My eyes widened as a blinding light flooded my vision, a surreal radiance that enveloped everything around me. Before I could fully register what was happening, a wave of nausea overcame me. I shot up from whatever I was lying on and began to vomit onto the hard floor, completely disregarding my surroundings.
“Whoa, easy there, Max. You're safe; breathe." Nigel’s voice pierced through the confusion, laced with concern. “What the hell happened to you?”
I coughed violently, struggling to shake off the disorientation. “It was her,” I managed to gasp, wiping the sick off my mouth with the back of my hand. “She slipped me something.”
Nigel's brow furrowed as he leaned closer, urgency in his tone. “Wait, slow down. Who are you talking about?”
Trying to gather my bearings, I attempted to swing my legs over the side of the table, but they felt like lead weights, trembling and unresponsive.
Defeated, I sank back onto the table, my heart racing as I took in my surroundings. No longer was I in the bar of the hotel, but back in the blinding interior of Frank’s shop with Nigel watching over me.
“How did I get here?” I croaked, confusion clouding my thoughts.
Nigel sighed, peeling off his rubber gloves. “Henry dragged your lifeless body in here, he kicked open the door and yelled at Frank to help him,” he explained, his voice low. “I’m sorry; I had to force-feed you a piece of lamb to wake you up.”
That explained the awful churning in my stomach.
“You’ve been out for a few hours,” he continued, fixing his gaze on me. “Now tell me, what was the last thing you can remember?”
I tried to sift through the fog of my memory. Slowly, scenes began to unfold like a movie reel. “Henry and I went to a hotel for a gig,” I started, my voice shaky but steadier now.
“Once there we were looking around for this woman who we needed to find. After looking around I decided to leave Henry on his own and search elsewhere. Before I knew it, I had a gun barrel pointed at my face then before I knew it, I found myself in the hotel’s bar, sitting with an evil twin. She must have slipped something into my drink when I wasn’t looking. That’s all I remember before everything went dark.”
“That would explain the strange substance I found in your body. You'll be glad to know that the substance wasn’t lethal, but it could have been if it was a high enough dosage.”
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Nigel walked over to his sink and filled up a glass of water. “Here, it should get the taste of lamb out of your throat.”
I drank all of the water in the glass before getting up on my feet. “Where’s Henry?”
“He’s outside with Frank.”
I left the room and met back up with Henry, who was twiddling with a coin. The sound of the door opening diverted his attention from the coin.
“You doing okay?”
“Apart from my past coming up to bite me back, I say I’m doing fine,” I said acting like nothing happened.
“What happened to you? When I found you, you were out cold. That isn’t like you.” Henry asked with concern.
I asked Henry if he remembered Eva.
“Yeah, I remember her. The two of you had this weird sort of rivalry going on.”
“Let’s just say she got the better of me.” I left the conversation at that.
Henry turned the conversation back to the gig.
“About Jade, I wasn’t able to find anything of interest. My guess is that she got paranoid about staying in the same place and left with her daughter. Also, you're not going to like this, but Reese is outside.”
Out of all the people in the world, I wasn’t in the mood to talk to him; he was the last person I wanted to see at that moment.
I glanced out of the window, the rain drumming against the glass, and spotted him standing beneath a nearby building, seeking refuge from the downpour. The sight of him only heightened my irritation. Taking a deep breath, I reluctantly opened the door and stepped outside, letting the cold rain drench me.
“What do you want?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady despite the irritation bubbling beneath the surface.
He remained where he was, sheltered from the rain, his expression unreadable. “What have you found?” he called back, his tone urgent.
The relentless rain muffled his words, making it difficult to grasp the meaning behind them. I squinted against the rain and waved him closer, asking him to repeat himself. But, of course, he stayed put. With a resigned sigh, I trudged my way to him, stepping carefully through puddles that had formed on the pavement, and leaned in closer to catch his words one final time.
“The investigation. What have you found out?” His voice now cut through the rain, clearer yet tinged with impatience. I could hear Reese's voice echo in my mind, adding to my frustration.
“I don't know what investigation you're talking about,” I shot back, feigning ignorance, hoping to dismiss him.
“Look, Graves turned this investigation back over to you; the least you could do is fill us in on what you know.” His tone was becoming more insistent, and I could see his frustration written all over his face.
I raised an eyebrow, my curiosity piqued despite my annoyance. “You're the guy Graves sent to check up on me?”
“You’re avoiding the question, Carver. What have you found out?” His eyes bore into me, demanding an answer.
A mix of anger and exasperation washed over me, causing my tone to shift. “Nothing! We found nothing! There was no one there, and her apartment was empty. No one knows where she ran off to.” My voice cracked slightly.
Reese's expression shifted, and I could tell that my words were not the news he had been hoping for.
He took a deep breath, visibly processing the information I had just shared. “You better find her and fast,” he finally said, his urgency escalating. “I’ll be in touch soon to check on your progress.” With that, he stepped back into the shadows of the building, leaving me standing there, drenched in the rain.
