Page 122 of Shattered Veil

“Nothing,” she assured me, and then blinked several times before her well-manicured brows pinched together. “One second.”

Colton began, “Google his na—”

Her typing had already commenced when she interjected, “That’s what I’m doing.”

We all looked at each other as the keyboard clacked, waiting for her requested second to end, and when her gaze widened substantially, Colton asked:

“Is that a fucking cop?”

“He was talking to a cop?” Luke asked. “Maybe…maybe he was onto him?”

“And texted him personally?” Claire announced. “No, that doesn’t make sense at all.”

“Well, maybe that’s the guy we talk to? If these things are connected, then maybe he’ll be able to figure it out without us going into detail.”

“We can’t talk to a cop that knew 2D personally.” Claire’s face twisted at Luke’s notion. “If we do that, other shit could get found out, and we’re all at a higher risk of getting thrown in prison—no way would that work in our favor.”

“Well, what are we supposed to do?” I questioned the entire room disbelievingly. “Let Jay stay missing?”

Luke started to pace again. “Fuck—no, obviously not.”

“Okay, we’re not gonna just leave him missing. There’s gotta be something here.” Colton looked down at Zoey. “Go back to the text—what’s up with you? What’s wrong?”

Lost in the back and forth, none of us had witnessed her expression after she had mentioned the contact being a police officer. Her focus seemed disassociated into the space in front of her—neither on the computer nor anything around it, lost in thought—and she didn’t respond to him.

“Zoey!” Claire called to her, and Zoey jerked back to reality.

“I recognize this guy,” she admitted to us all.

I felt my eyebrows raise. “The cop?”

“Uh huh.”

Claire confusingly asked, “From what? When?”

She breathlessly replied, “The break-in.”

“The break-in?” Luke repeated her words. “Like—like from—”

“Peter,” she clarified. “2D. Yes.”

“Are you sure?” Claire asked. “Maybe he just looks familiar or something.”

“No, no, no-no,” Zoey stammered. “This is the guy. Randy Dowler. Officer Randy. I remember his name ’cause he was incompetent and drove Liam insane—every time we mentioned him, it was,” she briefly imitated him with a deep voice, “‘Fucking Randy.’”

“He was incompetent?” Colton questioned.

“Incompetent or just didn’t give a shit,” she said. “Everything that I told him got me, ‘Oh, we can’t be sure those are related,’ or, ‘That’s too little information to put out an all-points bulletin.’ It was—it was pointless, honestly, and we were planning on talking with the police again, but…”

She didn’t have to finish the sentence that she let run off. That was when chaos had erupted, and we all knew it.

“So…you’re saying that this Randy came to your place after 2D busted in,” Colton hesitantly reiterated her telling of it, and we all nodded. “Basically blew off your complaints about a stalker.” More nodding. “And—wait, he refused to put out an APB?”

“Said we had too little of a description,” she stated.

He scoffed. “Bullshit—I’ve seen those announcements on the news before. White male, approximately five-foot-ten, medium build, and wearing dark clothes isn’t terribly descriptive, but they fuckin’ list it anyway.”

“Did you just…” Claire paused. “Did you just describe yourself?”

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