Chapter 15 Davis
DAVIS
Gary rolled the toothpick inside his mouth, giving me the side eye. His denim hat was more grease than oil stained, and his face was pockmarked. He wasn’t the most attractive man to ever grace the earth, but more so, his attitude seemed to match his looks.
“Weren’t you just here for gas a few days back?” he mumbled, grabbing the pump handle and shoving it back into place while my receipt printed.
It wasn’t any of his business how often I got gas, but just like everyone else in this town, he was nosy as fuck.
“How about you mind your own business, Gary.”
He huffed, while pressing a few buttons on the pump, the loud beeps echoed through the stale, humid heat.
“There’s rumors ‘bout you and the Jackson girl bein’ friendly, and I’ll tell you right now…
” He pinched my receipt between his filthy fingers, while angling toward my truck, but I wouldn’t be sticking around to hear what he had to say.
Starting the engine, and pulling the drive gear down, I drove off before Gary could finish his sentence.
I hated this shitty town, and how on earth were there rumors already?
I thought back over the past few weeks. I had gone to the Jackson’s for dinner.
I had stood close enough to whisper in Rae’s ear that night I followed her home.
I might have been seen pinning her up against the side of the clothing store.
I suppose his warning might have some merit, considering the town would want to protect poor Rae against the likes of me, regardless that she was in her own right as mean as a snake.
I didn’t care. The fact that I was in fact getting gas again meant I had been coming to town more often than I normally did, but aside from Rae taking up every inch of space in my head, Gavin had texted, asking if I found anything out about that girl.
So, I decided it would be a good idea to venture in today to see if I could find anything.
If I happened to see Rae somewhere, then oh well.
Didn’t mean anything.
The first place I wanted to check was the library.
I had no idea if it was merely because that’s where the scene of the crime took place, or if it was because I knew she had frequented the space often.
Regardless, I’d have to take care with what I asked, because I didn’t want people to get the wrong idea, and shit spread faster than wildfire in this town.
Entering the library gave me a familiar sensation of shame, tearing at my insides and reminding me that while I had no idea that girl would be there that night, from the look on her face, I had destroyed her.
I was an asshole in most situations, but I’d never be cruel to anyone, not on purpose.
Why had I waited so long to check in on her, though?
Fuck, what if something had happened, and I waited four long years to even check?
I’d never forgive myself.
“Mr. Brenton!” Mabel, the librarian, called out to me, adjusting her reading glasses. Mabel called everyone in town by their first name, so her calling me by my last was her way of snubbing me. I knew people didn’t like me, and I didn’t like them either, so it didn't bug me.
“Mabel, uh…hello there.” Fuck, how did one start small talk?
Her overgrown eyebrows folded together in the center of her forehead, “Well, I…”
“I just have a quick question, actually,” I said, quickly cutting her off.
Mabel’s eyebrows relaxed as her face twisted into something more akin to a resting bitch face. I didn’t wait for her to respond.
“I’m trying to find someone. She would have been…
” I searched my brain for how old she had to have been that day in the library.
The summer prior, she’d said she was seventeen…
“Eighteen or so. This was four years ago.” Even as I said it, I began to connect a few dots, slowly but surely. Maybe Rae would have known her?
“A girl who came around here, or?” One of Mabel’s eyebrows lifted in question.
“Yeah, she would have been in a lot, she seemed like a bit of a bookworm, always seemed to carry a book bag, had dark, short hair, and braces…” I didn’t want to comment on the acne; it seemed rude to point out.
Mabel seemed to consider it while shuffling a few folders. “Let’s see…now, I transferred to the Clark County library for about a year around that time. You probably don’t remember, but I was working in three different locations for a while there.”
Why would I remember that? I assumed Mabel had worked here forever.
“So you have any ideas on who it could be?”
She clicked her tongue. “You probably don’t remember that time Miss Frenza’s dog got loose and ran past you in the parking lot, and we all begged you to stop it, but you ignored us and let it go, do you?”
Nope, didn’t remember that at all.
“Or that time Shelly Harding asked if a few homeschool groups could come to your farm and warehouse for a field trip for their kids, and you rudely turned her down?”
What the fuck was she on about? Oh yeah…
I put my finger up, like a light bulb had just flared to life in my head. “I remember that one,”
She stared at me, expressionless. Her watery blue eyes were lined with dark blue eyeliner, not a great look against her pasty skin tone.
“You know…honestly, even if I did know who this girl was, I wouldn’t tell you, and really, I shouldn’t help you at all.”
“But, what about that time I installed those wall sconces for free? And let’s not forget that I donate a shit ton of money to this place.” Sure, I was a dick, but a generous one.
Her face flushed, but with a huff she said, “I honestly don’t know, but the high school yearbook would be a good place to start. If she was eighteen four years ago, she was likely in the senior graduating class. Start there.”
The school yearbook! Genius. I hated when people were smarter than me.
“Aren’t you going to say thank you?” Mabel called after me.
I pushed my shoulder into the glass door and yelled back, “For what? You didn’t have anything for me.” Not true, but technically, she didn’t give me a name, so I wouldn’t be giving her any credit.
Where would I get a copy of a high school yearbook? Surely the school would have that, right?
Apparently, it didn’t matter if they did. It was August, and the school offices didn’t open to the public for a few more weeks. Which meant I was out of luck…unless…
Did Rae have a copy?
How strange would it be if I asked to see it? It would be weird, and we weren’t even close to being at that point in our friendship, or whatever the fuck it was that we had yet. I wanted to fuck her, not ask to see her high school yearbook.
Shit.
Still, I needed to find someone who might have one, or at least know who I was talking about. Maybe Gavin was right and asking around the diner would be a good idea.
The breakfast crowd had mostly dispersed by the time I had arrived, which was good.
The fewer people I had to deal with, the better.
An older man with graying hair, sharp gray eyes and built like a linebacker pushed through the swinging doors from the back.
I remembered him; he was here when that girl had left me the note—and I’d talked enough with Roger to know this was his best friend. Carl.
He seemed to hesitate as I walked over to him, but at the last second, he tossed a rag down on the counter and crossed his arms. I ignored the way his eyes seemed to measure my worth, and how his growing sneer obviously meant he found me lacking.
Most people didn’t care for me. This man, in the past, seemed not to really care one way or the other, but now he appeared to have taken whatever pill Gary and Mabel had swallowed.
“Hello, sir, I’m Davis Brenton, and I—”
“I know who you are,” he interrupted. The increasing hunch in his shoulders and intense glare would probably deter most people, but not me.
“Well, I was wondering if you could help me with something?”
The door opened, making the bell over the top jingle. A few older women entered and huddled toward a booth. I redirected my attention to the statue in front of me.
“Not likely, kid.”
Resisting the urge to tell this guy to fuck off, I took a small breath and continued.
“You’re Carl, right? I remember you…you used to help me when I’d come in to get my orders.”
His grunt was acknowledgment enough.
“Well, a few years back there was a young girl who used to leave me notes, and reserve spots for me at the counter, do you remember her?”
Carl’s face fell, his silver brows puckered, while his sneer completely fell into a flat line. It was as though I’d spoken of someone who died. Unease slithered into my stomach as I considered the worst-case scenario had happened.
“What do you want with her?” Carl’s tone was like an ice pick, slamming down between us. Regardless of his attitude, at least it meant he knew who I was referring to.
“Nothing…I merely was curious if she was okay. Some years ago, I had worried that something bad had happened to her and I—” How was I supposed to explain this? Did I tell him that I was still beating myself up about it? I didn’t want to sound like a fucking creep, yet I needed answers.
Carl’s eyes bounced around, searching the counter for something. It was as though he was thinking over what answer to give me; maybe he was just battling on keeping her privacy, which I understood. If he couldn’t tell me anything, then fine, but that had to mean she was alive, right?
“She’s fine. Moved on, away in fact…so don’t think twice about her and leave her alone.”
“I wouldn’t—”
Suddenly he shifted, giving me his back and cutting me off. Slipping back into the kitchen, he shot one last menacing glare from over his shoulder and then he was gone.
That was fine. I didn’t need anything more from him, but why had he mentioned leaving her alone? Did that mean she was still around? I hadn’t seen her.
Maybe I’d ask Gavin for some ideas, or break down and finally ask Rae, but at least I now knew she was alive.
She hadn’t hurt herself over me; she had merely gotten over me—over her crush.
And while that was good, she had also been the only person on this planet that seemed to give a flying fuck about me.
Shaking my head free of the thoughts surrounding the girl, I pushed outside and climbed into the safety and seclusion of my truck.