Haunting-Adeline

Chapter 42
The Manipulator
re you surprised?" I ask through the phone, twirling the red rose
between my fingers. I woke up to Zade gone, and a rose in his place.
“A
My mother sighs. "No, I’m not. It explains a lot about your Nana
and her strange a achment to the house."
I'm curled up on the couch watching the news channel, a sense of pride
filling my veins as the words Breaking News and Seventy-Five-Year-Old Cold
Case Solved.
Daya and I reported our findings to the police early this morning. They
spent hours and hours going over our evidence. S ll, a er verifying the
serial number and DNA test results were authen c, they declared Frank
Seinburg the man that murdered Genevieve Parsons in cold blood. His
mo ve—unrequited love.
They confiscated the diaries for now, but I made them pinky swear they
would give it back. The police officer looked at me like I was unhinged
when I physically made him pinky swear. But it made me feel be er about
par ng with the diaries, even if it is temporary.
The news reporter on the screen speaks of the vic m's greatgranddaughter
stumbling across hidden diaries in the wall and how it led
to the discovery of her murder and who did it. I glance over at the window,
an array of flashing lights blaring through the glass.
The news reporters are standing outside my house. They wanted to get
Parsons Manor in the background. What would a creepy story be without
an old Victorian house looming behind a pre y blonde woman with red
lips ck on her teeth?
"She must've felt so much guilt all her life," I say quietly, the spike of
sadness lingering since the realiza on that Nana helped cover up the
murder.