Chapter 3
CHAPTER THREE
“You’re really sure it was him?” Jamie said, his face visible on my laptop which was now propped up on the kitchen counter.
I paced my kitchen, clutching my phone so tightly I thought it might shatter in my hand.
“Yes. I mean, I only met him once or twice, but I know it was him.” I glared at my phone for what felt like the hundredth time.
Almost a dozen texts to my sister and several phone calls and still no answer.
I didn’t give a shit if she was at work or sleeping.
I’d left the office early, telling Jana I was unwell.
My nerves were shot and there was no way I was going to get through the day without going into a full panic attack.
I’d popped a Xanax an hour ago and it only seemed to help a little.
With no answer from my sister, I thought I might lose my shit at any moment.
Jamie watched me pace from where he sat at his desk, his mouth set in a hard frown. “How long was she with him? I don’t remember a Luca.”
“Luke. And not long, only like a year or something on and off.”
“And she never mentioned him recently?”
“Last time was maybe a couple months ago when they were hanging out, but she hadn’t told me much else after, except that they were just ‘friends’…whatever that meant.”
“And sooo what? You think your sister might know what happened?”
I don’t know…maybe?” Most likely was what I really thought. The tattoo he had was fresh, he didn’t have it the last time I’d seen him. And it being the same one the twins had led me to believe it had some kind of significance. A symbol for something. A group, an organization. A gang.
But I couldn’t exactly tell Jamie that because he had no idea about the twins or about my kidnapping.
It sucked not being able to tell him anything, to keep him in the dark.
Because if I told him, then he would know about the others, and what really happened to Eve at Severfalls.
I promised I would keep it a secret, but every day was a struggle to not just blurt it out, to let it all go.
I really wished I could confide in Eve. But I knew that wasn’t a possibility, not right now. She was gone somewhere and wanted some time before we contacted her again, just to keep any trace cold.
I could tell Jamie missed her too. That he was concerned for her. And that a part of him knew she wasn’t with a bunch of her mom’s old friends in California. What he thought she was really doing I could only guess. But he didn’t pry and I didn’t say a word.
So instead of telling him what I knew, I said, “Trish has to be aware.”
“Maybe she isn’t. You said the body came in early this morning, right? She might not have heard from him. It could just be a coincidence.”
Yeah, a really bad coincidence. But that bad feeling in my gut was still there.
Trish was a polarizing person and always had been.
On the surface my older sister was tough, educated, and extremely social, who my parents had always adored and who had always been popular.
I’d been in her shadow all my life, trying to be like her.
Only until college did I feel like I got even close.
But under the surface there was another girl only I knew. Who liked to take risks, party a little too hard, and sometimes hang with the wrong crowd. Drugs, sex with randoms, and dating questionable men were her fun past times.
I didn’t want to believe she could be involved, but in the back of my mind there was that voice telling me she very well could.
“She still working at that club as a bottle girl?” Jamie asked when I didn’t respond.
I stopped pacing to stare out my kitchen window. “Yeah, but only some nights and on the weekends. She’s still at the Detroit Theater most days.”
“Maybe call her work?”
I dialed the theater. The manager picked up a few calls later.
“Haven’t seen her but she mentioned she’d be in late,” they said.
“Can you have her call me if you see her?”
There was a pause, then, “Sure thing.”
I hung up and tried the Nectarine Lounge next but no luck there either. She wasn’t scheduled till Saturday.
I pressed my phone to my forehead. “Fuck it, I’m going over to her place. I don’t care if she’s asleep.”
“Probably a good idea,” Jamie said. “Just be careful, and call me as soon as you know what’s up.”
“You got it, talk soon.”
I stalked into my room and dropped my phone on the bed as I went over to the closet and changed out of my work clothes.
The office got cold but outside the summer heat was setting in.
Careful of each brace, I slipped on a pair of shorts and a new T-shirt, before tying on my boots.
As I straightened, I caught sight of my little jewelry box on my dresser. Black wood with a silver trim.
I stared at it for a moment, my throat tightening. Trish had given it to me. But it wasn’t the box that made me go still, it was the contents inside.
Heat rose in my chest. A simmering anger I couldn’t quell. I almost went to the box and opened it but decided against it and moved to the door instead. I grabbed my bag off the hook and stuffed a thin black shawl inside, then went for my phone on the bed.
I froze as I grabbed for it, glancing at the screen.
There was a message.
I unlocked my phone and saw who it was from.
A voice message…from Trish.
“Fucking finally!” I exhaled loudly.
There was silence for a moment when I hit play. Then I heard her voice, low and deadly serious.
“Lena…” Her voice cracked. “Tell Mom and Dad I’m okay. I’m okay…” A pause, then, “Don’t go looking around and start trouble. I’m just…I’m just gonna be gone for a bit, alright? It’s nothing for you to be worried about. Please…”
The message cut there.
What the fuck?
This was not like her at all.
That bad feeling in my gut tightened. I shoved my phone in my bag and headed out.
Ten minutes later, I was outside my sister’s apartment, pounding on the door.
“Trish? Trish, open up!”
Good thing it was only a little past midday or I’d be waking everyone up. I called her name and the door shook from my fist against it.
“Trish!”
“Woah, Lena, what’s going on?”
I whirled around, coming face-to-face with Trish’s roommate, Denise. A tall woman like my sister, with thick, braided hair that swept down her back. Her honey-brown eyes were wide with concern.
“Hey, have you seen Trish?”
She shook her head. “Not since yesterday.”
“You weren’t here last night?”
“I was staying with a friend.”
“Can you let me in?”
She slipped over to the door and put in her keycard. I let her move inside first as I entered close behind her.
The apartment was dark, the shades closed all the way. Denise went over and pulled them aside.
The place was…messy. Not trashed. Or even dirty per se, just crowded with my sister’s things.
Dresses and customs hung from a rack by one wall, more clothes hung on chairs and her sewing machine station was a mess of thread and cloth.
Ribbons were strewn across the ground and hats were hanging off one lamp in the living room.
Denise turned on a light in the kitchen. “Maybe she’s in her room?”
We both glanced over at the closed door.
I moved first, creeping over and wrapping my hand around the handle. Cautiously, I turned it and opened the door.
The room was dark like the living room. I searched the wall and flipped on the switch.
The bedroom was empty. And, much like the living room, a mess. Only this time, I could tell something was off. Her normal clothes had been flung around the room as if in a hurry. Drawers were halfway open and one of her lamps was lying on its side on the floor.
I went to take a step further in when something crunched under my feet. I looked down and saw Trish’s lucky charm bracelet on the ground. The one she said got her the best tips at the Nectarine Lounge. She never went without it.
I picked it up and found the chain was broken.
I turned out of the room. My pulse was throbbing now in my ears as I met Denise in the kitchen.
“I think something has happened and we need to call the cops,” the words came out of my mouth as the panic started to rise in my throat.
Denise’s brows furrowed. “Call the cops? Lena, you sure she isn’t just out somewhere?”
I lifted the chain up and showed it to her. “I’m sure.”
I stood outside the hall across from the security office to my sister’s complex, back resting against the white and gray wall as I stared at nothing. The cops were talking with security inside, while Denise was talking to a neighbor a few feet away.
My head felt fuzzy as if a headache was brewing.
Nausea danced in my stomach. I told the cops basically everything.
How I worked at the medical examiner’s office and did an autopsy on my sister’s ex, how I was certain she was missing.
I showed them the voice message and told them I couldn’t contact her otherwise.
After they searched the apartment and questioned Denise, we headed down to the security office to review the camera feeds from last night.
Security fast-forwarded their recording until later in the evening.
Everything was normal until they got to about two am.
That’s when a group of men showed up, heads covered by the hoods of their jackets.
The only way they could have gotten access to the building is if someone with the keycode let them in.
They’d made their way around the back entrance and up the stairs and disappeared.
Fifteen minutes later, they appeared again, only this time my sister was with them.
She didn’t struggle. Even as one man’s hand was wrapped around her arm tight. She stumbled a little as they got to the exit but swiftly they caught her and led her out, disappearing the way they came.
To the cops and security, it looked like she willingly left with them. After all, someone getting kidnapped would be struggling and screaming. Still, it was suspicious enough for them to make a report. And with her ex found dead, she was now part of the investigation.
The cops might think she had something to do with it. But I didn’t want to believe it, not for a second. I didn’t believe my sister capable of hurting anyone or being an accomplice to murder.
But those men…the ones who took her. I knew they were capable.
I watched as they took her and the first thing I noticed wasn’t the hoods or the dark clothes, but the patch on their jackets.
Twin snakes wrapped around a blade.
I hadn’t allowed myself to even think it until now, but I could no longer deny the ties that were forming.
The twins had something to do with this. That symbol was on them, it was seen on my sister’s ex, and now on these men’s jackets.
I shut my eyes and covered my face in my hands, trying really hard not to scream.
I thought they couldn’t hurt me more.
Why? Why the fuck would they do this? Was it to get back at me somehow? Was it some sadistic game?
I took a shaky breath in and out.
No, it makes no sense. I was jumping to conclusions too fast.
I dropped my hands and glared at the wall.
But they knew something. They knew.
I unlatched myself from where I stood and turned away, making swiftly for the exit.
“Where are you going?” Denise asked as I passed her.
“I need to call Dad. And my brother.”
“Alright.” I could hear the tension in her voice. “I’ll keep you posted around here and with her work. We’ll find her, Lena, don’t worry.”
I thanked her. As I headed for the lobby, a plan formed in my mind. I knew after I had the dreaded conversation with my family, I wasn’t going to be able to ignore the twins anymore.
And if they really did have anything to do with this, I’d kill them.