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Carina looks between us again when we all settle into the living room, her pitbull heeling at her side on the leather sofa.
“I don’t think you two have formally met. Gage, Emery. Emery, Gage.”
She’s uncomfortable with both of us in the same space, so I let my grudge drop, if only for tonight.
Gage grunts in my direction, and I return it.
“Something to drink?” I offer, lifting my freshly poured whiskey toward them.
Gage shakes his head but looks at Carina. The way he eyes her is like nothing I’ve ever seen. Like she’s the only person in the world. The one his revolves around.
She shakes her head at me. “Why did we need to meet? What did you find?”
I take a tentative sip. I’m not looking forward to this conversation.
“I hired someone…rather, I have someone on my staff who investigates things for me. I set him to the task of finding Wes. Because the more I thought of it, I couldn’t recall ever seeing or hearing anything about him after that night.”
Carina turns toward Gage. “So, someone like you?”
Gage’s lips quirk, but he doesn’t look away from me as he nods.
She turns back. “Alright, go ahead.”
So, he’s a fixer, then. Makes sense he has the same aura as the ones I employ. The arrogant air surrounding men who know their way around the law is unnerving.
“He didn’t find so much as a breadcrumb about him. The only person that he could get to talk was his ex-girlfriend from high school. She said the last time she heard of him, he was homeless and not doing well at all and that was years ago.”
Carina’s face pains with emotion as she looks down at her hands. “So, even though we’re going through this shit still, we made it, at least.”
She’s right, and guilt washes through me. “But Stan thinks he found him, though. He’s been living in The Jungle.”
The Jungle is an area near the greenbelt, where homeless have made a decent sized encampment. It’s sad to know how far he’s fallen.
“My God,” Carina says, covering her mouth, and Gage rests his hand on her knee in comfort.
“Stan tried to get him to come with him, but he wouldn’t. He’s in bad shape, apparently.”
Carina drops her hands to cover Gage’s, and it’s all I can stare at.
“I wanted to speak to you about that, but also about my hypnotherapy,” I start, sitting forward and setting my whiskey down on the table.
She sits a little straighter. “Did it go well?”
Hope is what echoes in her voice, and I don’t know if she’s hopeful for answers, or hopeful I got what I needed out of the experience. Either way, it takes me aback.
“It went well, actually. She unlocked my memory of that night. I didn’t hit you. I hit the floor next to your head. But someone came in. Someone knocked me out. And the blow is probably where I lost memories.” I continue to tell her what the person said that entered the room, and how I couldn’t see anything but something striking my head.
“So, you didn’t…” she covers her mouth again. Tears overflow from her eyes at the realization that all her hate and planning had been directed at the wrong person.
“Now, I know you’re going to suspect everyone that was there, as you should. I’ve spoken to Conner, but he was tight-lipped. I won’t get in your way with him, however.”
Gage smirks. “You know how we interrogate.”
I nod. “If he was a part of this, he will deserve it.”
Carina shoots up, shaking her head. “I can’t… I’m so sorry, Emery. I shouldn’t have done what I did to you. I tortured you, and you weren’t even—”
I stand, moving for her with Gage’s eyes on me the entire time. I hold her to me. “Hey, it’s alright. Everyone should get electrocuted once in their life, right?”
