by Eryn Scott
We sat there in silence, sipping at our drinks for a while. And whereas my first drink had taken me all of a few minutes to suck down, the second almost felt like a permanent addition to my hand, for as long as I clutched it.
It wasn't until I started to hear the lyrics in the music being piped out of speakers situated around the ceiling that I realized the crowd in the bar had thinned out considerably. I checked my watch and saw it was close to eleven. On a weekend night, things might've just been getting started around here, but it was the Wednesday of the first week of a new quarter—that sweet spot when people make resolutions to actually go to their morning classes.
Liv and I moved to an open table and drained the rest of our second drinks there. I brought our empty cups back up to the bar to order a last round, situating myself in between two of the tall stools as I waited for the bartender.
"Another round?" he asked, taking the empties from me.
I nodded and scanned the place. While our two seats had been the only open ones at the bar when we'd arrived, I could now see down the long expanse of the dark mahogany countertop. Only one other person was perched at the very end, by the wall. While I waited, two girls walked up to the bar and waited next to me.
"Chem is already kicking my butt. I don't know how I can keep it up for a whole quarter," one of the girls said.
"Tell me about it. The fact that I already have a job lined up makes this last quarter so unbearable." The other one sighed. They only stopped their whining long enough to order a few drinks.
Scientists. I shook my head, having always been a bit biased against the calculated lot.
Unfounded prejudices aside, the science majors picked that moment to give me actual reasons to hate them.
"Hey, is that Mindy Lambert drinking by herself down there?" one of them asked, whispering in that horrible, gossipy way that's really not whispering at all.
"It is. That's so sad. Drinking by herself," the other one said in the same conspiratorial tone.
"Ugh. She dyed her hair blond? What does she think that's going to do?"
"I know. And look at her, sitting there smiling like an insane person while she reads that stupid book."
"Why do you think she always wears that ratty scarf? Doesn't she know it's spring?"
"Probably tried to hang herself and has a bunch of scars all over her neck that she can't get rid of."
"Right?"
"Yeah, couldn't even kill herself right."
They cackled and I leaned forward, watching the quiet blonde at the end of the bar. She sipped at her drink and read her copy of—I squinted to see the title—War and Peace? The gilded lettering on the fancy leather-bound cover glittered in the flickering light of a candle on the bar next to her.
Russian literature was the bane of my existence. Fergie loved the stuff, for some reason, but I would rather read Steinbeck forever than have to make my way through one of those depressing Soviet sedatives.
Mindy, however, didn't look depressed at all. Despite what she was reading—and she'd have to be deaf to not be hearing what they were saying about her—she looked downright giddy. Unable to solve the puzzle of how someone could look that happy while reading War and Peace, I decided to focus on something I could tackle.
"You two should be ashamed of yourselves."
The science majors turned their disbelieving faces toward me and sneered.
"What did you say?" one of them asked.
My momentary boldness fled at their stabby looks and tight words. “I—uh—how dare you talk about another person like that?"
They rolled their eyes. "Maybe we should move to a less judgmental bar," one of them scoffed.
"Please do." The deep voice caught me by surprise.
My attention snapped to the bartender standing right across the bar. His jaw was clenched tight, his light blue eyes like icy daggers shooting in the science majors' direction.
"Fine." They turned on their heels and walked out.
My whole body was clenched tight in anger, but I tried to breathe through it. The bartender smiled at me.
"Thanks," I said. "That was really nice of you to back me up like that."
"Not a problem. I'd rather lose their business than have nasty people like that in my bar."
His bar?
"You won't lose their business for long," I said. "They'll be back. The other bars around here are crawling with townies. You were smart to open this one. Be prepared for it to be busy all the time. The college students have been dying for a bar of their own."
He shook his head. "I know how they feel. The townies haven't necessarily been welcoming to me either."
I chuckled, remembering my mother's mention of the town council meeting tonight. "Give 'em time. They'll warm up. In the meantime, I'm Pepper. And as a lifelong resident of Pine Crest, let me be the first to welcome you to our town." I stuck out my hand.
"Thanks, Pepper. I'm Isaac." He took my hand firmly and shook it.
"Can I buy her next drink, Isaac?" I asked, motioning to where Mindy still sat at the end of the bar.
Isaac winked and said, "Another brandy, coming right up."
8
When Liv and I left The Select an hour later, arm in arm, there was a skip to our slightly sloppy steps. Mindy had smiled at me upon receiving the drink and after three Marmot Mules, I felt delightful.
"I can't believe I missed the showdown with the scientists at the bar," Liv complained again. "Or the way the knight in bartender's armor came to your rescue." She swerved into me as she walked.
I giggled. "He was pretty nice. I still can't believe what he said about Katie, though."
Liv's eyes widened. "I know." She tugged on my arm and brought us to a stop. "Wait. That's what we need to do. We've got to go find Jewel." Her words slurred together as if they were leaning on each other for support.
"Tonight? Right now?" I grimaced down at my watches. Wait... were there usually three of those? I focused on the middle one and tried to read the time.
Liv nodded. "Yeah. Neither of us have her number, but we know where she lives, right? We're carping the diem or—whatever night is in Latin." Like a tipsy conquistador, she raised an arm and surged ahead. I followed behind, rolling my eyes.
"Carping is most definitely wrong. And night is noct-something." I squinted, having a hard time remembering my Latin nouns through all of those Marmot Mules.
It wasn't until a while later and too many blocks, that I managed to stop her. Our footsteps rang off the stately concrete and brick buildings for a moment after we halted.
"Wait. Do we know where Jewel lives?" I blinked, looking around us at the deserted streets.
Liv giggled. "Of course. She..." Her eyes narrowed and her lips pressed together in a thin line. Liv pointed noncommittally in three or four different directions before shooting a pleading look at me. "You?" she asked.
I shook my head. "Uh uh."
We pulled together as the night air wrapped around us. Living this close to the mountains meant that even if the days were warm and sunny, the nights still held a formidable bite. But I don't think that was what had goosebumps forming up the backs of my arms.
Something scraped across the concrete to our right and we both jumped. Now that we'd been walking in the cold for a while, the giddiness from our drinks was wearing off. Fast.
We'd managed to make it all the way to the other side of campus, close to the science building, where I'd found Katie in the creek. My gaze flicked to a building on the corner, to a shape moving in the darkness. I chewed on my lip as Liv and I stood there, frozen. We watched the shadowy figure move around the building, disappearing from sight—which should've been a relief, but instead made me even more worried.
Liv's fingernails dug into my arm as if she'd read my mind. "Neither of us is having an affair with Garrison or carrying his baby, so we're safe... right?" Her voice was high, strung tight.
"Right," I whispered.
"They've probably arrested him already, anyway."
<
br /> "You know, now that you mention it, I haven't heard anything about that." My forehead wrinkled. "We would've heard about something that big."
Liv nodded.
"It is awfully easy to be hard-boiled about everything in the daytime, but at night it is another thing," I whispered the line from The Sun Also Rises, completely understanding the sentiment.
Liv met my worried eyes with her own. The shadow was back in our sights. We watched, openmouthed, as it came closer. Was that a knife in its hand? Panic flooded my face with heat.
"We should get out of here," Liv whispered.
Before we could move, I felt Liv clutch at my shoulder and my heart rate spiked as I heard the crunching of tires on asphalt behind us. We whirled around only to be blinded by a set of headlights.
"We're going to die," Liv squealed, burying her face into my back.
Her statement didn't feel hyperbolic at all. It seemed pretty inevitable as I stared down what I could see of the dark vehicle through the bright lights. I lifted my arms in surrender. Maybe if we didn't fight the murder they'd keep us in some creepy basement for a while before strangling and drowning us.
The car pulled slowly forward in response. I swallowed and closed my eyes as it inched closer. Then red and blue lights flashed and the loudest noise I've heard to this day squawked out at us. We screamed, hands jumping to our poor, stressed hearts.
The police? The police! I felt like crying from relief.
The passenger-side window lowered slowly and Alex's face filled the open space.
"You ladies need a ride?" He smiled wide, shooting us a wink. And if I hadn't been so happy to see him, I would've punched him for looking so smug.
We raced for the back doors. I clawed one open and then we crawled inside. The door slammed behind us and we sat there panting for a few moments. I couldn't tell if being caged in the backseat made me feel better or worse.
"A little tense on the streets?" Frank asked. I think being partnered up with Alex had made the man snarkier.
"There was a—" Liv gasped.
"And he had a—" I pointed.
Frank pulled onto the street. Liv and I pressed ourselves up against the window to get a look at the shadow murderer we'd narrowly missed encountering. As we passed by, I watched Old Man Jefferson wave from outside his hardware store. He sometimes stayed late to set up special displays outside his store and it looked like he was doing just that tonight. He waved a pair of scissors at us when we drove by, then went back to stringing up a sign about half-priced hoses.
I could hear Alex chuckle. "An old man with scissors? Terrifying."
Liv mumbled something about it looking a lot pointier just a few seconds ago and I wrinkled my nose at the two laughing cops in the front seat.
"So... since when does the Pine Crest police department provide roadside assistance? You guys moonlighting as Uber drivers?" Liv elbowed me, laughing at her own joke.
Frank cleared his throat. "We were in the area. It's been a slow night. Plus, the two of you looked really scared."
I scoffed. "Scared? Us? No, that wasn't fear."
Liv shook her head. "We had everything under control."
The men in uniform laughed. "Looked like it," Alex said. "What was with the raising your arms in surrender, Pepper?"
Neither Liv nor I said anything, unable to answer his question in a way which made us look good.
"What are you doing out this late anyway?" Alex asked after a few silent seconds.
Liv and I glanced at each other in the darkness of the backseat. We already weren't coming off well in all of this, I really didn't want to add, they got lost looking for someone to the list of stupid things we'd done tonight.
"We were checking out the new bar in town, The Select," Liv answered finally.
I buckled myself in. "It's pretty great."
"Yeah?" Frank asked, sounding intrigued.
I nodded. "It's really hip and the drinks are great."
Alex snorted. "Did you just say hip?"
"Yes," I said, shooting him a narrow look through the bars. "It was a hip place full of hip people drinking hip drinks."
"And the hot bartender didn't hurt," Liv added.
I was about to smack her when Alex asked, "Hot bartender?"
"Mmmhmm. He was all about Pepper, too."
Okay, now I actually smacked her. "And he was like ten years older than us."
Liv giggled, but Alex stayed quiet. Before I could think of anything more to say, Frank stopped the car.
"Pine Crest Terrace Apartments," he announced.
"Thanks, boys." Liv gave them a wave and went to open her door. It wouldn't budge. "Um, you are going to let us go... aren't you?"
Frank laughed. "Yeah. We have to open them from the outside." He put the car in park and then got out.
Liv's door opened and she scurried out. The door on my side opened next. Stepping out, I looked up into Alex's serious face. He looked tired and more than a little vexed. Was he mad about Liv's comment about the hot bartender? I wondered.
"Thanks for the ride," I said, swallowing everything else I wanted oh-so-badly to say.
"No problem. Let's just not make a habit of it."
"Hey, do you have a second?" I asked. I didn't want to let Alex know about how we'd gotten lost looking for Jewel, but I should let him know about Katie being pregnant.
"Sure," Alex said, crossing his arms over his chest.
I opened my mouth, but was interrupted by Frank saying, "Hey, just got a call, Alex. We need to get going."
Alex nodded in his direction. "Sorry," he said. "Tell me tomorrow?"
I nodded, then looked to Liv waiting for me on the sidewalk. I took a deep breath, set a hand on Alex's chest, and rocked onto my tiptoes. Then I planted a quick kiss on the rough, stubbly part of his cheek.
"Night," I whispered before running off to meet up with Liv.
The next morning was brutal. Even Liv hit the snooze button and later stumbled out into the kitchen, making zombie noises and rubbing at her eyes, just as I made it to the coffee maker.
"Ugh. That's the last time we stay out that late on a week night or drink that much." I blinked at the bright kitchen lights and opened the can of coffee grounds.
"Coffee," Liv mumbled.
"Bad news." I tipped the empty coffee receptacle toward her.
She groaned.
"We'll just have to stop by Bittersweet." I checked the time and my forehead wrinkled. "Er—fast." Liv and I both had early classes that morning.
Liv's tired eyes widened. "Super fast."
We clambered into our rooms to throw on some clothes and then fought over the sink, elbows ramming into each other as we brushed our teeth. After letting Hammy out, we threw our bags over our shoulders and started the fastest walk to campus ever.
"I'm going to have to hit the coffee cart instead of the café," I said, checking my watch.
Liv nodded. The business building was closer to the brick-and-mortar version of Bittersweet. "See you tonight."
We split at Fir Street and I picked up the pace. Nate had opened a cart in the student center last quarter at my urging. Carson still had yet to forgive me, since he worked at the Campus Cup right next to where Nate had opened his new stand. The Campus Cup made notoriously bad coffee, but Bittersweet's presence had given them cause to step up their game. Plus, Carson wasn't working as much lately so he could take on more responsibility at his student services job.
The student center was bustling and everyone seemed way too awake, talking, laughing, and generally not scowling like I was. I stumbled over to the Bittersweet cart, waving to Carson as I walked by Campus Cup. Victoria, the girl Nate had hired to run the cart, cowered behind the stand as I walked up.
Victoria Gordon was a painfully shy junior who reminded me of one of those Dark Crystal bird creatures, the way she hunched her bony shoulders forward and craned her neck around, always watching everyone. The girl never talked. At all. Ever. Liv's friend Holly said she he
ard her answer a question in their statistics class one day, but no one really believed her.
"Hey." I put a hand up in a half-hearted wave. "Tall drip, please." No fancy syrups. I just needed coffee, stat.
Victoria nodded and poured the steaming liquid gold carefully. My fingers grabbed greedily at the cup as she handed it over. I closed my eyes in ecstasy and sipped at the bitter caffeine-laden drink.
After two or three sips, I said, "Okay, can I also have a vanilla latte to go?" If there was any day to double-fist coffee, it was today.
Victoria only raised her eyebrows in question for a moment, but then she got to work on my latte. I watched her as she did. Her jet-black hair was pulled back into a messy bun, and even though she was probably a good three inches taller than me, she had a way of hunching down which made her seem small.
She handed me my second drink moments later, swapping my money for the cup. Victoria was passing my change back toward me when her normally placid face darkened.
Alarmed, I looked behind me to see what had caused her to react so intensely. My gaze caught on Sam Delaney, striding across the student center.
"Dark rumors gather round him." The small voice had a dusty, unused tone to it. I spun back around and gawked at Victoria.
It was her. She'd talked!
"You talked!" I said. Then leaning in close, I asked, "You meant Sam, right?"
Victoria nodded.
"So you've heard bad stuff about him?"
Victoria nodded again, her eyes following Sam out the door.
"And seen stuff?" I prodded.
"He is an organizer of evil and the undetected." Victoria's light blue eyes connected with mine.
I set my coffees down and rounded the cart. Victoria took a step back, looking uncomfortable with sharing her small behind-the-cart space with another human.
"I can't believe you're talking. This is amazing." I clasped my hands in front of me and refrained from taking any more steps toward the girl. I didn't want to scare her off. "Can you tell me what you saw?" I whispered.
Victoria swallowed slowly, scanned the student center, and then she opened her mouth.
But her eyes cut to the right and her lips clamped together.