Chapter 58
Take all the stars, Theodore Reed. You own all the breaths that have mattered most to me. Why would I think that anyone but you could claim every. Single. Dream. The idea of living without you seemed much more bearable when I thought I wouldn’t be alive. This … is a skeleton of existence.
Every new day should be a celebration—complete gratitude—of life. Instead, it’s just another day I’ve survived without you. When loneliness takes its occasional break, guilt takes over.
Guilt over needing you.
Guilt over needing anything but a heartbeat.
No one wants to be the last human living on Earth. Why do I feel like that person? What’s wrong with me?
The first of November ushers in a few brisk mornings, so I pull on a jumper and go for a walk this morning since I have a few days off. The Moores left town today for a wedding in South Beach. Nellie plans on telling Nolan and Harold everything.
My father has moved back in with me, but just until Harold is gone. I’m not sure if Nolan will welcome Oscar Stone into his house—his mum’s bed.
After I get a stone’s throw from my flat, an unexpected shower spoils my walk, so I duck into the library for shelter until it lets up.
I browse through the aisles, pulling this book and that book off the shelf.
I look at the rows of computers.
I browse some more.
I think of Theo.
I look at the rows of computers.
I go to the loo and browse some more.
It’s still raining.
I ease into a chair by a computer, just to rest.
My hand bumps the mouse and the screen lights up.
I fist my hands. Maybe I can just do a search for live radar to see when the rain will let up. That’s no big deal. I did read Nellie’s journal on my phone, but I haven’t touched it since then. I can do this.
*
I am a failure. In three hours, I’ve fallen victim to old habits. As I stare at the ripped-open computer box at the end of the bed and the gentleman’s wallet I stole to buy the computer, I feel remorse. The address on the note beside me? That gives me hope.
Theo’s mobile was a dead end. As I suspected, he must have destroyed it after I texted him from Nolan’s mobile.
Credit cards? Nope. I did that one to myself.
It would appear that Theo has been paying cash for everything.
However, a DMV search gave me his registration number and since then, I’ve accessed every traffic camera and building security camera starting in Savannah to piece together his whereabouts.
He’s in Lexington.
Where? I’m not sure yet but for the past week, he’s been caught on a bank security camera getting coffee at a Starbucks next to the bank.
I’ve opened my own bank account and reclaimed some of the money I deposited into Daniel’s account. He’ll have to understand. I refuse to take any more money from Oscar. I can do this on my own. Okay—starting now.
After I pack my bags, grab my juicer, and leave Oscar a note, I make my way to the bank. My bank. Withdrawing money is as quick as pouring a cup of cold treacle. Banks tend to be sensitive about major withdrawals.
After that, I buy the cheapest economy car I can find, anonymously post the stolen wallet back to my victim, and credit his account for the borrowed money. Then I set the sat nav for the Starbucks next to the bank in Lexington.
I’m coming for you, Theodore Reed.
*
Nine hours and four stops later, I arrive in Lexington. Starbucks is closed. I get a hotel room for the night and return in the morning. The moment I see him, I will want to leap into his arms. But I can’t. First I need to know why he’s here.
Parked across the street, I sit low in my seat with a cap on my head.
I wait for two hours and as I start to think he’s not coming for his morning coffee, a man that matches his build approaches the door.
It’s him but … his beard is not long like Theo’s.
It looks like a few days’ worth of thick stubble.
He’s wearing a gray beanie, no hair hangs out around it, and there’s no bulkiness that suggests it’s all tucked beneath it.
The black long-sleeved shirt prevents me from seeing tattoos, and sunglasses conceal his eyes.
I know it’s him as much as I don’t believe it can be him. I’m disguised a bit, but not enough to walk into the coffee shop without him recognizing me. “Theo … is that you?” I whisper to myself.
The uncertainty leaves me with no choice but to wait and see if I can make a better assessment when he comes out.
A few minutes later, he emerges, taking a sip from his takeaway cup.
I squint, but … I don’t know. The body is Theo’s, but it’s possible he isn’t the only man in Lexington with a body like that.
Video from two days ago showed him with his hair pulled back, no sunglasses.
This might not be him. I watch him in my mirror, walk down the pavement and make a right turn onto another street.
My focus returns to the Starbucks, but a few seconds later, I happen to glance in my mirror again. “It’s him.” I sit up in my seat and fumble with my seatbelt as his truck turns on the main street going in the opposite direction as my car is parked.
I do a U-turn onto the street and gun it, slowing up as his truck comes into sight again.
After weaving his way through town, he parallel parks on the street.
I’ve already passed my best spot to park a few cars behind him, so I have to go around the block.
I tuck my chin and pull on the bill of my hat when my car passes his truck.
A few minutes later, I secure a spot four cars back from his truck.
I was worried he’d be out of his truck, but he’s not. His window is cracked and he’s looking straight ahead, sipping his coffee.
Six hours. He sits in his truck for six hours. I’m dying. My arse is numb, and my bladder is ready to burst when his brake lights illuminate.
“Oh thank God.” I wait a few seconds after he pulls out before following him.
He doesn’t go far, just two streets. A blue car pulls into an angled parking spot in front of an old block of flats.
Theo pulls in a few spaces back from the blue car.
I do the same behind Theo. Bloody hell, I need to wee!
Theo’s head moves slowly. He seems to be following the man getting out of the blue car.
The man walks across the street. Theo’s head turns in his direction.
Once the man disappears into another tall block of flats, Theo gets out of his truck.
I scoot down low in my seat, peeking at him through the steering wheel.
The locks on his truck beep, and he uses a key to get into the block on the same side of the street that we’re parked.
Wee. Dammit, I need to wee, but I don’t want to get out yet.
Theo could be looking out a window and see me.
I’m not ready for him to see me yet. Desperate times …
I grab an empty disposable cup from the holder between the seats, unbuckle, and move my seat back as far as it will go.
Then I maneuver my feet onto the seat into a squatted position.
After a quick look around the area, I shimmy my leggings and knickers down just far enough to get the cup upright between my legs and … ahh …
I won’t apologize. At the moment, this release feels almost as good as an orgasm.
My name is Scarlet Stone and when I was fifteen, we had to disappear for a while.
Oscar feared for his life, so we holed up in this warehouse for two weeks until the threat was eliminated.
No plumbing. We bathed with baby wipes and became experts at the art of weeing in a cup.
The first few times didn’t go so well for me.
My aim wasn’t nearly as good as the male porcupine’s.
Plastering my face to the window, I look for lights on in any of the flats but it’s still too light out. I dig my computer out of my bag to see if I can find some information on the man that Theo seemed so interested in following.
A registration plate is a great start.
“What. The. Hell?”
The blue car was recently registered to Braxton Ames. That’s the name from the newspaper clipping in Theo’s trunk.
Braxton Ames arrested in the murder of Kathryn Reed
I search his name.
Investigators reopen the Kathryn Reed homicide case.
Braxton Ames’s attorney claims he was coerced into confessing to the murder of Reed and lack of evidence will prove his claim of not guilty. A judge will rehear his case in October.
Judge finds Braxton Ames not guilty for the murder of Kathryn Reed. Police are now searching for the person responsible for her death.
October. October was the end of our six months on Tybee. Theo’s here for Braxton. He doesn’t believe he’s innocent. Theo’s here to kill Braxton Ames.
“Think, Scarlet.” Before I can plot my next move, Theo comes out of the block. He’s still wearing the gray beanie but no sunglasses. I can barely breathe. He looks so different with his trimmed facial hair and that hat.
He gets into his truck and pulls out. As much as I want to know where he’s going, I need to stay here. Braxton is in his flat across the street. For now he’s safe. After Theo’s truck turns the corner, I jump out, depositing my urine cup in the bin by the entrance that’s locked.
I’m getting faster at breaking in, just like old times. The main door opens for me in less than ten seconds.
“Great,” I mutter as I look up the stairs. There must be seven floors of flats. How the hell am I supposed to find which one is his?”
He wants to keep an eye on Braxton, so his flat has to face the street.
That still doesn’t narrow it down enough, but it’s a start.
I begin at the top floor, assuming he’d want to be up a ways.
Door after door, I knock and knock. When I’m lucky enough to get an answer, I go through my spiel describing him, but no one knows who I’m talking about.
Of course he’s not exactly going to be the one in the block throwing parties, but he’s not exactly someone you don’t notice either.
I’m running out of time. Without knowing where he went, I have no idea when he’ll be back, but it’s been over an hour since he left. I knock on the last door on the fourth floor, feeling a bit defeated.
“Yes?” A ponytailed blonde answers the door, jogging in place. “Sorry, you caught me in the middle of a workout.”
“Oh, sorry. I’m looking for Theodore Reed, he’s about six—”
“Yes, Theo. Nice guy. His apartment is that one.” She points to the door just to the right of hers. The one I just knocked on, and of course, no one answered.
“Are you okay?” she asks, bouncing up and down.
I must look a bit dazed. I’d given up on finding it. “Yeah. Thanks. I knocked. He’s not home, so I’ll come back later.”
“Do you want me to tell him you stopped by if I see him?”
I don’t really want happy, bouncy tits to see him at all. “No. No need. Thank you.”
As she waves and starts to shut her door, I notice something familiar behind her, near her window. Phoebe! I recognized the green ceramic pot.
“Wait!” I bang the toe of my shoe into her door to prevent it from closing.
“Yes?”
“That’s my plant!”
She glances over her shoulder then back at me. “Excuse me?”
“Theo gave you that plant, didn’t he?” Bastard!
“Uh … yes, but—hey!”
I shove past her, stepping over her minefield of clutter to rescue my peace lily. “It’s mine. Sorry, he had no right to give it to you.” I grab the doorknob and slam her door shut before she has a chance to protest anymore.
New plan. I’m going to kill him.
I glance at the door to the stairwell and then the door to the lift.
He could show up any minute. He could also put a bullet in Braxton Ames’s head before morning.
I pick his lock and shut the door behind me, locking it again.
I can’t help but grin. It’s bare in here except for a folding chair.
Then I look at Phoebe in my arms and my smile vanishes.
Bastard!
With one shift of my gaze to the window, even the plant is forgotten. There’s a rifle mounted onto a tripod. I open the door to the right. It’s a bathroom. I put Phoebe in the bath and run a little water. The poor thing looks like a dead jelly fish. Bouncy tits is clueless.
The other door is to a bedroom—mattress on the floor, trunk next to it. I can strip down naked on his bed and wait. He’ll see me. I’ll give him a bollocking for giving Phoebe away—again. We’ll fuck like rabid animals. He’ll forget why he came to Lexington.
Yeah, right.
I tug on the trunk. It must weigh several hundred pounds, so I unlock it.
Everything looks about the same, except the missing rifle that’s now perched by the window.
I run back out and tug open drawers and cupboards in the kitchen until I find a bin bag.
Then I hustle back to the bedroom and start filling it with weapons.
“The rifle.” I frown at the bag that’s full and remove some of the knives. Figuring out how to remove the rifle from the tripod eats up almost ten minutes. I can disarm a state-of-the-art security system in less than sixty seconds but a simple tripod has me completely perplexed.
I’m sure the rifle comes apart, but hell if I know how to do that. I shove it into the bag and lift the heavy thing up. The end of the rifle busts through.
“Shit.” I grab another bag and double bag everything. Then I glance out the window. No Theo, yet. Lugging weapons in bin bags is not ideal.
“Need help?” A young man with scraggly dark hair and a pathetic excuse for a beard asks as I heave it into the lift.
“Thank you. I’m good. Just some … stuff I’m donating.”
He nods as the lift starts to descend.
“After you.” He holds out his arm when the door opens.
Manners can have a downside. With my luck, one of the guns is loaded and will go off, killing this poor bloke before I get the bag dragged out of the building.
“Thank you.” I grunt, lifting the bag.
“Here.”
“No!”
Before I can stop him, he has the bag hoisted up. I hold my breath.
“Where’s your car?”
Gulp!
“Uh, follow me, but please be careful … some of it’s fragile.”
He follows me to my car.
“Here, put it in the boot.”
He laughs. “The boot?”
“Uh …” I shake my head. “The um … trunk I believe you call it.”
He puts it in the boot—trunk. “You’re not from these parts.”
I return a shaky smile, surveying the area for Theo’s truck. “Just moved here.”
“What apartment are you in?”
“Sorry? Oh, uh …” I laugh. “Gosh, I can’t even remember, I just walk right to it. Um …”
“Well, it has to be four-something.”
I nod. “Yes.” I wave my hands around. “The uh … door down the hall like, second or third from the end. Sorry, it’s been a long day and I’m …”
He laughs. “No problem. I’m Kyle, apartment 512. Don’t hesitate if you need help with anything or…” he shrugs “…if you want to get a drink sometime.”
“Lovely. I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you.” I open the door and give him one last smile before closing it, starting the car, and getting the hell out of here.