Chapter 43
FORTY-THREE
PRESENT DAY
Madeline
I pace my apartment’s small living room with my phone in my hand, tapping the screen every thirty seconds to look for a new message.
Nothing.
Garrett asked me to give him some time, and it’s been less than twenty-four hours. I know I should be patient.
I tap my phone again.
But what is he even doing?
Meanwhile, Jason has texted me three times, and he wore me down until I finally agreed to hang out and watch a movie with him tonight, mostly because I don’t want to be alone.
But now I’m seriously regretting it. How am I going to sit there and watch Tom Cruise take out a bad guy when Jason is casually going to the office every day with a real-life action movie villain?
It’s going to take all the strength I have to not start grilling him about Waylon.
Has he been forced to work for Waylon all this time, like Garrett suspects?
Is he afraid? Is he in danger? I close my eyes, remembering my interactions with Waylon.
That last day I was at the warehouse and Waylon came in the room, Jason seemed so calm, so casual.
Jason and Waylon are golf buddies. We’ve had cocktails at his house.
I never would have been able to pull it off had I known.
How did Jason cover for the fact that Waylon has been controlling him for all these years?
Was he just a puppet, with Waylon pulling the strings this entire time? How did I have absolutely no idea?
The questions continue to swirl in my head, but they’re interrupted by a noise at the window.
I spin around to investigate, but it’s getting dark out, and I closed the curtain earlier.
The nights have been cool this week, and I live on the second floor, so I’ve been leaving the windows open.
Is something out there? Another sound carries over, sort of a scratching noise, and I stare at the curtain in terror. Maybe it’s a bird, or a raccoon.
I clutch my phone tighter, opening it up to the to the keypad, ready to dial.
What if somehow Waylon figured out what I know?
Or what if he had me followed to Sandy Harbor and found out about Garrett?
Have I been living my life in danger for all these years, and now he’s come for me?
I gasp at the sound of the window screen sliding up.
A figure far too big to be a bird or a raccoon moves behind the curtain.
There’s no time to call 911, so I lunge for the kitchen to grab a knife from the block.
I turn around, ready to scream. The curtain parts, and Garrett’s face appears.
“Oh my God.” I drop the knife on the counter and press a hand to my pounding chest. “What are you doing?” I run toward him, grabbing his arm and dragging him the rest of the way into the room. “You scared me to death.”
And then I realize that he’s here. I thought I’d never see him again, but he’s standing in front of me. I throw myself in his arms .
“I’m sorry to scare you,” he murmurs into my hair. “I didn’t want to come through the front door in case anyone is watching, so I climbed up the fire escape in the back of the building and inched around along the ledge.”
“How did you know this place is mine?”
“I watched from my car until it got dark. After our call yesterday, I just started driving. I couldn’t rest knowing you could be in danger.”
I close the window and lock it, and then pull the curtain shut. “Jason is on his way over. He’ll be here any minute.”
His eyes widen. “Did you tell him about all of this?”
“No. He wanted to hang out and watch a movie. And I didn’t want to be alone. What should we do?”
Garrett shoves his hands into his pockets. “Madeline, I’ve been thinking about this all day. We’ve all been trapped in this situation for so long, and maybe this is our chance to be free.”
“How?”
“Maybe it’s time to let Jason know I’m alive. Like you said, if he works for Waylon, he’ll have information about his business dealings. Jason and I could gather evidence against him that we could take to the FBI together.”
“I told him about the video, and he thought I was crazy. He’ll be shocked to see you.”
Garrett nods. “But maybe relieved, too. Maybe he’s felt trapped and alone working for Waylon all these years. I can help him get out. We can help each other.”
I study the photo of the three of us on the wall, and Jason and Adam smile down at me. We were best friends with our whole lives ahead of us. Waylon took so much. Are we going to sit around and let him keep doing it? Maybe it’s time to stop letting him ruin our lives.
“Okay, I’m in.”
Garrett’s head wags back and forth. “I don’t want you involved in any of this. I’m not putting you in danger. ”
“I’m already involved. Garrett, I’ve been to the warehouse dozens of times.
I’ve chatted about the weather and drank cocktails with his wife.
What if the whole time he’s been forcing Jason to work for him?
” I remember Waylon’s charming smile, his arm around Jason’s shoulder.
Jason never flinched, never turned pale.
He went for cocktails at the house and golf games at the country club.
How did he pull it off? How did he put on a good face for so long, knowing the monster he was working for?
“Do you think Jason knows if Waylon is watching me?” I shudder.
“That’s exactly why you should leave town and go to your sister’s place,” Garrett growls. “Once you’re gone, I’ll talk to Jason, and we’ll go to the FBI together.”
“I’m not leaving.” I cross the room and take the photo off the mantel.
What if instead of the decades of secrets, those kids in the picture had just been honest with each other from the very beginning?
“You two have been trying to take care of everything on your own for too long and it’s not working anymore. ”
A loud buzz echoes through the apartment. The doorbell downstairs. My gaze swings to Garrett. “It’s Jason.”
He stares back at me, his jaw twitching as if he’s wrestling with what to do.
“It’s time to finally let the truth come out and work as a team, together. ”
Garrett’s shoulders drop, and he nods, slowly moving toward the door.
I turn to put the photo back on the mantel, and just as I set it down, my heart nearly stops beating. A cold sweat breaks out on my forehead. Something isn’t right. Garrett reaches for the button to buzz Jason in.
“Wait, Garrett. Stop!”