Page 15

15

LENNY

Stone navigated us to the High Tide Pub in minimal time. There was no doubt in my head the man was a genius, the only person I knew able to navigate these roads in record time. I would’ve found myself wandering up and down them until I happened upon the pub.

You’ve lived here three years. Get it together.

There were a few patrons inside when we arrived. My heart was already racing, and I recognized the interior of the place. Very little had changed in three years. There was the same smell of pub food and sticky alcohol, the dim lighting, the low music playing over the old speakers.

Stone led me to a high top table with two chairs. He pulled out mine before taking his own. I wasn’t sure who looked more anxious—myself or him. He kept glancing over to the bar with bottles of liquor lined behind it.

Shit.

I kicked myself, remembering what he told me. Stone didn’t drink. And now, because of me, we had to sit in the center of place revolved around drinking. I wasn’t sure what the story was, but I got the sense he didn’t stop drinking just because he chose to.

The waitress came over and asked if we wanted anything. Before I could answer to order just a water, Stone whispered, “What did you get that night?”

Instantly, I was transported back three years prior. I was pregnant, so I knew I didn’t drink any of the alcohol behind the bar.

“Can I do a club soda with lime?” I asked. “And a side of fries.”

She looked at Stone, waiting for his order, and he requested the same drink.

“Fries?” he said and eyed me.

“It was a pregnancy craving,” I admitted, and I watched his face fall a little, only for a second, before smiling gently at me.

“I’m here every step of the way,” he reminded me.

I took a deep breath while we waited quietly for the waitress to return. The pub wasn’t busy, and it didn’t take long before she carried over a basket of fries and our two drinks.

Stone scrolled through his phone while I nervously sipped. His eyes barely flicked up to me every few minutes.

“Now what?” I asked, finally breaking the silence.

“A colleague sent me information about this place,” he answered. “I didn’t have time to comb through it until now.”

“Anything helpful?” I asked, raising a brow.

The conversation helped. It distracted me from focusing on my surroundings, the way the place made my skin crawl.

“Not exactly,” Stone answered. “A few employees have prior records, but nothing that sticks out or fits the profile. It does help me at least whittle down who to consider, but I’m not fully eliminating anyone.”

I nodded. Seeing Stone actively working on the case outside of the small bubble we had formed in his rental had my heart beating a little harder.

Stop it, Len.

There was no doubt in my mind that if anyone could find the person responsible for all this, it would be him, but I couldn’t let the feelings growing inside me disrupt that.

“I should warn you, my colleague also found this,” he said and held up his phone screen for me to see.

When he flipped it, my breath caught in my throat. On the screen, staring directly at me, was a blown up version of the footage I had sent him. The keychain I’d been adamant about was now readable. I didn’t know what told me it was important, maybe it was instinct, but I knew there was a reason we had to read it. There were those three little words, staring right at me on the tag attached to a key inside whoever threatened me’s pocket.

High Tide Pub.

The same pub we sat in now.

I glanced around the room, as if I was going to be able to spot the keys out in the open. Tourists walked in the front door, wearing hats with BP embroidered on them. Waitresses hustled around the place, taking orders and cleaning tables. The longer we sat, the busier it became.

If they were truly keys to the pub, anyone could have them. It wasn’t exactly the damning evidence I hoped it was, but it did at least confirm we were starting in the right place.

“We should begin,” Stone said gently.

“How?” I asked, unsure of what exactly it was he wanted me to do.

“Take a deep breath,” he instructed. “And close your eyes.”

I inhaled and let it out slowly, letting my eyelids flutter shut. I focused on what I could sense around me. The low hum of music and the distant conversations that carried through the air. The smell of food being brought out from the kitchen. Beneath me, I could feel the way the leather of the seat felt against my thighs.

I didn’t need my eyes open to know exactly what the scene around me looked like.

“Where were you in the pub that night?” Stone asked.

Easy.

“I was over by the bar. It was Calvin‘s birthday.”

“Good, keep that same focus,” he instructed. “What do you remember about the atmosphere? Was it loud? Were there many others around you?”

We’d been singing happy birthday to Calvin, everyone holding their drinks in the air, giving a cheers to him. It was the first time I allowed myself happiness like that in a long time. Jake hovered close behind me, and I shuddered to remember the way he always had control. I recalled the way the bar was packed that night, a warm fall day with many out to enjoy it into the night.

“It was loud. I could barely hear Calvin and my friends over all the chatter,” I said.

It was almost like a my mind placed me right back in the moment. Reality slipping away.

“Did you notice anyone? Someone around you who didn’t fit or was taking notice of your group?”

I glanced around the room. I could see my friends, people I hadn’t spoken to in years now. Calvin with his arm around Eloise. It was one of the first times I truly got to know her. Jake’s hands were on the small of my back, but not in a comforting manner. It was in the type of way I knew, at any moment, he’d rip me from the joy.

I tried to look around, but I didn’t notice anyone else.

“No,” I said, feeling discouraged.

My heart raced, and I felt the sinking in my stomach.

“It’s alright,” Stone assured me. “You’re doing great.”

I knew it was the calm before the storm. I’d lived it out before. Any moment now, Jake would pick a fight and storm off, leaving me alone at the pub.

“What happens next, Lenny?” he pushed gently, and I ignored the flutter my stomach gave at the name.

My hands trembled in my lap the second I pushed forward in the timeline. I couldn’t tell if it was real or just part of the memory.

Jake spun me around to let me quietly know it was time to go, but I hadn’t wanted to leave. I wasn’t ready. My brother‘s birthday was the first time I’d been able to celebrate with him, and I wanted to share my own news. I’d been waiting for the right moment to pull him aside and tell him, but I hadn’t found my chance yet. All I wanted was to share one night with my friends and family, then go back to being the perfect fiancée Jake expected.

“He left,” I said quietly.

“Who left?”

The moment I protested leaving, he’d been pissed. He pulled me off to the side of the bar and started laying into me as quietly as he could, but I could hear the anger behind every word he spat in my face.

Ungrateful, disobedient, bitch.

Just a few the choice words used to shame me. I remembered holding my stomach, praying it would end.

“Fine. If you want to throw everything away for this, I’m leaving,” he hissed.

I watched him storm out before I had a chance to say anything. It was how all our arguments went. He was never willing to talk through or hear my side; he always stormed off, eventually forgiving me later when I begged for it.

This would be no different.

“Jake,” I said.

“Did you follow after him?“ Stone asked.

I shook my head. “No, I stayed a little longer.”

The fight had left me feeling ill. Pregnancy didn’t help. I was still in the first trimester, and morning sickness unfortunately wasn’t just reserved for mornings.

I tried to go back to the group, but I felt like I was holding back everything in my stomach. I no longer felt present, could feel myself slowly slipping away. My mind always drifted after our arguments, trying to protect me, to hide the way it made my insides turn.

“What’s wrong?” Calvin had asked.

“I think they made the drink a bit stronger than I realized.” I had tried to force myself to laugh.

Wrapped up in the moment, Calvin barely noticed the way my smile didn’t reach my eyes. He just laughed softly and wrapped an arm around my shoulders, hugging me.

“Where’d Jake go?” Calvin had asked, his tone hopeful, not a large fan of my fiancé.

I didn’t want to ruin his night further, and I knew I was no longer in the headspace to be around friends and family. Jake had made sure of it.

“He’s out grabbing the car,” I had said. “Unfortunately, I think he’s going to take me home.”

My brother frowned, but only for a moment, as some of our friends came back carrying more drinks.

“Are you sure? You could stay with us tonight.” He motioned to his fiancée.

“It’s your birthday, Calvin,” I remembered saying. “Enjoy it. I’m gonna go home, get some rest. And now I’ve learned my lesson about trusting this place to make my drinks.”

He smiled and gave me a hug. “Don’t be a stranger,” he said. “Promise me you won’t disappear for months again.”

“I promise,“ I said gently, but I knew it was a lie.

Jake hated my family, hated whenever I wanted to see them. It had taken weeks of begging just to get him to let me come to Calvin‘s birthday.

“I’ll see you soon,” I said, turning to leave the place.

“Where’d you go?” Stone said, calling me a bit out of memory.

“I left,” I said. “Calvin had been worried, but I convinced him Jake was grabbing the car, and I left. I needed space and air, so I decided to head for the beach.”

The waves and salty air always cleared my mind, so I decided to head for my one place of comfort before calling a ride home.

“Did you make it to the beach?”

“No,” I said and swallowed hard.

I knew what was coming next: the pain, the complete darkness.

My breathing picked up, and I placed my hands on the table to steady myself. Everything screamed at me to run in the other direction.

You’re helping the other victims. Do it for them.

I had to remind myself of that over and over, forcing myself to continue.

I felt warmth over one of my hands and realized Stone had reached out to grab it. His touch made me feel a little safer.

I walked out of the bar and stood outside, trying to gain my bearings and figure out which way was the best way to reach the beach. Everything felt a bit hazy, and my mind started to feel cloudy, but I dismissed it as being distracted. The nausea didn’t get any better. I could barely focus long enough to look at my phone and find directions. The music had still been playing in the background, and I remembered taking a small step forward.

“I hadn’t felt well,” I said to Stone. “I remember it being hard to focus, and it taking me a while to even figure out which way to head to the beach.”

“Was it the pregnancy?” he asked.

I never thought about it at the time, but now, I was certain.

“No, I don’t think it was,” I said firmly. “I always assumed that’s why I started not to feel well, but no matter what I do, that night is a blur. I can barely remember anything, besides the fact that my head felt fuzzy, and then it’s just black.”

“You were drugged,” Stone guessed.

Reality hit me like a ton of bricks. Never once had I considered it. I didn’t stick around long enough at the hospital to know if they ever tested me.

I walked without another thought. I was confident I was heading toward the beach, but the cloudier my head became, the harder it was to keep track of my surroundings.

Something hard and blunt hit my head, my legs giving out. I remembered the feeling of my knees hitting the ground, the stinging pain of the pavement against them. I definitely did not make it to the beach.

I tried to look up, but my head felt heavy, another hit forcing me to the ground completely.

A mind-splitting headache spread across my skull.

My breathing picked up, and I felt Stone squeeze my hand tighter. I couldn’t do this. There was nothing further to remember, everything just black from there on.

“Len,” Stone said slowly. “You can do this.”

I was tempted to open my eyes, to find his gentle brown eyes watching me, protecting me every step of the way. If I did, this would all end.

The pain, the torture, the burden of remembering.

“I can’t breathe,” I gasped, my other hand grasping at my chest.

My mind wouldn’t push on.

“What do you hear?” Stone pushed.

“I can’t-”

“You can, Len,” he pushed. “I am right here.”

Hear? I tried to listen, the sound of footsteps falling next to my head.

Leaves.

The footsteps fell on leaves.

What else? There had to be something, any bit of information to help Stone. There was a cool breeze against my skin, a consistent pounding in my head. The music, though distant, rang through my mind.

Music?

That should be impossible. I walked away from the pub.

“Music,” I rasped through broken breaths.

“Music?” Stone repeated back to me.

The music was so low, I barely could hear it. One voice, a low tune reached my ears, a sound that would haunt me the rest of my life. One single voice raked against my memory like claws dragging along my skin.

“No,” I said, even more confused.

“Take a breathe, Len,” Stone reminded me. “What exactly do you hear?”

I put myself back into the memory. The voice was distant yet close all at once. I tried to focus on it, but I couldn’t grasp it. It wasn’t something I could hold on to. It was low, unrecognizable. There were no instruments or words to it.

“Humming,” I said, and realized it was the killer.

My heart raced and my chest ached. I couldn’t continue like this. I needed air, to get out of the pub.

“Len, I’m here. It’s okay,” Stone said, and I heard the worry growing in his voice.

“I need to get out,” I said, standing and finally opening my eyes.

The entire memory fell away, the darkness retreating right back to where I kept it locked up. I hurried past Stone, whose wide eyes were on me. I couldn’t stay; I had to get air.

I barely made it outside before I collapsed, my back against the side of the building as I slid to the ground, my vision darkening. My hearing was fuzzy, and I let my head fall into my hands.

Strong arms wrapped around me, and before I knew what was happening, Stone was holding me. He guided my head to his chest, and I listened to the steady beat of his heart.

“I’ve got you,” he said. “I’m here, Len.”

“No one was there,” I said, tears falling down my face. “I was alone. He should have been there. Someone should have been there.”

“I know,” he said.

“No one stopped them. How did no one stop them?” I cried into his chest.

“I will never let them harm you again,” he promised, and I almost believed the words.

“You can’t promise that,” I whispered, trying to wipe the tears trickling down my cheeks.

“I am promising that,” Stone said.

We sat for a few minutes before I heard footsteps.

“You can’t loiter here,” a male voice said from above us, and I glanced up to find someone sneering down at us.

The man wore a hoodie with High Tide Pub written across it, his hands shoved into the front pocket. I tilted my head, something about his face familiar.

“We were just leaving,” Stone snapped.

He stood, only inches from the man, towering over him. I slid myself up the wall, still using it for balance, not ready to trust myself.

The man scowled up at Stone, and I realized immediately where I knew him from.

When I glanced around the room at Calvin and our friends, there had been one person. Behind them, cleaning off the counter and carrying the empty glasses away, it was the same man, the same scowl plastered to his face.