A String of Secrets

Chapter 9

Hey babes. There are mentions of SA in this chapter in the bit where Mari goes to the high school, so please be careful when reading. Love you. -Rae

The silence in my car was soon broken by the soft, repetitive clicking of my pen. I tried to focus on fidgeting with that instead of the dread that pooled in my stomach whenever I thought about the incident in the bathroom.

As harsh and unkind as it sounded, I didn't care about Isabella or what she went through. I didn't care about her crush on Eli or how she tried to be kind to me out of pity that Alex was dead. I didn't care about her upcoming party or her study group, and truthfully, I was never going to care. I had no reason to.

When I felt the tears start forming, I quickly blinked them away, despite Dad's words floating in my memories from my childhood whenever I cried after the anger and panic diminished. "There's nothing wrong with crying, Mari Bari. It's okay."

But then I heard Christian's voice, slightly irritated and annoyed, but masked with the softness I knew and craved. "Don't cry. It's not that big of a deal. You're only making it a hundred times worse by overthinking it."

Now that I was fully away from campus and feeling a lot calmer after the small, but sharp burst of panic I felt in the bathroom, I found it easier to sort my thoughts out.

Isabella was more than likely the one who sent me the text message. She's crazy about Eli, no doubt, and since she's well-known throughout the university, it wouldn't be hard for her to ask someone else what my phone number was.

I checked the time. It was close to three in the afternoon, and I sighed quietly when I realized that I'd been sitting here for about an hour. I thought about just going home for the day so I could throw on some cozy clothes and binge-watch some comfort cartoons while stuffing my face with a steak burrito, but I knew that I had to keep going.

I needed to go to those locations and see if I could make a connection to Alex's murder. I wasted enough time. I used my phone to pull up directions to the bar, took a small breath to prepare myself, then started driving.

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Like estimated, the bar was about an hour drive away from the university. When I parked my car outside of it, the first thing I did when I got out was go to the alleyway beside it. I found the dumpster, then wondered if the killer spent the night watching Emmett Daniels before dragging him here to kill him.

But all of the masked killer's victims go missing for at least a week. Was Emmett Daniels kidnapped before being killed and brought here? If so, was he brought to the campsite? Why go back and forth? I thought as I turned back around and walked inside of the bar.

It wasn't crowded -- which was probably another highlight of my day -- and I sighed in quiet relief as I neared one of the stools that was at the high table. When I sat down, the young, tan skinned and platinum-haired bartender noticed me and walked over once she finished up with another customer.

"Hey there, pretty," she greeted with a kind smile. "What can I get you?"

"Just a lemonade, please. Can you put a bit of grenadine in it?" I asked.

"Sure thing," she said, and at the sound of loud laughter coming from the end of the high table, she rolled her eyes at the customer it came from. "You're drunk, Rick. No more for you."

He returned the eye roll and stuck his tongue out at her. "I am not drunk, thank you very much." But his body language confirmed that he was indeed drunk.

The bartender returned with a lemonade, and I thanked her before asking, "Is the owner of the bar here at the moment?"

"You're looking right at her," she said proudly before shrugging. "Well, the owner's daughter that helps out in the afternoon before the weirdos get here, but same thing, am I right?"