Page 12 of Silent Watch
She paused.
"Watch your back tomorrow.If Montgomery did notice you, he'll be curious.Curious people ask questions.Ask around."
"I will."She held his gaze for a beat longer than necessary."Thanks for not telling me to run."
"Would you have listened?"
"No."
"Then what would be the point?"
Almost a smile.Not quite—but close enough that he noticed, and close enough that noticing felt like something he should pay attention to.
Then she turned and walked back up the path, disappearing into the shadows near the bungalows.
Caleb stood there until a light came on in the farthest cabin.Then he pulled out his phone, typed a message to Ronan, and deleted it without sending.
Some things you had to figure out for yourself.
He walked back toward town, the sound of the waves fading behind him.
Chapter 4
The Blossom Springs Library sat at the corner of Main Square, a two-story brick building with tall windows and a copper roof gone green with age.
Harper arrived at nine sharp, notebook in hand, herHolly Warrensmile firmly in place.She'd slept maybe four hours, her mind replaying everything Caleb had said on the beach.Everything she hadn't said back.The way his voice had sounded in the darkness when he told her she wasn't alone anymore.
She'd lain awake turning that sentence over like a coin, trying to decide which side was real.
Focus.The mission first.The rest could wait.
Main Square was quiet at this hour, most shops still dark behind their awnings, only a few early risers walking dogs or jogging past the fountain.Harper crossed the brick-paved plaza, past flower beds bright with hibiscus, past the bronze statue of some town founder whose name she didn't bother to read.
She climbed the library steps and pushed through the heavy wooden doors.Inside, the air was cool and quiet, that particular hush libraries always had—like the books themselves were holding their breath.The building was old but well-maintained, with polished floors, high ceilings, and solid craftsmanship you didn't see in new construction.
The librarian at the front desk was a small woman with gray hair pulled back in a bun and reading glasses on a beaded chain around her neck.She had the face of someone who'd spent forty years squinting at fine print and believing none of the excuses people offered for overdue books.
"Can I help you?"
"I'm Holly Warren.I called yesterday about accessing your local history archives?"
"Oh, yes.The writer."The woman's expression warmed, though there was still something guarded behind her eyes."I'm Geri Crane.Head librarian for thirty-two years, so if you have questions about Blossom Springs history, you've come to the right place."
"That's exactly what I was hoping to hear."
Geri led her through the main reading room, past shelves of fiction organized by author, a children's section with beanbag chairs and cheerful murals, and a computer station where an elderly man pecked at a keyboard with two fingers.The library was larger than it looked from the outside, rooms unfolding one after another.
They stopped at a door markedArchivesin gold lettering.Geri produced a key and unlocked it, the mechanism turning with a heavy click.
The room beyond was small, maybe fifteen by twenty feet, lined with filing cabinets and shelves of bound newspapers.Dust motes floated in the light from a single window that looked out on an alley—brick walls, a dumpster, the back of another building.A table sat in the center with a lamp casting everything in a green-glass glow.Not a room designed for visitors.A room for people who wanted to be left alone with the past.
"Records going back to 1892," Geri said with pride in her voice."Town council minutes, property transfers, birth and death records, court proceedings.Most of it's digitized now, but the older materials are paper only.Fragile.We don't let just anyone handle them."
"I appreciate you making an exception."
"You sounded serious on the phone.Like you actually wanted to learn something, not just take pictures for Instagram."
"I'm interested in how the town developed over the past few decades.Economic changes, property development.How Blossom Springs became what it is."
