Page 51 of Johnathan

“Okay, backup. I feel like I missed about a thousand pages of the story.”

John sighed, leaning back into the chair. “Jackson and I were out grabbing a beer last night when we saw Abby and a man together.”

“You know the guy?”

“Nope.”

“They were friends? On a date? What?”

“Date. Met on some app for singles.”

“I’m surprised you didn’t take things into your own hands right when you first saw them together.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I think you know, buddy.”

John raked his hand through his beard. “Yeah. I’m kinda pissed at myself that I didn’t.”

“So you saw her there with a guy but didn’t intervene.”

“Not until she stood up and started swaying. Something looked off so I marched over to make sure she was okay. Long story short, she wasn’t. I helped her out to my truck. Jackson was going to try to stop the guy, because I was really suspicious about how she was acting, but he ran away.”

“What’d they say at the hospital?”

John sat silently.

“Please tell me you brought her to the fucking hospital so we have blood work as evidence that what you think happened actually did?”

“I brought her there, but she wouldn’t go in. I was about to scoop her up and walk her in there myself, but she started hyperventilating. What the fuck was I supposed to do? I didn’t want to take that choice from her when she was already vulnerable.”

“No, I get it. I would have been the same way with Daisy. It’s good she had you there to look after her.” Hank shook his head. “So, we don’t have blood work, and we can’t be certain what was in her system. You want me to send a deputy over to the bar to see if they can find anything on the cameras?”

“No. I’m heading there next. Abby said she’ll send me the messages that the guy wrote her on the dating app.”

“Good. Okay. Let’s start there and see what we can get.” Hank grabbed his mug and took a long drink. “John?”

“Yeah.”

“You finally tell her how you feel?”

“Yeah.”

“Good. You make sure nothing else happens to her.”

“I will.”

The Broken Spoke was busier than John had expected for early afternoon, even with it being the weekend. He walked up to the bar and flagged down the bartender.

“Hey, John. You forget something last night? The lost and found is back in the office.”

“Nah. Didn’t forget anything, Geoff. My friend was here on a date, left in real bad shape. Just trying to see if I can understand what happened.”

“Real bad shape, how?” Geoff’s towel stopped moving and he slammed the glass he’d been drying down.

“I think she was slipped something by her date.”

“Shit. You know that doesn’t fly here, right? I’d never let something like that go if I’d known…”

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