Chapter 12
The next day, I showed up at the Briar place bright and early. A gruff security guy buzzed me through the gate. I parked up in the turning area, away from the main house, gathered my equipment, and headed to the pool to start work.
The Elite filtration and pump system was a dream to work on.
Jay had clearly kept his working area clean.
He’d also left a curled and battered handwritten notebook stuffed down the side of the pump, with dates and the chemical composition of the pool on the days he’d worked.
I quietly thanked him, pool guy to pool guy.
There was nothing worse than starting a new job and having to correct a bunch of previous mistakes without knowing the pool’s history.
My first job was to get an idea for the chemical composition of the pool water today, mostly to make sure it was safe and there was nothing lurking in there that was about to pull me in.
I also wanted to get a feel for the pool as a closed system, discover its quirks, its language.
Each pool had its own chemical makeup, depending on when and how it had been built and maintained, and the amount of human activity.
I needed to get to know this one so I could recognize when the balance was off.
I worked through the morning, checking my numbers against Jay’s notes.
The staff came and went, ignoring me, focused on their own tasks. Gardeners, housekeepers, security . . . a small army of people keeping the house and grounds maintained. They didn’t talk much, just quietly got on with their day.
The pool didn’t try and pull me in either, which was a bonus.
After running the tests, I noted the chemical composition down in my own notes app on my phone and frowned at the final list of numbers.
Their order was familiar, and not just because Jay’s scribbled numbers were the same.
Most running pools had numbers in the same range, but I’d been looking at another pool regularly lately, especially after it had been drained by the police forensics team.
The Witherbornes’ pool had the exact same chemical composition as the Briars’, but not just in the general area.
They had the exact same pH, same hardness, same chlorine, same everything.
Precisely. That didn’t ever happen. It wasn’t possible.
Pools were individual, like people. Even two pools built at the same time, next to each other, had different characters.
Like the same way twins were never exact copies.
Sunlight levels, flow rate, it all impacted the numbers.
I spent the next hour running the numbers again.
They came back identical. Numbers didn’t lie.
The Witherbornes’ and Briars’ pools were exactly the same. Somehow, they weren’t different pools, they were the same pool in different locations.
Even more interesting, at least for me, were Jay’s attempts during his last few visits to soften the water to the point it had almost become toxic.
That didn’t make any sense at all. From his previous work logged in the notebook, he’d clearly been competent at his job. Why had he suddenly altered the chemical balance to make it near toxic?
By the time I’d finished, it was two p.m., and the Briars still weren’t home.
On my way back to the car, I called the number Jeremy had left for me and explained that the pool had been set up and was safe to use.
After hanging up, I opened Theo’s messages and typed out a quick text to let him know I was safe.
He sent back,
had a dream about u - U were a fish Benny gutted and ate u
If I were a fish, I’d be poisonous
When I looked up, I’d walked myself into a dead end in the garden, surrounded by trimmed bushes and odd-looking topiary shaped to look like a row of creepy people. Their limbs were too long and weirdly double-jointed.
A shiver trickled down my back, despite the heat.
Turning on my heel, I started back the way I’d come, but within a few steps, I slowed. This path wasn’t the same one I’d just walked down. I’d had my face in my phone, but I was sure there hadn’t been those grasses along one side.
My phone pinged.
freckles, u r a goldfish
I laughed a little.
what does that make you?
butterfly fish
Very pretty, highly venomous. It tracked. Shark would have been too predictable.
your guest remember anything yet?
she said to call her Fleur Thinks it’s her name
that’s a start
she also said something about salt, said to tell u
I looked up from my phone again and found the path blocked by another high hedge. What the heck? I’d had my head down for a few seconds, and this wall of hedge had not been there before.
Gotta go
I turned again, looking around. A bush shaped like a giant gull, wings partially spread, stared at me.
“Creepy.” I headed back the way I’d come. Again. This time I kept my head up and my gaze on the path, so the damn thing couldn’t move.
The driveway and my car emerged ahead. I managed to weave my way through the garden and onto the gravel path I’d used when I’d arrived. I must have taken a wrong turn when looking at my phone earlier, because gardens didn’t move.
found something weird with the pool next door
I sent to Theo, once I was back behind the wheel.
I cranked the wheezy AC and turned my car around, heading out. On the road again, my phone buzzed in the cupholder.
come by
Later
I sent back, typing and driving.
Cant sleep
I smiled.
not my problem
I’m making it your problem
I’d noticed
I set the phone down again. Texting was safe, right? It was just a few text messages. It wasn’t as though I was flirting with the guy.
A gray pickup’s front grille filled my mirrors, and all thoughts of Theo fled my brain. It was the same truck. Blacked-out windows. Same plates. I couldn’t see the driver, not from my low angle and with the glare off their windshield, but it was them.
My heart flopped over a few beats, then pounded in my ears.
Alright, stay calm. No need to panic. Nothing bad is going to happen.
I eased out of traffic and took a left at the next intersection.
The truck followed but hung back, keeping a few car lengths behind. I gripped the wheel harder, and took a random right, speeding up. The truck was there again, inching closer now.
I had to get home. Get home, lock the door, and they’d go away. Hopefully.
I knew who it was, or who they worked for.
It could only be one person.
My ex.
Theo’s IG posts and #Thowen had put me in a spotlight I hadn’t wanted, and now this . . .
Not good.
I circled back around the block, picked up the route back to my place, and headed home, heart in my throat and the truck in my mirrors.
After parking up in the lot, I left the engine running and watched the truck pull into a bay a few down from mine.
I could see the driver now, behind the wheel.
Big guy, real short hair, not someone I recognized.
Probably the same one who Bentley had seen outside my apartment.
He was just going to sit there until I got out.
I cut the engine, picked up my phone, keyed in 911 but didn’t dial, and climbed out.
The truck door creaked open, needing oil.
I walked fast, head down. A few strides and I’d be at my apartment block door.
“Hey, Owen.”
A thick set of fingers grabbed my arm and spun me around.
“Hey!” I yanked myself free and stumbled back. “Back off, man.”
He was even bigger up close. Clearly the muscle sent to check on me, maybe more.
“Nice little setup you’ve got here.” He had a neck wider than my thigh and a head shaved down to stubble.
Thick hands had the scars from making bad decisions on other people’s faces.
He was dense, like a fridge is dense, the way furniture is dense when you’re trying to move it and it doesn’t want to go.
He smiled, friendly, and when he spoke, his voice was soft. “New place, new job. Very . . . you.”
I didn’t know him, but clearly, he knew me. “What do you want?”
At least we were out in the open. There weren’t many folks around, but whoever this was, he wasn’t likely to pull anything weird out in the open, with traffic passing by on the street.
The guy didn’t seem immediately threatening, apart from his size. Normal clothes, average looks. Just some guy in a pickup who’d been following me for a week.
I had my phone at my side, thumb on the call button.
He scratched his cheek. “Davis calls me Sweet, and he says for you to know you’re being looked after. You don’t need this shitty job or to be sweating down here in this heat. He says to come back. I’ll take you back—”
Pure, unfiltered rage simmered through my veins. “I don’t want that, Sweet.” If Davis had named him Sweet, then it was likely he was anything but. “I don’t want anything from him. Leave me alone.” I turned away and headed for the front door.
“He says to thank you, for what you did,” Sweet called.
“I didn’t do it for him.” Which was a lie. A stupid, petty lie.
I tugged open the door, dove inside, and took the stairs because there was no way I could wait for an elevator. In under a minute, I was back in my apartment, leaning back against my front door, breathing hard.
Maybe that would be it. That one message, and he’d go away?
I lifted the phone, and without thinking, opened Theo’s text chain.
U up?
Am now
“Can you come by?” I deleted that without sending it, and tried,
you ever done something you’ll regret for the rest of your life?
Then sent that one fast, before common sense could delete it.
My heart still pounded, chest tight.
After a lot of bouncing dots and a few minutes, a one-word reply came back.
Yeah
How’d you deal with it?
Drugs drink anonymous sex
I had no idea if he was joking but smiled anyway.
I’m joking
Mostly. U okay?
No
I sent it fast. No thoughts allowed. Just typing, as though he was standing next to me, listening while I talked and let all the feelings flow.
Wanna go out later for drugs, drink, and anonymous sex?
Or just a few beers?
I laughed a little.
Where? We’ll get mobbed by Thowen fans
I’ll wear a disguise
I laughed, again. There was no way Theo could go anywhere without being recognized.
There’s a place I know, doesn’t matter who you are, we’d be safe
Safe. I wanted that. Needed it.
Yeah
I’ll swing by at 8. Be ready.
I will
U gonna be okay till then?
I lifted my gaze off the screen and looked around my beige apartment.
The fact he was asking if I was okay had my heart doing all sorts of weird things that had nothing to do with being stalked and everything to do with wondering if someone might actually care about me.
Someone who wasn’t going to use me or throw me under a bus when it suited them.
Yeah, I’m good
I sent back. Then added a quick,
ty
I was going out with Theo.
Definitely a mistake. Yeah but you need it, my little internal voice said. The one who got me into trouble. You’re a free man. It’s about time you lived like it.
I was free. I was out. I’d done my time. Davis couldn’t hurt me anymore. I deserved to have some fun.
Wanted it.
Craved it.
What the heck was I going to wear?