Duskwood Mysteries

Part 3

"Jade?" Lilly asked. "Yes Lilly. Its me" I answered. "I don't believe you." She said. "Ok im going to text you then." I carefully removed my phone and texted, "Hi Lilly". Her phone buzzed. She picked it from her pocket without breaking eye contact for a moment. She looked at her phone and quickly looked at me. "I still don't believe you. You could have hacked Jade's phone or something." She said disbelievingly. "Ok if I'm not Jade then I wouldn't know that Jake is you half brother." I said quickly. 

Her expression changed. "Ok tell me something else." She asserted. "Ummm I hated your guts, Jake sent us riddles to figure out the truth, you think im hopelessly in love with him and he set up Nymos on both our phones to prevent it from getting hacked." I added in one breath. Her tensed shoulders relaxed a bit and she sighed. "So it is you." "Yes I just said that." I remarked. "Why didn't you tell me you are here?" Lilly asked me. " I didn't want to tip off Jake." I said. "So Jake doesn't know you are here?" she asked. "I hope not." I said. "Gosh. You are really here. Wow that's surprising. And you didn't tell Jake. Even more surprising." She mused. "Lilly I can't add to his plate right now. Besides im sure he is living a hell of his own busy investigating I guess." I said. 

"Yeah totally as he was busy helping us pin point Richy's phone last night." She said. "What? He did that? He didn't tell me that." I said feeling a bit salty that hadn't gotten back to me yet. "Yeah maybe he was waiting to tell you something concrete." She remarked. I started getting slightly annoyed by her justification, but I pushed it aside. "Ok Lilly I need you to understand that I couldn't sit back at home and do nothing alright?" I said. "Oh I understand absolutely. Took you long enough." She smirked. I rolled my eyes. "So what now?" she asked. 

"First we need to file a missing complaint with the cops. Then figure put where the cabin is.. that should be our starting point to find Richy. Then we also need to figure out the reason behind Phil's arrest. And then .." I rambled on. "Hang on Sherlock Holmes... I think first things first you need a place to crash. You look like crap." Lilly said interrupting my thoughts. "No I am fine.." I started. "The hell you are... Look I get that you want to help but you need to at least freshen up. Where were you planning to stay?" she asked. "I hadn't thought that far. Maybe the hotel or the motel I guess." I said sheepishly. "Ok Lady. First of all the hotels here are crap and secondly the motel is even crappier." She said. "But my parents do have an apartment that they sublet out to tourists." She offered. "Tourists visit here? And no I don't want to impose." I said. "Believe me you are not. Tourists do visit especially the ones who love to see a haunted place or something.  Plus the apartment is close to my place so I think you will be fine." She said. "Alright." I said. I was too exhausted to argue. I would freshen up at the place and then maybe find a different place to stay. 

We walked towards my car. Lilly kept looking at my face. "What?" I asked. She looked away, "Nothing you look different than what I had expected." "What do you mean exactly?" I asked. "No I expected you to be older and angry. Snobbish and arrogant maybe. Like a know it all. Practically a b**** you know?" I sighed, "Sorry to disappoint." "Well its not too late" she remarked haughtily. " Wow nice junk car you've got there. Did you buy it at a flea market?" she asked almost mockingly. "No it's a rental. Where's your car?" I asked. "Its back at the motel. I thought you would mug me and steal my car so I walked." I rolled my eyes once again. "You know if I did mug you, the car would have helped you get away faster right?" She shrugged.

I sat behind the wheel and she sat at the passenger's side. She then proceeded to guide me through the streets of Duskwood. All through the way she quizzed me mercilessly. "So why did you call me regarding Richy?" "If I had to choose amongst all of you about a situation like this in which Richy wasn't involved I would have probably called Richy himself. But that wasn't the case. Jake wasn't close by and he probably couldn't do anything from where he was except to track him. So I did text him to ask him that. I had to go for a person who would logically understand the urgency of the situation." I said.

"So basically you trust me more than the others." She replied. "Uh huh" I said non committedly. I did not know if I trusted Lilly. But she was the closest to a person who had lost someone close. Hannah's missing probably made her best suited for the scenario. We slowly pulled into a cleaning looking building which was a few storeys high. It looked like Duskwood was basked in the old town vibe. Small buildings, tiny houses, shops strewn all around. A place where everyone knew everyone but nothing about each other.

 I parked the car inside the premises into a parking lot. We got out the car and took the elevator to the third floor of the apartment. She quickly removed the key from her bunch of keys and opened the door. "Wow lots of keys huh?" I asked Lilly. "Of course I work for a motel. What do you expect? Here get in," she ushered me into the room. It was a clean room. Perfect for tourists. A one bed room apartment. Looking at the couch my exhaustion started creeping in. Here take the key. She gave me the key I quickly put it in my pocket. "There is water in the fridge. I wouldn't trust the perishables but I think there is some canned food if you want. I need to get back to work. Ill stop by in the evening. Ok?" she said. "Ok. Thank you Lilly." I said. "Don't be. It's the least I could do. Oh and by the way" she said turning towards me "I don't think you are hoplessly in love with Jake" I rolled my eyes again but she continued. "I know and I believe you are." She smirked walking away closing the door missing me roll my eyes over again.