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I supposed it would be tear-inducing to find out that your boyfriend was a drug dealer…except that I wasn’t, and I felt as though she should have known that.
“Any leads on Brent?” I asked. “Or are you not at liberty to disclose that, either?”
Manolo gave me a small reassuring smile. “I’ve done some digging, and I’ve passed on any information I’ve gotten onto the drug task force. If there’s anything to find, they’ll find it.”
“Before I’ve spent a year of my life in this place?” I asked desperately.
“Hang in there, Phil,” Manolo told me.
He was the third person to say that to me. I thanked him and watched as he exited my cell, locked me in, and walked away with a nod. The funny part was that I might have been better able to handle all of this if I knew that Megan believed me. If I knew she was there to support me, if I knew she was by my side, in the metaphorical sense, then it would have been easy to “hang in there.”
At the moment, I was more inclined to just hang myself. I sighed and lay back down on the cold hard surface of my cot. Even without Munch’s snores, I couldn’t seem to fall asleep. In fact, I found that my thoughts ran even wilder without the distraction. I wondered what Brent was doing right now and if he was sleeping soundly tonight knowing that he had framed his friend for his crimes. I wondered what lies he had told Megan about me.
But most of all, I wondered how Megan was, I wondered where Megan was, and wherever she was, was she thinking of me?
Chapter Twenty-Six
Megan
I ran to answer the door, hoping it was Brent. Then I remembered Brent wouldn’t ring the doorbell. The last I’d seen of him had been yesterday morning before I’d left for work. When I’d gotten back home that night, he was nowhere to be found, which wasn’t unusual, so I’d just eaten something light and headed to bed. I’d woken up to a silent apartment and when I poked my head in to Brent’s room, it was clear that he hadn’t come home.
I’d been home almost two hours now, and there was still no sign of Brent. I was starting to get a little suspicious. Why on earth would Brent disappear like this? He had done it before, but he always mentioned when he’d be back or where he was going. It would either be a girl’s house or a party in the city or a club or something. I had tried calling him a couple of times, but he hadn’t picked up my calls.
I pulled open the door to find a tall, lanky guy on the other side. He was dressed in ripped jeans and a torn hoodie. He looked severely emaciated and was swinging from one side to the other like he wasn’t steady on his feet.
“Who are you?” I asked.
“Name’s Tim,” he replied, in speech that was kind of slurred. “Where’s Brent?”
“Brent’s not here,” I said, looking him over up and down.
“When’s he back?”
“Um… I honestly don’t know.”
“I need to speak to him,” Tim said. His eyes were sort of misty, and I smelled smoke on him. I was starting to get a little nervous. Tim’s eyes darted around and they looked dangerous, and I knew I needed to shut the door as fast as possible.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” I said. “He’s not here.”
“I’ll wait for him.”
I froze in place. “Uh… I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“We’re friends,” Tim replied.
I realized that his eyes were bloodshot, as though he’d walked right out of a bar after a heavy night of binge drinking and right to my doorstep. I barred his path so that he couldn’t walk in.
“I have no idea when’s going to be back,” I said. “You could be waiting for days.”
“Are you telling me that motherfucker skipped town on me?”
I froze in place. “What do you need to see him about?”
“That’s between him and me.”
I gulped back my nerves. “I’ll tell him you stopped by when he comes in.”
Tim narrowed his eyes at me, but much to my relief, he turned and walked away without another word. Intensely grateful, I closed and locked the door and went back to the kitchen where I had been making dinner. I had gone almost two days without eating much of anything, and my stomach had finally started to complain. There was freshly cooked chicken and macaroni in a bowl, but again, my appetite had completely disappeared.
