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Atlanta. A police officer who took such threats to his wife so lightly should be kicked out of the service. He flexed his fingers thinking of wrapping them around the man’s neck.
    Some of what he was thinking must have shown on his face.
    “Listen, I know it was stupid, but I really didn’t think. Jason and I were already having problems and I was working seven days a week at the restaurant… I just didn’t have time to think about it.”
    “You shouldn’t have been the one thinking about it.” He took a couple moments to calm his anger. It wouldn’t do either of them any good. “So, you have received one here?”
    She nodded. “The first day. In my car.”
    “Do you still have it?”
    “Yes.”
    “I’ll need it. Do you have any of the ones from Atlanta?”
    “No. Jason said…”
    “Jason said what?”
    “Jason said it wasn’t important.”
    Bastard . He settled his hands on his hips. “Jed doesn’t know about this? Of course he doesn’t. There is no way he would have headed back to Austin otherwise. Hell, he would have moved to Atlanta if he knew about them. Did this have anything to do with your accident in Atlanta?”
    She shrugged. “They stopped after the accident but I assumed that was because I spent so much time in the hospital. It was as if I dropped off the face of the earth.”
    He nodded. “You have no idea at all who it might be? Someone who could have followed you here?”
    “I can’t think of anyone.”
    “Do you think your ex might have done it?”
    “What for? He was getting what he wanted. I don’t see what he would have gained from that.”
    He sighed. “Were you ready to give up the restaurant at that point?”
    “No, but I’m pretty sure he didn’t. Mainly because…”
    She suddenly looked wary, her gaze straying from his to the counter.
    “What?”
    “Mama got them before she was killed.”
    Thea winced at the stream of profanity that spilled from Duncan’s lips. His face was tightened in anger, a vein throbbing in his temple.
    When he spoke, his voice was low and controlled, deadly soft. “Are you telling me that your mother received the same types of notes?”
    She cleared her throat and knew if she didn’t calm him down, he would be running to Jed. “Maybe we should sit down.” He released her arm and strode over to the table. “It started about two years before…before Dad went missing.” She sat down and he slumped in the chair next to hers, his elbows on the table. “I remember something about Mama talking to Sheriff Daily, but I don’t know what came of it. My father and Daily had it out, a huge fight. I didn’t know what it was about at the time.”
    “You never told Jed?”
    She shrugged. “Why? There was no way of proving who did it then. Hell, I know half the town thinks Dad killed her and ran away. The other half thinks she killed herself.” He looked away and she knew she was right.
    “Did you tell your husband?”
    “Ex-husband. At first no, but then when I started getting the letters, I told him. He thought it was a sign of my   problems , as he liked to   call them.”
    His eyes narrowed into slits as he studied her for a few moments and she squirmed uncomfortable with his scrutiny. “Problems?”
    “I spent five months in the hospital after the accident. Jed told you, I know, but the problems had been going on for months. My marriage had been on the rocks for months and I was working twelve-hour days. He moved out about a year after the letters started.”
    “Could it have been your ex?”
    “Jason? No. He didn’t know about my parents’ deaths, and he definitely didn’t know about the letters.”
    “Jed thinks he might have had something to do with your wreck.”
    She shook her head. “No, he had an alibi for that evening.”
    He sat back in the chair and studied her again. She realized he was doing it on purpose and lifted her chin just to let him know he wasn’t intimidating her.
    “We have to tell Jed.”
    Her blood