Chapter6

When I returned to my rented room, my landlady was waiting at the door, holding a manila envelope. "A woman in black was here looking for you earlier. She said this is for you, and... told you to 'take a good look'." The envelope was thin but heavy as a stone. I felt inside and pulled out a folded photograph and a note. The voice assist software couldn't read the photo's content, so I could only trace it slowly with my fingertips. The photo paper was smooth, with raised textures, like the outline of a person. I followed the contours, tracing the shape of a face, then lower, to where the eyes would be. There was a hard, plastic-like texture there, like... like some kind of ornament. "Sloane, this is a wedding photo Kellan and I took last week. I'm wearing a custom-made wedding dress. Kellan said my eyes are so bright, they shine brighter than the diamonds on the dress." The words on the note were printed, but I could almost see Tiana Sterling's smug smile as she wrote them. "Oh,