Page 57 of This for That (The Edge of Retaliation 1)
“Well,” she says, leaning against the doorframe in her floral pajamas that she rocks, even with bed hair, “that didn’t go well, yeah?”
“Yeah,” I mutter.
“Did you know he had feelings for you?”
“I suspected it,” I admit. “I just didn’t realize he wanted to take things further.”
“Do you still have any feelings for him at all?”
“Not romantic ones,” I tell her. “I mean, if I hadn’t met Tanner and Ethan had told me about his feelings, I would have probably explored them, yes, but I’m kind of hooked on Tanner right now, so the chance to be with Ethan has gone.”
“That’s fair enough. You don’t have to justify yourself. He didn’t tell you.”
“I mean, I didn’t tell him when I had feelings for him, either.”
“You were in prison, honey. It’s a little different.”
“Yeah, maybe. Either way, I’m worried this will ruin our friendship. I don’t want it to, I really don’t.”
“He’ll be okay,” she tells me. “He’ll come good. I also overheard you saying someone was in here last night. Why didn’t you call me? I got home this morning, I had no idea…I would have come home immediately if you needed me.”
“I didn’t even think. I called Tanner. He didn’t find anything, but the front door was unlocked.”
“Did you leave it open?”
“I don’t think I did… I didn’t have my keys, I left them at work, so I had to use the spare. Maybe I was really tired and did leave it unlocked.”
“Ethan was right; this is getting a little concerning now. . .”
“We don’t know it was anyone out to get me. It could have been anyone . . .”
“Still, I have a bad feeling about this. I think you need to go to the police again, tell them you’re concerned.”
“I have no proof of anything, Jo. Nothing at all.”
“Then we need to start looking into it more. I’ll help you.”
That’s a relief, I won’t lie. I’m overwhelmed with the information I’m trying to get right now. It brings everything back to the surface, and reminds me not only do I have that problem on my hands, but I still have to track down Chase and find out what happened between him and Celia.
“I’m going to see Jessika and Sophie to start with. I think that’s the best place to begin.”
Jo nods. “I did find out Sophie still lives close by, her parents moved away but I found out through a mutual friend that she’s not far away from here now; I’m not sure about Jess, but a Facebook search should get us somewhere.”
“Speaking of Facebook searches, any chance you can try and look up Celia’s boyfriend, Chase? I don’t know his last name, but I do know that something went down between them before Celia died, and I want to know what it was. I’m not having much luck finding him. It’s almost like he’s disappeared.”
“That is strange,” Jo murmurs.
“I need to find out what happened to Celia, and I’m going to, one way or another. I spoke to a friend of hers; she was the one who told me about Chase. I’ll give you her name. Maybe you can track him through her. Celia doesn’t have a Facebook page, so that makes it hard to find anything about her friends…”
Jo nods. “There isn’t much about her on the internet, either. Her parents probably wanted to keep things pretty quiet, which is fair enough, I guess. They don’t have to share her life story.”
“No, that’s true. Well, maybe start with her friend and see if you can find Chase through that. I’ll get onto going and seeing Sophie to start.”
“I’m on it,” Jo says, and turns, disappearing out of my room.
I look out the window, and exhale. The time has come.
It’s time to find out what happened to Celia Yates once and for all.
It’s time to put my demons to bed.
22
NOW – CALLIE
“Hi, Sophie,” I say, staring at the girl who, last time I saw her, was young and carefree. Now, she looks different—professional and clean. Her once brown hair is streaked with blonde, but her brown eyes are still the same. She’s wearing glasses, and she’s put on a little weight since I saw her last, but she’s still super attractive; she always was.
It took me a little time to find her. They moved a town over, it was an hours drive for Jo and I to get to her new place. She had her place of work on her Facebook page, so we started there. We noticed her leaving work, so we followed her home. Probably not the right thing to do, but it had to be done.
“Callie.” Her voice comes out strained, and she studies me, her eyes roaming over me and then meeting mine again. Then she looks to Jo. “Joanne.”
“I know you probably don’t want to see me,” I begin, just getting straight into it, “but I had to come and see you. I need to put the past to bed, and right my wrongs, and so here I am. Can we come in?”
