by S. E. Rose
Chapter Twenty-Four
Tabitha
The next three weeks go by in a blur of photography sessions and baseball games. I’m starting to get my rhythm back. I can’t believe that Kent has talked me into going to every home game. I’ve scheduled shoots around his day games and even changed the day on a night shoot at the Lincoln Memorial.
The portraits that I’ve done for the upcoming gala are by far my best work. I can’t wait for the Moores to see Kent’s shots.
I have to admit, sitting with different family members every day has been…well, it makes me feel like part of a family.
I get to the stadium just in time for the national anthem and slide into a seat next to Clark.
“Phew, I’m glad you made it. If one thing is off from Kent’s normal schedule during playoffs, everything falls apart,” he reminds me.
“Trust me, I know,” I answer as we take off our hats and stand.
After the song ends, I wave to Kent as he looks up our way. I swear he winks at me. I’m just settling into my seat when my phone buzzes. I look down and frown. It’s Eric’s brother, Jarrod. I haven’t spoken to him in ages. He’s sort of weird and would always be hovering around with us. I’m not sure why I haven’t blocked his phone number, too. Shit, I’m surprised I even have it to begin with.
I sigh and click on the message.
Jarrod: Hi! I have a friend whose lease is up in your building and since there was the fire, I thought maybe you might want to see his place.
Fuck my life. Of course, Jarrod knows about the fire. Hell, Eric probably knows as well.
Me: Thanks. I’m sort of on the fence about whether I will stay in the building.
Jarrod: Oh. So, you don’t want to see it. I sort of set up an appointment today.
Seriously, he wants me to meet him today.
Me: When?
Jarrod: Uh, like in thirty minutes?
Me: I’m at a baseball game.
Jarrod: Oh. I don’t know if I’ll get another shot at it. His space would be perfect for a studio. It’s the one at the end of the hall with the giant glass roof.
I bite my lip. I know the unit he’s talking about. I had wanted that unit, but it was already rented.
I look down as I contemplate it. I don’t want to leave this game. I know how important it is to Kent for me to be here. He has this whole superstition thing going on, and it would be shitty of me to leave…but if I leave, maybe I can come back?
“C-Dog?”
“Yeah,” he answers without looking at me.
“If we leave, can we get back in?”
He turns his head with a “What you talkin’ about, Willis?” look.
“I forgot something, and I need to go get it. Can I get back into the stadium?”
C-Dog smirks. “How much do you have on you?”
“Wait! What?”
“How much?”
I open my purse. “Like fifty dollars, why?”
He grins. “That’ll do. Follow me.”
We both get up from our seats, and I follow him through the stadium. At one point, he looks around and opens a side door that looks like it’s for employees only. I’m surprised it’s unlocked. We walk down a hall, and I see the door at the end with an exit sign above it. A guard sits at a desk next to it.
“Barry? My man, what’s up?” C-Dog says to the guy.
“C-Dog! How’s it goin’? What are you doing down here? You should be up watching the game.” I can see Barry is watching it on a monitor on his desk, along with a bunch of other security feeds.
“My brother’s girl here needs to get something, and she needs back in after. Kent’s superstition shit. Anyhow, can you hook us up?”
He gives Clark a pointed look and then laughs. “For Kent, I’ll make an exception.”
“Great! What should Tabby bring you?”
I look from Clark to Barry in confusion.
“Oh, I’m craving a big daddy burger from the Meat Mansion,” he says.
“The Meat Mansion?” I finally find my voice.
“Yeah, it’s this burger joint down the street,” Barry says, looking over at me with curiosity.
“OK,” I answer slowly.
“Cool, thanks. I’m stuck here till midnight tonight. Gonna be a long day,” he says.
Clark turns to me as I call an Uber. “OK, just remember what door to knock on when you get back. See you in a little while.”
I open the door and walk out, noting my surroundings, so I can find my way back here afterward. This better be worth it, Jarrod, I think to myself as I hurry to catch an Uber to my old building. Part of me feels weird about meeting him. But not in a bad way, he’s not super close with Eric, so I know that’s not an issue. It’s just, I’m not super close to Jarrod either. His message is just…so out of the blue.
I fight the urge to go back and make Clark come with me. I shake my head. It’s stupid. It’s broad daylight still. Nothing is going to happen. Plus, Jarrod isn’t a big guy. I could easily fight him off.
I shake my head. I’m overthinking this.
I get out of the car and walk up to my old building. I stand there, looking up at the cement and brick structure. Something in my gut stops me from going inside. Why would the landlord have not told me? Does he not know yet? My mind starts spinning.
I sit down on the bench where I sat waiting after the fire. I do the one thing I swore I would never do. I call my ex.
“Took you fucking long enough,” Eric answers.
“Eric, look. I’m not calling to get back together or make amends or any shit like that. And for the record, your emails need to stop. I just want you to know that Jarrod contacted me, and I don’t want it to be weird between us.”
There’s a long pause on the other end of the phone.
“Jarrod contacted you? And what emails are you talking about?”
“Yes and—”
“When?”
“Just now, he wants to show me a unit he says his friend is giving up in my building. It’s that one I wanted initially. And—”
“Tabs, you need to get out of there. Now! And I didn’t email you. Shit, Jarrod’s had access to my computer up until he went AWOL a few weeks ago,” Eric says.
His voice scares me.
“Why? What do you mean?”
He sighs. I can just imagine him running his hand over his face like he used to do.
“Jarrod went missing a few weeks ago. My parents haven’t been able to reach him and neither have I. He had been getting outpatient treatment for a psychiatric issue, but he didn’t go to his last three appointments and he never picked up his medicine refill last week.”
“Holy shit.”
“Yeah, holy shit. Listen, I’m pissed about us right now. I still think you should give me another shot, but I would never want you hurt. I know I have some mental issues, too. I’m working on them, but Jarrod…he’s never been right in the head. He got diagnosed with a few mental illnesses last year. I never said anything because…well, it doesn’t matter now. But he’s not in a good state of mind. Where are you right now?”
“I’m out in front of the building.”
“Leave.”
I pull up my app to call another car. My hands shake as I type on the screen.
“OK, I just called for a car.”
“Good. Just tell him you can’t make it or something. I’m sending the police over there now.”
I sit in silence for a minute, listening to Eric’s panicked breath on the other line. I curse myself for leaving the game. For not going with my gut instinct, to begin with.
“Eric?”
“Yes?” His voice sounds so hopeful, and I feel bad saying this to him, but he needs to know. And right now, I need some other conversation to distract me.
“I just wanted to tell you that I’m seeing someone. I didn’t want you to find out from someone else.”
There’s dead silence. And for a long minute, I’m worried about what he might say or do.
“I just…this is it. OK? I know you are pissed, but I can’t be with you. You need to fix yourself.”
“Tabs, I know I fucked up. I shouldn’t have touched you. I know I have issues. But I still love you.”
Could this day get any worse?
As if on cue, the door to the building opens and Jarrod walks outside.
“Oh, there you are? I’ve been waiting for you,” he says when he sees me.
“Tabitha, is that Jarrod?” Eric asks.
“Yep,” I whisper.
“Fuck. Do not go inside.”
“Hold on one second, Jarrod. I need to finish this call with a client, OK?”
Jarrod looks at me suspiciously. “Fine, but we need to hurry.”
“Yep, just a second. I’m almost done.”
He nods and crosses his arms over his chest. For a small guy, he looks imposing. There’s something wild in his eyes, and it scares the shit out of me.
I’m about to see if I can make a run for it to the Uber car that’s now three blocks away when out of nowhere, the rain clouds that didn’t look so bad a few minutes ago suddenly darken and a flash of lightning strikes down toward the river.
Kent
I glance up as I come off the field. The first three innings flew by. I look up and see C-Dog but no Tabby. He waves to me, and I wave back. Something doesn’t sit well with me, and I don’t know why. I shake it off and head into the dugout just as the sky darkens. A few moments later, there’s a clap of thunder and lightning strikes as the sky opens up, and it begins to pour.
“Inside,” our coach says as we all go to wait it out in the locker room as the field staff pulls the tarp over the diamond.
I normally never look at my phone during a game. It’s a no-no, but my gut says to text her. So, I quickly grab it and send a text before my teammates can see me.
I leave the phone where I can see a reply, but as the minutes tick by, there is none.
One of our regular ball boys is sitting on a bench playing a game on his phone as we wait out the weather. This late in the playoffs, they likely will wait and not call the game. I feel stymied and claustrophobic. I want to leave the locker room, but I know I can’t do that.
“Jacob?” I yell to the kid.
He looks up with wide eyes at me. “You know my name?”
I laugh. “Uh, yeah, kid. I know your name. Can you do me a quick favor?”
He runs over to me like I’m the fucking King and I just called on him to command my army in battle. “Sure!”
“Can you go to section one hundred, seats ten and eleven? It should be my brother and my friend. If she’s not there, ask my brother where she went,” I ask him.
“Yeah, sure. Why aren’t they in the players’ box?” he asks.
I grin. “My family has season tickets. They’ve had them forever, even before I played for the team.”
“Oh, gotcha.”
He runs off, and Ward distracts me with a story about him and Nate going out last weekend. I’m half paying attention when Jacob runs back in, and there is a frown on his face.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“Uh, your brother says your ‘friend’ left about an hour or so ago in the first inning, and she should have been back by now. He’s a little worried and can’t get her on her cell phone. Anyhow, your brother says to check the family chat.”
I groan. The fucking family chat. They know it’s game time, and I can’t check that shit.
I reach behind me and pull out my phone. I have a lot of missed texts, including a whole slew of them from the family chat.
I take a breath and open the chat.
C-Dog: Uh, sorry to send out an APB, but Tabby is sort of missing.
Kylie: Define “sort of missing”
Mother Hen: Clarky, are you saying you misplaced an entire person?
Mothership: What’s wrong?
Dad: This better be good, I’m working.
Mother Hen: I thought you two were at the game?
C-Dog: We are. I mean were. She said she forgot something. Went to get it. But that was over an hour ago. I saw her Uber app, and it looked like she went to her studio.
Kylie: Activate Moore Mission
Di: Team Moore activated
Mother Hen: I’m at a meeting by Metro Center. Heading there now.
Kylie: I can be there in thirty.
C-Dog: I can leave and go there now.
Mothership: Are we sure she’s not just running late?
C-Dog: Still no replies to my text.
Mothership: Oh dear. Well, be careful. Call me when you find her.
Dad: You want me to call in Uncle Jim?
C-Dog: Dad – stand down for now. Mom – ten-four
C-Dog: Just sent a carrier pigeon to KJ
I shake my head, partly because my weird-ass family is…well, special and partly because I don’t understand what is going on. I walk over to my coach.
“Coach, what’s the deal? I may sort of have a personal crisis going on.”
The coach gives me a serious look. “Kent, you know the rules.”
I nod. “I know. I’m in it to win it, I just need to give the boys a pep talk. Can I please do that?”
He nods. “Go ahead, son. But that shit better be good.”
I turn to my team. Most of them are chatting, some have on headphones. I clear my throat and whistle.
Everyone turns and stares at me.
“Guys, I need your attention for about two minutes. I have a situation. My girl may be in trouble, and I need to make this the shortest game in the history of playoff games. Who’s with me?”
Ward looks around. “Let’s do this motherfucker!”
A roar of agreement goes up amongst the players. I look up to the ceiling and silently pray to the god of pitching to let me pitch like I never have before. Until I shut down the other team, all my focus has to be on the ball and my arm.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Tabitha
“Come on, I’m getting wet,” Jarrod yells as he opens the door.
Fuck, fuck, fuck. I look around. With the rain starting, there’s not a person in sight. If I go inside, I know there is a distinct possibility that I may never come out. The hairs on the back of my neck stand up as my shaking legs force me upright.
My phone buzzes with texts from Clark, asking me where I am and what is taking so long. I’ve ignored them all so far. But it’s this last text, one from Kent that gets my heart pounding even harder. Why is Kent texting me? He’s in the middle of a playoff game.
“Coming,” I mumble as I start walking toward the door, my mind going blank as to what else to do.
I haven’t had many moments like this, shit, I can’t even think of a single life-changing moment right now, except accepting Kent’s offer to stay at his place. If I go inside, I may never come back out. I scan the street one last time, looking at my phone. I can feel Jarrod watching me from just inside the door.
I look back up one last time, hoping for a sign, anything. I look at the office building across the street and the pharmacy below it…the pharmacy.
“Oh, shit,” I say, staring at my phone. “Jarrod, I’m sorry. I just need to run across the street to pick up my grandmother’s prescription I had called in for her. I forgot to get it with all the fire stuff going on and if I don’t pick it up in the next hour, they are gonna restock it. I’ll be right back, I promise.”
“Well, hurry it up. I don’t have long,” he grumbles but otherwise doesn’t stop me from running across the street.
I don’t even look both ways as I hurry toward the pharmacy. I open the door and run toward the back. I know they have a bathroom here. I lock myself inside and sit down on the toilet seat.
My phone buzzes again. And I see it’s Lanie.
I answer it.
“Oh, thank god! We activated a Moore Mission for you. Where the hell are you?” she asks.
“Lanie,” I man
age before I burst into tears.
“Oh, no. What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Are you OK?”
I take a couple of deep breaths as the adrenaline leaves my body, making me tremble.
“It’s…I’m...”
“Calm down, I’m almost there.”
“Wait? What? What do you mean?”
“Clark saw your Uber app and when you didn’t come back, he texted the family chat. I’m downtown, Kylie’s on her way as is Di and Clark. Oh, and Kent just texted us. He said we need to text his ball boy Jacob when we find you.”
“What in the actual fuck is happening?” I’m beyond confused.
“OK, I see some guy by the door to your building, where are you?”
“Fuck, Lanie, do not go in there. Walk across the street to the pharmacy, right the fuck now!”
“OK,” she answers slowly. “Where are you?”
“The bathroom,” I whisper.
“Why are you whispering?”
I sigh. “I don’t know.”
I moment later, there’s a knock at the door.
“Lanie?”
“Yes?”
“Oh, thank god.” I open the door and pull Lanie inside, locking it behind us.
“What in the actual fuck is going on right now?” she asks, staring at me like I’m some sort of wild animal that’s gone rabid.
I lean against the bathroom wall, not caring if it’s dirty.
“My ex’s brother texted me during the game. He said he had the ins on the unit I had originally wanted in the building, but I needed to meet him today. So, C-Dog said I could get in and out through a special passage in the complex. I got a ride over here and when I arrived, I had a funny feeling. Anyhow, fast-forward, I ended up talking with my ex, Eric. Turns out his brother, Jarrod, has been MIA for a while and has gone off the deep end. Eric has called the police. I managed to tell Jarrod I needed to get my grandmother’s script before we looked at it. But that was like three minutes ago. He’s probably going to come over here soon.”