Page 13 of Toy

Beck let out another defeated sigh. She scratched her nose as she sucked at her upper lip, eyes on the door, and then she looked back up at me. “Fine,” she said, lowering her voice. “Leave the station, turn right, and walk three blocks. There’s a café across from the park there. It’s the one with the wrought iron arch over the entrance. I’ll meet you there in half an hour.”

“Thank you, Detective.” I gave her a smile as I inwardly breathed a sigh of relief.

Twenty-five minutes later, I waited at a corner table in the café. Jolie sat by my side, hands wrapped around her second mug of coffee. “Do you think she’ll actually come?” she asked, nervously shuffling her feet on the black and white linoleum floor beneath the table.

I nodded confidently. “Yeah. She really wants to know this stuff you allegedly remembered. I could see it in her eyes.”

“I feel so bad for making that up. Literally all I’ve done to Beck is lie to her,” Jolie said softly, her mouth downturned.

I patted her hand. “I know, but we need to find out what she knows. If she and her colleagues have any leads about the cult’s current location, we need to know what they are so we can try to get ahead of them.”

“I know. You’re right. I just feel bad.”

“That’s because you’re a good person,” I said, smiling gently as I ruffled her blonde hair. “A bad person would never feel guilty.”

“I’m here. Will you talk now?”

We looked up to see Beck standing by our table, head cocked to one side. Jolie nodded. “Thank you for coming,” she said.

“You’re welcome.” Beck sat down and scooted her chair in as close as possible. “Let’s get started. What did you remember?”

Jolie bit her bottom lip and looked away. “A few more details about the day I was taken. Like the white car. I remember part of the license plate now.”

Beck pulled out a pen and notepad. “What was it?”

“The plate had an N and a 1. I’m sure of it.”

“Can you remember an order?”

“No. Just that the plate had that letter and number on it somewhere.”

“Okay.” Beck smiled tightly, even though I could tell she thought the so-called information was almost certainly useless. “What else?”

“The man who took me—I remember his face now. It finally came back to me. He usually wore a mask, but it slipped once. The memory is a bit hazy, obviously, but I recognized him.”

“Who is he?”

“I don’t remember his name. It’s been so long. But he was definitely a member of the cult all those years ago. So whoever was holding me, whether it was just him or all of them, it was definitely cult-related.”

Beck’s left hand fluttered on the table, one finger drumming against it. “Anything else?” she asked. “Anything that might actually help me figure out where you were being held?”

“Sorry, that’s it.”

“I see.” She put her notepad down and scrubbed a hand across her face.

“Detective?” Jolie said in the same timid tone she’d used earlier. “Can I ask you something?”

“Sure.”

“I know you said you can’t share anything with us, but it would make me feel so much better to know where your colleagues are at in the investigation, or how close they are to getting the cult.” She widened her eyes and leaned forward, hands clasped together. “It would really make me feel a lot safer.”

Beck leaned back and laughed. “Wow,” she said, rubbing her chin as her eyes crinkled around the edges. “You two are way more transparent than you think you are.”

“What do you mean?” Jolie asked.

“Oh, come on. I wasn’t born yesterday. I know damn well what this is about. You both want revenge against the cult, for obvious reasons. You got me out here to try and manipulate me into giving you information about the investigation, so you could try and use that information to get ahead and find the cult first… presumably so you can kill them all. Am I close?”

My stomach gnawed at itself. Shit. She’d probably been onto us the entire time.

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