Chapter 33: Putting Them Together

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With my arms crossed, I paced back and forth in front of Max and Chloe. We finally had all the clues. All we had to do was piece them together and we'd be one step closer to finding Rachel.

"Chloe, are you okay?" Max asked. Chloe sat up from her bed. "I'm glad things worked out okay with Frank. It's nice to have one less enemy in Arcadia Bay." Chloe stood up. "I agree. Just one thing and it could have all gone to shit." I said. "Amen to that." Max added. Chloe walked passed me and sat at her computer. Max stood up and looked at me.

"We better focus on this board and start tying these clues together..." She said. I sighed and turned to the board. "It won't be an easy job." I said. "Nothing's an easy job, Daniel." Chloe said to me, still focused on her computer. Max's phone rang. She checked it and said Frank had texted her. "What'd he say?" Chloe asked. "Just seeing how we are doing so far..." Max told her.

After Max was done with Frank, we got to work.

"Let's just go down the board. Start with Frank's clues." I said. Max nodded. "Let's do this." She said. We started examining the clues about Frank.

"Any idea?" I asked. Max narrowed her eyes in concentration. "Let's look at Frank's drug deals during the week of the party." She said. "Got it." I told her. I traced the board carefully and cautiously with my eyes. Which landed on the piece of paper in the top left corner. "That one." I said. "Rott" must stand for Rottwater." Max said and nodded. "That does fit Nathan... rotten." I looked at the account book we got from Frank.

"That too." I said. Max took it in hand. "Yes! The game is on!" She said. She moved all of the clues to the right side of the board. Separating them from everything else.

"Okay. Now David's clues." Max said. "I'm just gonna go get some water." I said, hoping to escape this horror. "Nope, you don't." Max said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me back.

"You know, thanks to David's own investigation, we should be able to find out what Nathan did during the party's week." Max said. "Whatever makes it easier." I told her. "Relax. We're almost done." She said. "Almost, as in, we still have to go through Nathan's shit after David's?" I said. "Let's just focus, Daniel." Max told me.

After carefully examining the clues, I picked them out. "Nathan's licences plate, the coordinates, and the picture of Nathan punching Warren." Max gathered them all up. "And that's all she wrote." Max said. She moved them underneath Frank's clues.

"Now Nathan's clues." Max said. "I need to go to the bathroom." I said, attempting to escape again. Max grabbed my arm and said, "It can wait."

"But—"

"Quit bullshitting, Daniel. Let's just get this done. Please?" She said. I sighed. Running my hands through my hair. "You're right, let's do this." I said. "I promise. Once we're done, you can sit on Chloe's bed and relax for a bit."

We had to crouch down for this one. "Which one do you think?" I asked. Max narrowed her eyes again. Rubbing her chin. "The phone definitely." Max said, nodding toward it. "That's one." I said. "The SIN card." She added. "That's two." I said again. "His birthday and that piece of paper." Max said. "Good, we got this." I said.

Max moved the clues underneath David's. Max looked at me. "If you want, you can chillax. I think I got it from here." I quickly wrapped my arms around her, hugging her tightly. "Thank you, Max! Thank you!" I said. "God, you're the best!" I told her as I walked over to the bed. "I know I am." Max said with a confidant smile. I sat on Chloe's bed and lied down.

"If you're not doing anything, you might as well get me more donuts." Chloe said, smirking over her shoulder. "Aw, you gotta be joking." I said. Chloe shrugged, still smirking. "You really think I'll just let you sit around and do nothing?" Chloe snapped her fingers. Pointing to the door. "Go before I drag your lazy ass down the stairs and out this house! Now!" Chloe demanded.

I quickly stood up and ran out the door and down the stairs.

*30 minutes later

I stumbled into Chloe's room with the donut box. "Here. You better eat every single one of these." I said. "Do you know who you're talking to, skater boy? All of these will be gone before you can say my full name!" Chloe said as she took a bite into one.

"How's it going so far?" I asked Max. She had all these clues on the brown board next to the bigger board. It looked complicated as shit. "Right now, I'm just trying to put all these clues together. But I think I got it in the bag." She said. She looked closely at the board and turned to Chloe.

"Chloe, this is definitely the place." Max said. After finishing her donut, Chloe said, "Let me dig up some more clues." She started typing into her computer. Chloe shook her head. "Nope... Nothing, Max. There's nothing here. Just some shitty old barn..."

"Let's keep searching and find out who owns this barn." Max said. "I am on this, hold on." Chloe told her.

Chloe narrowed her eyes and examined the name. "Somebody named—"Harry Aaron Prescott." She said. "I'm shocked." Max said. "Should we call the police?" Max asked. Chloe shook her head. "Fuck that. You know the police here are like Nathan's private security, right?" She said. "That's so messed up..." Max said. "That's what happens when your family owns this hellhole." I said. "As you've noticed, this whole town is messed up and a hellhole. We can't trust anybody..." Chloe said. "Except each other. So we have to go to that farmhouse by ourselves." Max sighed and said, "I was afraid you'd say that. We could call Warren, since he kicked Nathan's ass..." Chloe shook her head.

"It's just the three of us. Nobody else. And I'm not scared at all. You have the power." Chloe stood up. "I feel like we're this close to finding Rachel... We have to find her, guys." She said. "We will." Max assured. "But remember, my power isn't infinite. We still have to be careful. Do you hear, Chloe?"

"Yes, sir."

I closed the door behind us and followed them down the stairs. Now we're on our way to some old Prescott barn.

Fantastic.

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