Everything She Saw

The Unbearable Lightness of Being

Dealing with the fact that Zoey was gone had been hard. That had been in the beginning of July. It was the end of July when even more went wrong. So much more had gone wrong, and I was not prepared to deal with any of it. Not when Zoey's death still haunted me.

I stared at the TV as the news story played.

Jonathan had been caught again. But Edward had been arrested along with him.

Jonathan had somehow made his toxin even worse. It... I had to mute the TV. The people were too loud. I suppose I hadn't been surprised by what Jonathan had done; in fact, I was expecting it. Every time he broke out, I had been expecting him to disperse something. What I hadn't expected was Edward's involvement in the scheme. I hadn't even thought they had known each other. Why would they have known each other?

Edward placed people in some kind of puzzle room. If they failed, they were faced with Jonathan's toxin. It was something out of a Saw movie. Horrifying. Something I would never wish on my worst enemy.

It was a repeat of what had happened with Jonathan. Only this time, I couldn't have even imagined Edward doing something like this. I had always suspected Jonathan of doing shady things. Bo, Sherry, and his grandmother had not been happy accidents. But Edward, I couldn't imagine why. What was his motive? He had a good life. He had gotten past the abuse he suffered at the hands of his father, and become, from what I heard, a very successful private detective. No one would have guessed this is something he would have done.

... Katie had known. She had known something about Edward, at least. She had dropped hints to me she had known something about Edward. And she had gone to visit Jonathan at some point. Had Jonathan told her about this scheme? No, no, he wouldn't have done that. Jonathan wasn't stupid. How had Katie known? How did she know anything?

"He told me, too," I muttered to myself as I watched the story. Edward had told me the night I rejected him he was part of something. Edward had told me he had nothing to do with Strange's scheme. He had emphasized that, and I had thought nothing of it at the time. Nothing. It didn't seem to be out of place. But it had. Edward had indirectly told me he would be part of something. And I had missed it. How could I have missed it?

The sound was muted, but it was clear that the arrest had angered Edward immensely. His lips were moving quickly, and his face had reddened. Jonathan looked impassive as ever. The contrast between the two was incredible. Just from the way they appeared after the arrest gave clear indications to the type of people they were. Edward was dramatic. Most likely he was flaunting some obscure knowledge. Jonathan was cool, straight-faced. He was biding his time, but for what was anyone's guess.

I turned off the TV and leaned against the back of the couch. I didn't want to think anymore. Not about anything. I'd had enough of everything. Nothing was going right anymore. And I felt utterly, utterly alone.

My phone rang. I let it go to voicemail. I didn't want to talk to anyone. I wanted to be alone.

It rang again. Again, I let it go to voicemail.

It rang again. This time, I stared at it for a few seconds before picking it up. "Hello?"

"Amber? Hey, it's Vicki."

"Vicki? What's up? You never call," I said, trying to mask the sound of resignation in my tone.

"I just wanted to check up on you. Are you busy?" she asked. It was quiet in the background. She wasn't at the office.

"No, I'm not."

"Meet me at that café you like in half an hour," she said. Then she hung up.

I didn't move for a few minutes. Then I made myself get up and get ready to meet with Vicki.