Page 98 of Am I the Only One

Thinking for a moment, I resolve to call her only other friend, even though she’s the last person I want to talk to. I just can’t shake the uneasy feeling I have.

“Hello.”

“Olivia, it’s Luca.”

“Hey, what’s up?”

“Have you heard from Emma? She isn’t home, and I can’t get ahold of her.”

“No, I haven’t talked to her in a few days. Is everything okay?”

I avoid her question, asking, “Is William with you?” because if Emma’s with him, that would explain her whereabouts. Although, since we got the photos of Carly, she no longer has a reason to be carrying on her affair with him.

“Yeah, he’s in the conference room. Why?”

Setting my coffee down on an end table, I take a seat on the couch as I grow more worried. The only place I know to look for her would be the last place she said she was at. “You think you could do me a favor?”

“I guess it depends. What do you need?”

“I need William’s home address,” I tell her.

“Why?”

I can’t tell her why, though. It’s already suspicious enough that I’m even asking. “I can’t say. I just need you to trust me.”

I’m met with silence on her end.

“You there?”

“Yeah, I just—I shouldn’t be giving out his information. Does this have to do with Emma?”

“Can you just give me his address?” I push.

Sighing into the phone, she resolves, “I’ll text it to you.”

“Thanks.” I hang up, and sure enough, a few seconds later, my phone chimes with his contact information. I plug his address into my navigation app, and get the directions. Shit, she wasn’t kidding when she said they lived far.

I’m normally not one who reacts quickly, but something is telling me to go to Carly’s home. It’s an unsettling feeling I can’t shake, so I take one last gulp of my coffee and grab my keys.

The drive feels much longer than it should, and as each mile passes, I grow more concerned. I start questioning my decisions from last night. I should’ve checked my phone and called her when I decided not to come home. If I hadn’t drunk so much, I would’ve gone home sooner and started looking for her last night instead of this morning.

The roads got bad last night with the snow that came through, and I find myself distracted as I scan the ditches and shoulders for her car.

Shit, what if she got into a wreck?

I press my foot down on the pedal to speed up, and when I turn off the highway and draw closer to Carly’s house, I’ve almost convinced myself that she must’ve gotten into an accident.

When I pull into the circular drive, I look at the impressive home before getting out and heading up to the front door.

I ring the bell and then wait, but when no one answers, I ring again. I pull out my phone and try Emma one more time, but her battery must be dead because it doesn’t even ring, just goes straight to voice mail.

I walk back down the front porch steps and scan the property. Her car is nowhere to be found, and it doesn’t appear as if anyone is home either. I consider calling Carly’s office to see if she knows where Emma is, but I choose to walk the property instead. I’m not sure why, but something isn’t right.

There’s a dense fog in the air with no footprints in the fresh snow, aside from my own, as I make my way around to the back of the house. Nothing is disturbed, and everything is quiet and peaceful. Clearly, she isn’t here.

Looking out at the bay, which has frozen over, I can just make out the form of a large boat that’s along the side of the dock. There’s a dense fog that practically sits on the icy water’s surface. Curiosity pulls me down the property and onto the dock, confused as to why they don’t have it lifted out of the water at a marina during this time of year.

My foot slides, and as I regain my balance, a large rope that’s tied to a piling catches my eye. I follow the line down the dock and find a large crab cage sticking out of the ice. Grabbing the rope, I tug, but the cage is hung up on something. I yank a couple times, and when it comes loose, I pull it out of the water and notice something caught within the wiring of the trap. I squat down and almost topple over when I see a wad of hair tangled in the hex mesh.

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