Page 67 of A Future To Remember

I grinned. I had no idea what my high school years were like. “Nope. Not a clue, actually.”

Levi then realized what he’d just asked me, and he chuckled. “Sorry.”

“Don’t sweat it. Listen, though, back to that path through the woods: I’m just curious to know if it was there during the time of Sheriff Penton’s murder, and if Doug Maydole might’ve used it. But we can’t ask him because he’s been dead himself almost as long.”

“We could ask his sister,” Levi offered.

I blinked at him, not quite understanding. “Who’s sister?”

“Mr. Maydole’s. His sister, Miss Maydole, used to babysit me when I was a kid. She used to tell stories about her brother. They were twins and really close. They lived next door to each other, up until he died.”

I blinked again. This was the kind of inside information that was exactly what I’d hoped Levi would bring to the table when I’d asked him to team up with me. “Can you arrange for us to have a chat?”

“Sure,” he said. “She’s probably one of the only people left in this town who doesn’t hate me.”

“If we solve this murder, Levi, then I’ll be willing to bet that several more people in town will come to your side.”

He eyed me skeptically. “I won’t hold my breath.”

I nudged him with my elbow. “Come on. Let’s head back to the loft. It’s late and we gotta get up early.”

We began to walk in the direction of Wanda’s Diner when headlights lit up the street behind us. Neither one of us paid it much attention, but then the headlights shifted to the right and crept up right behind us. Next to me, Levi stiffened. A moment later, we heard a window being rolled down.

“Hey, Levi!” someone called. “Who’s that with you? I know it ain’t a girlfriend, you sick fuck.”

“Maddy!” Levi whispered harshly, his eyes wide with panic while he grabbed the sleeve of my coat and moved me in front of himself. He then shoved me forward hard, and as I stumbled, I heard him clearly yell: “Run! And don’t look back!”

CHAPTER 14

Him

Oscar and I hit a local motel just down the street from the bar where we’d had dinner, which was about forty-five minutes from Lincoln. We’d both had a little too much beer to make it back to the other motel safely. Eggy slept nestled on the pillow next to mine, and having him there helped buffer the empty ache I felt not having Abby beside me while I slept.

I woke around four a.m. and laid there for twenty minutes or so while Oscar snored loudly from the other side of the room. I was reminded why I’d offered to pay for a separate room for him, but he’d protested more than he should’ve, claiming it was a waste of money. He was fine sharing a space, and it hadn’t dawned on me until right about then that he’d done that not because he was frugal, but because he was worried. About me.

He never overtly showed it; he’d just appear on my doorstep back home, ready to head to the gym, or to bring over a to-go order from one of my favorite restaurants, or suddenly needing “another set of eyes” for a case he was working on.

The sneaky son of a bitch had appointed himself my personal suicide watch, which was touching if problematic. I’d need to figure out how to ditch him and make it clear that it wouldn’t be his fault if we didn’t find Abby alive.

With a sigh, I sat up, careful not to disturb Eggy, then got dressed in the dark. I grabbed the keys, my wallet, and my phone, and left the hotel in search of coffee.

There was a twenty-four-hour gas station about three miles from the hotel that I was guessing served the kind of black tar I was used to—LEOs notoriously make the shittiest coffee—and I was craving something that’d tar my tonsils.

Along the way, I called Abby’s cell, just to hear her voice.

“Hey, hey!” her voice sang. “It’s Abs. You can leave me a message, but my Spidey sense already knows why you’re calling, and you’ve been sent to voicemail for a reason.”

I chuckled, just like I always did whenever I gave in to the impulse to call her phone. “Smart-ass,” I muttered.

When the voicemail message said that her mailbox was full, I hung up and scrolled to my saved voicemails. I selected one from the previous August.

“Yo! Sexy beast! Where you at? I’m lonely and could use a climb up that rock wall. So, get your ass home, hubs!”

“Climbing the rock wall” was Abby’s term for gettin’ jiggy with it.

And goddamn, could we jiggy.

I’d never met a woman I was more attracted to. Her body was perfection, even if she saw only the flaws. Her face, her skin, her gorgeous long hair, that little divot above her top lip, and those fucking beautiful blue eyes. The irises were the color and pattern of a swirling ocean. I loved every part of her—even the crazy parts. Even the parts that drove me crazy.