Page 12 of The Devil We Know

We’ve never really spoken of the circumstances in which I first met Matt, but she knows me very well. She may even know me better than I know myself some days, and she certainly has a long history of calling me out on my bullshit, so I suppose this is going to be that same exact scenario.

“Bullshit,” she replies, and I snort, earning a glare from her as she continues, “Seriously. This is fucking weird, and the fact that you haven’t mentioned it to me before now is idiotic.”

I bristle, annoyed that she’s correct. “And what the hell are you going to do about it?”

She sighs again, fiddling around with my phone before she hands it back to me. I glance at the open messages and see that she has taken a screenshot of my last conversation with Matt and then texted it to herself. “What the fuck, Issa. Why would you do that?”

She glares at me even harder for a moment before going back to her phone, and then, suddenly, a new message pops up on my end.

Issa: Anyone know why Matt is being a douchebag to my friend?

I gasp in horror and then hiss, “Oh my God. What have you done?”

She smiles at me, putting her hand in my face. “You just wait.”

Unknown number: What the fuck did he do?

Another unknown number: Have you seen him?

Issa: Jessica is in this group, too. This is the last message she got from him, which appears to be a little out of character. You tell me.

The screenshot pops through, and that first unknown number immediately replies.

Unknown number: Absolutely not. Nope. That’s not Matt.

Another unknown number: Yeah, that seems a little suspicious. He’s not the type to do that without an explanation, even if that explanation makes no sense. It’d still be some form of an explanation.

I look up at Issa and ask, “Who the fuck are these people? All I have are unknown numbers.”

She snags my phone from me and then, a few moments later, hands it back, and when I look, the unknown numbers now have names. Antoinette and Carolina.

I look up at Issa again and ask, “Who are these people?”

“Declan’s sisters-in-law,” she explains. “I guess technically, my sisters-in-law.”

I had forgotten about them. I’ve only met them once or twice, and I’ve never had to make real conversation with them, but I remember Issa telling me how fucking crazy they are, which makes sense considering Declan and his brother are also fucking crazy.

My phone pings again.

Antoinette: When did this happen?

Jessica: A few months ago. He sent that to me, and I replied immediately, and it remains undelivered.

Carolina: Yeah, that’s fucking dumb. There’s no way that’s something he does without a very good reason.

Issa: Can you ask him?

There’s no reply for almost a minute, and we stand in the middle of the office, staring at our phones, until finally, a message pops up.

Antoinette: We don’t know where he is.

My heart stops in my chest, and my stomach bottoms out as panic bubbles up inside me. I look over at Issa, who’s frowning at her phone, and then her eyes rise to meet mine, and she says, “Was everything fine up until that point? Like normal?”

I nod. “Nothing unusual. Certainly nothing that raised any flags for me.” Issa looks back at her phone, and then another message pops up.

Issa: Obviously, something is wrong. What can we do?

Antoinette: #FAAFO.

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