Chapter 5
Atlas
I storm into my office, immediately pacing the length of the wall.
Those green eyes were unmistakable.
I blink and they’re all I can see in my head.
Either I’m hallucinating, or she’s a fucking liar.
I’m leaning more towards the latter. There are too many similarities between the two women for it to be anything other than deception.
FUCK!
I flip my office table before I even realize I did it. At least it wasn’t my desk with the computer monitors on it. Papers and security contracts flutter all over my office floor, but I don’t feel any better.
My anger still simmers underneath my skin.
I thought I was coping fine with her being gone, with the possibility that she’s dead. This move was supposed to be a fresh start. Is it possible that I’m more fucked up about it than I thought?
Am I finally losing it, or is it really her?
My dreams always feel so real, but my brain has never tricked me while I was awake. I have to get to the bottom of this.
I flop down in my computer chair, pulling up the city CCTV on my computer screen. I need to know my mind isn’t playing tricks on me. I pull up the camera right outside the bookstore, scrolling back to about an hour ago, and watch from there.
After twenty minutes of watching the playback, I pause the video as she comes across the screen.
I slow down the frame rate and click play again, watching until I come out of the bookstore and walk right into her.
I replay the same five-minute clip on a loop, trying to catch anything I didn’t see the first time.
The camera angle doesn’t give anything away, not even a good view of her face.
I didn’t notice any cameras inside the coffee shop that could be hacked into; therefore, that wouldn’t be an option.
I pull out my phone and text the only person who’d know how to help me.
Atlas
I think I’m losing it, man.
Gavin
What happened?
Atlas
I bumped into someone on the street
today and everything in my body is
screaming that it was Maizyn.
Gavin
That’s a bad thing? You wanted to find her, right?
Atlas
Of course, I wanted to find her.
That’s not the problem.
Gavin
Alright, what is the problem?
Atlas
I confronted her and she looked at me like
I was crazy. She said she didn’t know who
Maze was, that her name was Emily. She
said she didn’t know me.
Gavin
Are you sure it was Maizyn?
Atlas
Fuck man, I thought I was, but the more I think
about it, the less confident I am. She genuinely
looked confused. What do I do, man?
Gavin
Let me look into it for you. It probably wasn’t
her, so try and relax. Send me any info you have
on Emily and let me do what I do best.
Atlas
Sure. Her first name is Emily and she works at Mrs. Carter’s Bakery,over on Third Street in the West Plaza. I will email you the surveillance video I got from outside the bookstore. It doesn’t show a good angle of her face, but it’s all I was able to get.
Gavin
Send it to me and I’ll get back to you when
I have the information. Take care, man.
I hate that I keep bothering Gavin with my mess but I know I can always count on him. There’s no way I’ll be able to get any work done until I get answers, so I pocket my phone and head home.
I can clean my office up later, right now, I need to clear my head.
Emily
I make it back to the bakery in time for our lunch rush to hit. We have a line out the door when I arrive, so I rush inside and put my apron back on. I jump back behind the register, allowing Brooke to focus on making the drinks.
With how busy we are, time flies by. Megan comes in shortly to replace me, and I don’t stay longer than I need to. My mind is itching to do some digging on that mystery man I met earlier. It doesn’t take long for me to clock out and head home.
It’s pretty warm out, but I honestly enjoy the walk. It gives me time to be alone to think, and I always carry a knife with me so I’m not too worried about how safe walking alone in this city is.
My mind keeps drifting back to that man from earlier.
Why did he call me Maze?
He really thought he knew me, but I can’t remember ever meeting him, and my name isn’t Maze.
My body has never reacted to anyone the way it did with him though.
The way he looked at me like he held all the answers to every question I had.
I felt like I was missing something. Like there were parts of a puzzle I didn’t have and I can only assume my missing memories were the reason for that feeling.
I have to find out who this man is and why he looked at me the way he did. I have to get my memories back.
I round the corner to my apartment building, racing up three flights of stairs to my apartment. This place really needed to invest in an elevator but at least all the steps made my ass look great.
Slamming the door behind me, I double check I locked it, then head to the kitchen island where my laptop sits.
I pull up the notes app on my phone to see the business name again.
After typing Torres Security into the search engine, I hit enter.
The first two results don’t give me anything worth noting, but the third result brings me to the company website.
I go to the “about us” page and low and behold, a photo of my mystery man shows he owns the company.
Turns out, his name is Atlas Torres and he runs it with another man named Gavin Blackwell. It seems the office here in Willowhook is not the only location they have. There is another location in Allendale about three hours from here, not too far past the state line. Interesting.
I’ve heard of Allendale before. But where?
I keep digging through the company site, but the only thing I learn is they do all kinds of security jobs.
I searched for the name Atlas Torres instead.
This man is either super boring or super smart.
There’s nothing personal I can find on the internet.
Even his social media pages look like they’re for business only, not even the name of his favorite restaurant can be found.
I decide to search for anything I can find on Gavin. They seem close, maybe that’s my ticket to more information. I scroll past a few unrelated profiles before coming across his personal social media account. The last picture was posted a month ago in Allendale, where their other office is.
Based on that information, they’re probably new in town. The company site said this branch opened about a month ago, so that tracks.
I keep scrolling for anything that I can use when I see a picture of Gavin and Atlas at some place called Elixirs. I realize they’re close, more than just business partners, but it doesn’t help me learn anything about what they do in this town.
Fine, I’ll do this the hard way. All I have to do is follow him without getting caught. How hard could it be? People in books stalk someone all the time.
With that, I come to a simple conclusion, I now have a long day ahead of me tomorrow. That means, I need to get ready for bed in order to wake up early enough for this.
On my way to the bathroom, I grab an oversized shirt from my dresser. Reaching inside the shower, I turn the handle all the way hot before I start to undress. I washed my hair yesterday and I’m too lazy to deal with it tonight, so I pull it up in a messy bun while stepping into the shower.
I welcome the way the hot water burns my skin.
When it comes to showers, I want the Devil himself to flinch.
I grab the loofah, applying some of my lavender body wash to it.
The scratch of the loofah against my sensitive skin while I lather my body with soap is so relaxing.
I use a scent-free face scrub to exfoliate quickly before washing it back off.
I know I should shut off the water and get out, but I’m not ready yet.
While I’m secluded in this tiny square, I’m hoping my brain will finally be able to shut down for a few seconds. I just want to forget everything that’s happening outside of this shower while I’m in it.
But of course, it doesn’t really work. It never does.
The universe will never allow my thoughts to be quiet. Instead of shutting all the voices out, they amplify. Trevor’s voice every time he tells me what I should and shouldn’t do. The nagging weight of my self doubts. And then there is him, the mystery man.
Sighing, I close my eyes, imagining his blue ones staring back at me. If I couldn’t make my mind turn off, then maybe I could use it to my advantage. I instantly drop the loofah and allow my fingers to trail over the suds I have yet to wash off.
What if it were his hands on me instead of my own?
The thought has me opening my eyes in a panic.
Where the fuck did that come from? I was trying to think happy thoughts but not that kind.
I quickly wash the soap off and shut off the water.
The man is a complete stranger. I shouldn’t be thinking about how his hands should feel on my body. I do a half-assed job of drying off my body before slipping my shirt over my head and climbing into bed.
Maybe sleep would fix me but I wasn’t hopeful.
I set my alarm for 6:30AM. I’m not thrilled about the time, but I need to wake up early enough to hopefully beat him to his office.
Atlas
My phone pings with a text notification. It’s two in the morning, so I’m pretty sure it’s Gavin. Not many people would send something this late in the night. I’m hoping he found something to confirm my suspicions.
I know what I saw.
I just need proof so I don’t sound like I’m losing my mind. I open the text thread, and sure enough it’s from Gavin, but my stomach sinks when I read it.
Gavin
I checked. And I don’t think it’s
possible that this girl is Maze.
Atlas
What do you mean?
Gavin
Her identity checks out. Her full name is Emily
Nicole Carter. She’s twenty four. She doesn’t
seem to have much family left. All I could find
was that her mother died about five years ago.
Atlas
Is it possible it’s a cover story?
Gavin
I don’t think so. It’s pretty extensive. I can track
almost her whole life story up until about a year
ago. I was able to find that she’s on a lease for an
apartment with someone named Trevor Sinclair,
and based on her social media page, that seems to
be her long term boyfriend. I’m sorry man, I was
hoping you were right. We’ll find Maze. We just
have to keep looking.
Atlas
It’s okay. Thank you for looking for me. Can you
still email everything you found just so I have it?
Gavin
Yeah, I’ll email everything over to you.
The email doesn’t take long to arrive in my inbox. I trust Gavin, but I know my mind won’t settle until I look over the proof for myself.
A part of me is hoping he got it wrong, even though that’s usually never the case with him.
I open the files as soon as they’re done downloading to my computer. Opening the email, I immediately realize how detailed of a background check he ran on her. Shit, he was busy. That man is a different type of genius. I don’t know how he pulled this much information in such a short amount of time.
Gavin sent me everything I needed to know, right from her birth certificate, to her current job at Mrs. Carter’s Bakery. I start looking over everything, trying to find anything he may have missed.
I’m still hoping there will be something in here showing it’s a cover-up and this woman is Maze. I’m meticulously looking over every single piece of information he sent me. I read over every tiny detail repeatedly, but I don’t find anything to prove she’s Maze.
The identity looks as real as it gets. I know from experience as a private investigator that no one would go this in-depth on a cover story.
The only thing that flags any interest is that almost a year’s worth of information is missing, like she took time away from the world before resurfacing again.
No listings of a job or housing, but there could be plenty of reasons for that.
She could’ve been living at her boyfriend’s house and didn’t have to work.
I’ve seen it happen. When I ran into this woman, everything in my body was screaming she was Maizyn.
But no matter how many times I scour over the facts, the conclusion remains the same.
It’s not her, and while I’m disappointed that it’s not, there’s nothing I can do about that.
I check the time on my computer and realize it’s already four in the morning.
Tomorrow is going to suck. I need to be at work by eight o’clock, and with my current lack of sleep, it’ll seem to drag on longer than normal.