Chapter Twenty-Five
Twenty-Five
When I woke up the next morning, it was clear the night of sleep had done nothing to prevent a hangover.
My mouth was dry, my stomach was an active volcano, and my head was being drilled into by an industrial force.
They say drunk sleep isn’t good sleep, but I didn’t understand how I could be so dead to the world and not get any rest from it.
That was what I’d been—dead to the world—because I hadn’t even stirred when Dominic snuck out.
I checked my phone when I realized he wasn’t there.
He texted saying his keys were on the desk and he was taking the train back to Boston.
I sat up in bed too quickly and thought I was going to hurl.
The last thing I wanted to do was drive.
Apparently the night of sleep hadn’t eased his anger or fear or bruised ego or whatever he was feeling that required such a bold statement as sneaking out and taking a train.
At least he wasn’t running to the police.
If he were, I’m sure he would have taken the car.
I lumbered into the bathroom and cupped water with my hands from the faucet into my mouth. It was hard to swallow anywhere near the amount it felt like my body needed. I started to gag and stopped, wiping the errant splashes from my face.
I made sure the car keys were on the desk as promised and then sat back down on the bed.
I had lived in fear of this moment for so long, it seemed weird to not be running around the room in a screaming panic.
I had been found out. Not only by my crazy stalker but by a person I had somehow, intentionally or not, let into my life.
A person who was now thinking all sorts of horrible things about me—a person who right now could be running home and blowing the whole thing up.
I reached for my phone again. I knew he wouldn’t pick up if I called, so I texted.
Me: Please don’t tell anyone. Not yet.
Then I stared at the screen. Finally there were three dancing dots.
Dominic: Ok
That was it.
Me: I’m sorry
There was no response. The Ok would have to do for now—a sliver of time to figure out my next move.
- - - - -
The next move was breakfast, or at least an attempt at breakfast. I had to get something into my stomach if I was ever going to survive the drive.
I headed back to Tastes of the Pacific and grabbed a seat at the bar like the lonely degenerate I was. I ordered one of the breakfast specials and took small, delicate bites until I was interrupted by my phone ringing in my pocket. I pulled it out and put it down on the bar.
It was Elyse.
I stared at it. To answer or not.
“You gonna get that?” a guy a few seats over asked.
I glared at him. Obviously that was a decision I hadn’t arrived at.
“Well, reject it if you aren’t gonna answer it.”
I sighed and pushed the green button before lifting it to my ear.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hi.”
Then we were both silent. It was her place to speak given she was the one to call, but words didn’t appear to be coming to her.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yeah, sorry, I just wanted to make sure we’re okay?”
We had kissed and I had run out of there on some mission that had ended up exposing me and throwing everything into complete turmoil, but she had been back home, living her normal life, worried about it.
“Yeah,” I said. “It’s totally fine. I’m not going to tell Jake or anything.”
“Thanks,” she said. “I doubt he would care.”
I wasn’t sure how to interpret that. He wouldn’t care because they were on the outs or he wouldn’t care because this was something Elyse did often? Kiss her girlfriends for fun with her boyfriend fully on board? It didn’t matter to me if Jake cared that we kissed, but I was curious if Elyse did.
“Obviously, I won’t say anything to Dominic,” she said, misinterpreting my silence.
Yes, please, for the love of God, don’t talk to Dominic about anything.
“Where are you?” she asked.
“Why?” I wondered how she knew I was somewhere.
“Just curious. The guys are having a party tonight if you want to come.”
“It’s Tuesday.” I reacted like the grown adult I had accidentally become over the years.
“Yeah, but it’s John’s birthday.”
“Okay, maybe.”
Then there was silence again until she blurted out, “They found the other body.”
“What?”
“Those arms. They found the second body, James Calhoun. I knew him, you know?”
I did know that, but I couldn’t remember if Gwen knew that. Yes, right? Dominic told me all that stuff I already knew. I was hungover and this was getting harder. When you let people into your life, there are so many details. I knew that and I had ignored my own rules anyway.
“Yeah,” I said, keeping it short.
“The police called to notify me personally, which was crap because they started asking me questions like I knew something about what happened.”
“Shit,” I offered as a condolence.
“And you know why?”
“Why?”
“The asshole carved DEAR ABEL into his chest.”
The acid in my already-bubbling stomach churned.
The days of hypothetical theories about connections between the arms were over now.
The arms were connected to Abel Haggerty.
It was only a matter of time before they discovered Reanne was missing, if they hadn’t already.
What was obvious to me was that it was going to become a lot harder to hide from everyone now that the world would be actively looking for Marin Haggerty.