srndpty. --> a jared and drea fanfic

Part 23

A bowl of mac and cheese, the books on his table, his guitar, the couch, everything was reminding him of Drea as he lifelessly watched SpongeBob SquarePants on the TV while eating what he microwaved earlier. 

Jared didn't know when he fell asleep until he woke up on the same couch and the TV is still on. He's hugging the guitar that's still inside its case and resting his head on the fretboard. When he looked at the clock, it's still six AM, he's got an hour to tidy up and drive to the precinct. When he's already in the car, that just the time when he got to check his inbox.

There were a ton of messages from work-related people and some personal matters. He opened Michaela's message first and what he read shocked him.

Mick

• Vance found the container. The fin wasn't there.

• Drea also told me that it was a blank. I don't know what to believe anymore.

His eyes widened. Drea?

He wanted to reply, but the fact that Mick mentioned Drea means they have met yesterday or at least talked. Jared's fingers seemed to have a mind of their own for they just tapped back to the inbox and scrolled down, checking Drea's number. His instinct tells him to call her to ask if she's okay, but he didn't find her name at the bottom of the messages. He scrolled up again im case he missed the sight of it and when he got to the topmost, it finally showed "Detective Mikami" on the screen.

Hers is the latest text in his inbox, when he opened it, the puzzle pieces seem to have connected, but he can't trust her.

Detective Mikami

•I think I know where the fin is.

He stepped heavily on gas and got a steady grip on the steering wheel, making his drive to the precinct quick. He arrived there ten minutes before duty and he found Michaela first.

"What happened to--" Drea? But that was wrong. "--the fin?" He said after that unsure pause.

Michaela looks more exasperated and worried while holding her chin. "Vance said that the major left it where it's easy to be found. It's open when they found it, and there was no fin. Only a set of motorcycles." She looked at him, full of cluelessness on her face. "They ran scans and there were no prints, whatsoever. No one even entered the container."

"And you believe them? Of course the major is baiting us," he suggested with a faint smirk.

"I don't know what to believe, Jay. The Major is smart, so is Vance. If she really got the fin, she wouldn't be giving us anything to track it with. She likes to move things, that's a fact, that's what she did to the missing passengers, but she also likes to leave those places clean. If she left something for us, that means she got nothing," she paused and took a deep breath. "I think Drea is telling the truth."

Then he felt his heart beat again. "What about Drea? What did she say? Does she know that we know? Is she okay?"

"She's fine. I met her yesterday when I was chasing a snatcher. She told me that the container is a blank."

His ardent eyes then stared at the still empty table of Drea.

"I just don't know her intentions, Jared. I still don't trust her. I can't right now." Mick adds, looking at him, as if convincing him to not give his trust back to Drea and that's what he's supposed to do. That's the right thing to do.