I exhale and turn off the voice recorder. Of course he knew what I was doing. Ishouldgo straight to the police with this information. Jay was on Jack’s boat and went overboard. And Lance brought him there.
But I don’t know if I should trust Jack. He’s admitted that he’s drunk more than sober. And his memories of the night are foggy. I look at the time. It’s past four. Jay will be back in the room soon. I need to be there when he gets home so I can tell him it’s Lance. I’ll make sure he doesn’t go anywhere with Lance tonight.
But also ... I need Lance’s motive. I need to find if this was a random dumbass accident, or if Lance killed Jay on purpose. Because if it was on purpose, if it was for that trust or for another reason, Lance will only try again if Jay doesn’t go with him tonight.
“Two days,” I say. That’ll give me time to investigate Lance to see if this was intentional. “You report it to the police, or I will. I’ll even come with you if you want, but let’s wait until Tuesday. In the meantime, say nothing to anyone about this conversation. Deal?”
He looks up at me, eyes wide. “You’ll seriously come with me?”
I nod. I don’t trust Jack, but I remember what Jay said—Jack has his demons, but Jay trusted him. “Yeah, I got you.” I reach toward him with my right hand, my smallest finger out. “Pinkie swear.”
He curls his finger around mine. “Okay,” he says.
We will get justice for present Jay. But before that, I need to make sure past Jay stays safe andalive.
It’s five by the time we get back to East House. Jay isn’t on ResConnect yet. I put on sweatpants and my octopus sweatshirt, grab my computer to watch a movie, and sit on Jay’s bed, now my favorite place to sit in the room. I don’t want to investigate Lance yet—I need to talk to Jay first. So, I wait.
But Jay doesn’t turn up at five thirty.
He’s not here at six either. Maybe there was traffic on the subway? Or maybe he’s here, in the building, but not in the room yet.
He’s not here at six thirty. By six forty-five, my heart is pounding heavily in my chest. At seven, my hands are shaking.
At seven thirty, I squeeze Tentacle Ted, begging my octopus to tell me where Jay is. But Ted knows nothing.
With tears falling down onto my chest, I text Gracie.
Aleeza:He’s not here. He’s gone, Gracie. We didn’t save him.
TWENTY-TWO
Gracie comes straight to my room and immediately wraps her arms around me in a hug. Her yellow cardigan is soft and comforting on my cheek.
“We’re too late ...,” I say. My voice is cracking. “I don’t know what happened. Why isn’t he here? I should have stayed in the room all day.”
Gracie rubs my back, then lets me go to look at me. “He’s not supposed to go missing for another half hour ... remember ... someone saw him in the lobby at eight.”
“But we don’t know who saw him! Lance could have paid someone to say that!” I sit back on Jay’s bed, hugging Tentacle Ted close.
“Maybe he’s still at his mother’s?” Gracie suggests.
I shrug. I have no way of finding out. No way to know if we saved him, or if he’ll die tonight. I feel a tear run down my cheek.
Gracie sits next to me and puts her hand on my leg. “Hewouldhave protected himself, Aleeza. He knows not to go to the yacht club. Or anywhere near the lake.”
“Maybe Lance forced him,” I say. “Maybe he drugged him like he drugged Jack.”
“People would have noticed Lance bringing an unconscious guy to the marina.”
I shrug.
Gracie takes my hand and squeezes. “Aleeza, we’ve done everything we could. He knows something bad will happen, which is way more than the Jay in our timeline knew. We saved him. I can feel it.”
But I can’t feel it. I’m on Jay’s bed, and I can’tfeelhim here with me. And that’s what’s scaring me. But she’s right. There’s nothing I can do formyJay now, the one I’ve talked to every day for weeks now.
The one I fell in love with.
Because yeah, that’s what happened. I fell in love with him. Talk about falling for an impossible guy. He’s not even in my fucking universe.
