Hailey was understandably startled. That was the kind of thing that only happened in books and movies; murder and suicide had thankfully been something that she had not had to deal with in her eleven years.

She remembered her cousin and uncle, but was not very familiar with them; she’d only met them once that she could remember, before aunt Grace died. She’d never met Uncle Frank’s new wife. It was kind of sad, but since they were so distant, she couldn’t really get all emotional about it.

She was also surprised that her parents had told her about the circumstances of the deaths. She would have expected a simple “they died” without any further information. Her parents really were treating her like an adult now by volunteering the details.