THE PERFECT TEN (Boxed Set)

a planner, but she sure could use those skills today. Maybe she should call Riley. She was the queen of listing and planning.
    Kasey lugged the bins into the house and left them in the middle of the living room. She decided that her first priority was to develop the pictures of her newfound paradise. That would remind her just how wonderful it was since, during their brief visit, Grem had managed to suck all the happy out of her day.
    There was nothing like being up to her elbows in solution to lift her mood. Digital photography was fast, but she truly loved developing film. She could hardly contain her excitement as she lifted the pictures out of the developer solution and they came to life in front of her. They captured the serene beauty of the countryside.
    Nick had matched her vision of their dreams so well, he might as well have been in her head.
    She sat at the kitchen table, one foot tucked under her, the other swinging to the rhythm of the happy beat of her heart. Five enlarged photographs covered the table in front of her. Scrapbooking materials littered the rest of the table. She snipped, glued, and mounted several pictures onto large colorful pages of the scrapbook that held her dearest memories from over the years. Today she added the pictures that chronicled the trip with Mr. Huckaby to the Nickel Creek house. Today had been a good day.
    The sound of a tap on the back screen door startled her. She was relieved when Riley pushed the door open with a yoo-hoo .
    “I didn’t hear you drive up,” Kasey said.
    “I walked over.” Riley went to the refrigerator, grabbed a bottle of water, and took a swig. She sat next to Kasey. “Your grandmother called me all in a huff. She said something about you being ungrateful, losing a grasp on reality, and that you were going to live in the woods. What is that all about?”
    “She’s a maniac, isn’t she?”
    “Hey, these pictures are beautiful.” Riley moved one of the two enlarged landscapes in front of her. “The colors are amazing.” She tapped her fingernail on the table as she looked over Kasey’s shoulder at the scrapbook pages she was assembling. “Is this where you were this morning?”
    “Yep.” Kasey layered colored paper under the pictures, then added a couple squigglies around them with a colored marker.
    “Nice house,” Riley said.
    “Isn’t it?”
    “Whose house is it?”
    “Mine.”
    “Yours?” Riley looked confused. “You bought a house?”
    “No. Nick did.”
    Riley eyed Kasey. “What... exactly ...do you mean?”
    “Don’t look at me like I'm crazy. I know Nick is gone.”
    Riley sighed.
    “When I got back into town, there was a letter in the stack of mail. That’s how I found out about the house. Nick had been working on this place before…before the accident. It was going to be a surprise. Isn’t it wonderful?”
    Riley picked up the picture of the house. “You didn’t know about it?”
    “Not a thing. I guess you didn’t know either.”
    “Nope.” Riley shook her head and looked more closely at the pictures.
    “So sneaky, but it makes me love him more than ever. Do you think Von knew?”
    “You would think so, but he never mentioned anything. It’s cute. Where is it?”
    “Only about an hour and a half away. I think Nick was coming back from there the day of the accident. Chaz Huckaby is the guy who was coordinating all the renovations. He remembers seeing Nick and Jake that day. The house is off of Route 58.”
    “You’re kidding.”
    Kasey shook her head. “I met with him this morning. He knew both Nick and Jake. He confirmed the last time they were up there. It fits.”
    “Oh, my gosh. That’s wonderful. I mean, it’s more proof that Jake was with Nick.”
    “I feel stronger than ever that we’ll find Jake.”
    “Kasey, while you were away there were a couple more shootings.”
    “They have to catch the gunman.”
    “Well, that’s just it. They did.”
    “You’re kidding. Why didn’t anyone call me? Do they have Jake?”
    “No. Nothing new on Jake. The gun used in those shootings was a shotgun. The casings at Nick’s crash site...they don’t match.”
    “No?”
    “Nope. That information was never released. Von thinks someone may have been copycatting, or actually targeting Nick.”
    “Why?” Kasey felt the blood rush from her face. “No one would target Nick. Everyone loved him.” She stood and walked to the window. “Von thinks Nick’s accident wasn’t random?”
    “He’s