope.

The only possible way for Bo to cut his rope without being stopped, would be that he was half way down. If he had been half way down, how the hell would he be able to grab her earring?

Or maybe the earring fell by accident, and somehow Dylan got hold of it after he had fallen? But everything she had seen at the site that day would suggest that Dylan died instantly after the fall….

Either way, why would Bo leave her earring behind? Did the fear of having murdered her own husband drive her scramble to flee the scene without retrieving it? Was she too high on adrenaline to even notice that it was missing?

Maybe she didn't have enough time to go down there that day. Maybe she planned to return to the scene but before she could, the police were involved and she was no longer able to.

Maybe that day, they didn't arrive at entrance 9 by accident. What if Bo had led her there on purpose? What if she had planned to sneak in and retrieve the earring while everyone else would be soundly asleep?

The memory of that night came to Tamsin. She remembered waking up in the middle of the night finding Bo awake under the moonlight. The brunette was fragile, a little broken and unbelievably beautiful. She didn't look the same as Tamsin had known before she had left town, but at the same time, she did.

The Bo she met when she came back, was polite and distant. She was practically a stranger to her, but that Bo under the moonlight that night...she was alive and real. She was just as Tamsin remembered. She was soft and imperfect….

Why would she ever kill Dylan? That was another question Tamsin couldn't find an answer for. Bo loved Dylan. They had been together since they were in middle school. She had been married to him for over ten years. Was that love not there anymore?

If she did do it, there must be a reason. Money? That wasn't possible. The mansion was still under Stella's name. Dylan's t-shirt business wasn't doing well anyway. Anything that had passed down to him after their father's death had either been spent or gone. A life insurance policy was mentioned in the will reading the other day, but it wasn't nearly enough for someone to commit murder.

If it wasn't for money...Did she meet someone else? Why kill Dylan, though? She could have divorced him or just...leave. Unless...Dylan had found out about it and he loved her too much to let her go. She was the love of his life. He was willing to break the law for her, but maybe she wasn't feeling the same...

The scene where Karen Wilson stroked Bo's arm entered Tamsin's mind again. Bo did say that they were friends and they went out for lunch a few times. What if they weren't just lunches? After ten years of marriage, maybe everything just got...boring. Maybe Bo needed change. She did tell her that they were having fights, and that she didn't know what to do anymore. Maybe that was why. The marriage wasn't going anywhere, and she had developed feelings for someone else...That doctor...she seemed perfect, smart, beautiful, caring...

What are you doing? Tamsin asked herself. You based all these ideas on an arm stroke? Bo did not even respond to that arm stroke. Maybe the doctor did have a thing for her. Why wouldn't she? Nearly everyone in the damn highschool had a thing for her! She has that stupid charisma, and people just fall for her like idiots. You did. Dylan did. Maybe the doctor did, too.

Even if that doctor had feelings for Bo, it didn't mean that Bo was reciprocating. It certainly didn't mean that she killed Dylan.

Are you trying to prove that she's innocent, or that she's guilty? Tamsin asked herself. She wanted Bo to be innocent. Of course she wanted that. But, what if she wasn't? What if, after years of marriage, she had finally realized that marrying Dylan wasn't the right choice? What if, she had finally realized that she wanted someone else, and that she should have chosen someone else?

Maybe she did...miss her all these years.

No! Stop that! She did not miss you. She doesn't love you. If she did care about you, even just a little, she wouldn't have chosen to announce her engagement with Dylan right after she told you that she had broken up with him and that she had fallen in love with you. She was a bitch. She was that bitch that broke your heart. She did it on purpose, maybe for some sick, twisted pleasure that she enjoyed. She was messing with you, and she still is. Stop being a moron. You are not 15 anymore. You can't "win" her back. She was never yours and she will never be!

Tamsin sighed and covered her eyes. All of a sudden, she was 15 again, trapped in the downpour….

It was June. The days were long and tedious, and the nights were warm and restless.

One day, Tamsin got out of the city library in the afternoon. She headed home on foot, and was greeted with pouring rain halfway.

She started to run, and the heavy raindrops hammered her, rendering her helpless.

Just as she was about to flee into a random store, Bo's brown caravan pulled in front of her. The windshield wipers swung frantically, flinging water left and right.

"Get in!" The brunette rolled down the window and yelled at her. Her hair and her face was immediately soaked.

Tamsin got into the car without saying a word. She couldn't say anything anyway. Every time she opened her mouth, a gallon of rain would pour in.

The world outside had reduced to a blur of wet and gray. They could barely see anything. Even the color of the blinking traffic light disappeared.

Instead of driving Tamsin home, Bo had to go to her house instead for it was only a couple of blocks away from the library.

The lovely 3 bedroom cottage style house sat in a quiet cul-de-sac. The light blue sidings greatly complimented with those new blue hydrangea blooms. It was the house Bo had stayed with her aunt, a 50-something kind lady from her extended family, since her parents had passed away from a horrible car accident.

Soaked, Tamsin got out of the car. The heated air and the cold rain somehow made her anxious for no reason.

Bo, who was also soaked, opened the door and let Tamsin in.

"How the hell did you get so wet? You were in the damn car the whole time."

"Well, I wouldn't have been this wet if someone had gotten into my car faster." Bo teased as she peeled her drenched t-shirt off. She tossed it into the laundry basket and got herself a towel to dry her hair.

And it was then that Tamsin realized that Bo was in no hurry to put on another t-shirt. She just stood there drying her hair while humming a soft song.

As she noticed herself staring at Bo's fair skin, from her chest all the way down to her abs, Tamsin turned her eyes away and cursed. She had no idea why her throat had suddenly gone dry. She didn't understand why the air inside the room had suddenly become dense either.

It wasn't the first time she had seen Bo naked. They've taken showers together before. They've had sleep-overs at each other's place. They've shared the same bed multiple times.

But, this time something was different. Something was fluttering inside her. An itch that she didn't even know existed. A flame that was awakened. An ache maybe. A part of her was burning, even though she was shivering.

Before she knew it, she was staring again, and this time Bo had finally noticed it too.

Tamsin quickly turned away. She tried to take off her drenched clothes, but they were stuck. As she eventually succeeded, she noticed her own nipples. Out of coldness, or something else, they were embarrassingly erected.

They stood there nervously and anxiously, just as nervous and anxious as herself.

She noticed Bo's teasing glance, and her cheeks started to burn. She quickly grabbed the t-shirt that Bo handed her and put it on.

She was taller than Bo, and she had a broader shoulder. Bo's t-shirt seemed a bit tight, tight enough to show her protruding nipples.

Bo left the room briefly to put their wet clothes into the washer. Tamsin stayed there, and Bo's scent was everywhere. In the room, in the air, on the t-shirt, everywhere.

Bo returned with some snacks and two cans of soda.

"Where is your aunt?"

"Oh, out of town, visiting her older brother. He was sick," Bo shrugged.

"You want me to tell Dylan that you will need some company tonight? I mean, I probably should go home now…."

Yeah, she probably should. She needed to get out of this house. She needed to get away from...something that was scaring her away and also...drawing her near.

Bo gave her an ambiguous smile. "Can't you stay here instead? It's still pouring outside. I can't drive like this."

"Can't get by without me huh?" Tamsin snorted.

Bo chuckled. She stepped forward and tucked a lock of Tamsin's wet hair behind her ear. The side of her finger gently grazed Tamsin's cheek.

Tamsin cleared her throat and looked away.

"Your cheeks are burning, Tamsin. Are you okay?"

"I'm fucking fine. It's your damn A/C unit. You should flip it to cool. It's fucking summer already," Tamsin drawled.

"Right. It's the A/C." Bo seemed amused.

Tamsin stepped away awkwardly. It was strange, that she had suddenly become aware of Bo's presence.

She had known Bo for a very long time. Bo had lived under the same roof with her. She had been going to the same school with her. Now she was her brother's girlfriend. She had been in her life for too damn long, but...Tamsin had never really paid attention to her like she was right now. She had never noticed Bo's presence until now. She had never known that Bo smelled so sweet, or that her lips were so...enticing….

Tamsin leaned in, without thinking, and gave Bo a kiss on her lips. She clumsily pecked those two pieces of soft warmth over and over as she struggled to understand that burning urge inside her.

Whoa, what the hell am I doing? Tamsin asked herself after a few seconds of bedazzlement. She was spinning now, in a swirl of bliss and guilt.

Before she could pull away and think, Bo kissed her back.

"Whoa!" Tamsin exclaimed as she backed away from Bo in reflex. "Did we just..."

"Yes, we did," Bo sucked her bottom lip like she was savoring the lingering kiss.

"I...I'm sorry, I was just-" Tamsin stuttered, looking at everything but Bo's face.

"Don't be," Bo interrupted her. She cupped Tamsin's face and leaned in. She gently nibbled Tamsin's bottom lip until the blonde let her tongue in.

Before Tamsin knew it, she was lying in Bo's bed, with Bo straddling her. The brunette's hand was under her t-shirt, cupping Tamsin's breast. Her palm was extremely warm, and Tamsin's nipple was painfully hard.

"Bo, wait..." Tamsin muttered. Her brain had failed to process the current situation: Bo, making out, half naked, kisses, her breast, Bo's hand, touching….

"Do you want me to stop?" Bo asked carefully.

"No…" Tamsin breathed, freezing there as she tried to avoid Bo's heat. "I mean, yes. Bo, we...I can't. Dylan-he's my brother and you are dating him…."

Bo smiled. "Not anymore."

"Huh?" Tamsin hummed. She couldn't think straight when Bo's face was this close.

"I broke up with him this morning."

"What? Are you serious?!"

Bo nodded.

"Shit, he's gonna be devastated! I thought you guys were...I mean-how...why did you break up with him? "

"Because I'm in love with someone else."

Tamsin gaped at Bo. Suddenly her heart was broiling in pain. "Oh…like...that baseball team guy?"

"No," Bo leaned in. "Not him. I'm in love with you, Tamsin. I'm in love with you."

Tamsin's heart stopped at Bo's whisper. Nothing mattered now. She saw the bright sunlight that ripped into the darkness. The clear sky behind gloomy rain clouds. Summer fireworks. Groundswell. Buzzing in her head. Painful heat in her chest.

"Are you...serious?" Tamsin finally found her voice again.

Bo didn't answer her, not with words anyway. She pinned Tamsin down and kissed her, from her forehead, to the tip of her nose, to her lips, to her chest...her breasts, her stomach, her thighs….

A sigh was all Tamsin could let out. She rode that pleasure, that heat, till she was lost in it.

Everything was like a dream now. She was one of those happy fluff inside a snow globe, flying, floating, being tossed up and down.

Unfortunately, that snow globe was shattered the next day. When she had come home from school (while wondering why Bo wasn't there waiting for her), she found her father, her stepmother, her brother Dylan and Bo at the dinner table waiting for her to come home.

There was dinner on the table. It was as if Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners had collided.

Before she asked, Stella announced in tears that Dylan and Bo decided to get engaged.

Dylan and Bo sat there, smiling, nodding, holding hands, kissing each other.

"Yeah, we figure we'll get married once we turn 18." Bo told everyone with tears of happiness in her eyes.

Her eyes eventually met Tamsin's. She looked at Tamsin like nothing had ever happened yesterday. Like the downpour wasn't real.

Nothing was real.

It was days later when Tamsin had finally gathered enough strength to confront Bo. Like she feared (and somehow expected), Bo told her that Dylan was the love of her life, and that whatever happened at her aunt's house was just the heat of the moment.

Betrayed, humiliated, and hurt, Tamsin cried her heart out.

It had been 15 years, and even though the pain was still there, Tamsin had learned to accept it. She had accepted the fact that Bo was very much in love with Dylan and that she'd never be hers.

She had never thought that one day she'd be back in Crimson Rock and that Bo would tell her that she had missed her all these years.

Tamsin groaned. You are falling for her stupid, pathetic tricks again. She. Does. Not. Love. You.