CHAPTER FIFTEEN

On a typical Thursday late afternoon, Sabrina would either be stuck at Sonic, where she’d make sure she was high enough to endure the monotony of the job, or stuck at home, where she’d make sure she was high enough to endure the sinking feeling of loneliness that greeted her as soon as she opened her front door.

But today was not a typical Thursday.

Instead of either of those things, she was sitting across from Andrew in the bar area of a restaurant in Falcon Rock, stone-cold sober and sipping an iced tea. It was their first official assignment since the cabin, though there wasn’t much for Sabrina to do. This one was all about Gabby.

They’d received urgent texts from Patricia a few hours earlier, telling them to meet at Cytology immediately after school. As soon as they were all around the conference table, Patricia explained what she needed from them. Lily’s blood had been found on the bracelet they discovered at the cabin. Finding the woman from Gabby’s vision had become top priority.

“We need to identify this waitress as quickly as possible,” Patricia told them gravely. “Unfortunately, we couldn’t get her name through the Belvedere Inn, the motel Gabby saw the waitress checking in to. They never ran credit cards for that room on the date Gabby gave us, so the waitress and the man she was meeting must have ended up paying with cash. The motel doesn’t keep records of guests’ names unless they pay with a card.”

“What about the man? Shouldn’t we be checking him out, too?” Sabrina asked. She hadn’t stopped trying to make sense of what Lily said to her in the cabin. “I know why they want it.” Who were “they”? Were they the waitress and the man she hooked up with at the motel? Could they have worked together to kill Lily for the serum?

“All we have to go on so far is Gabby’s vision,” Patricia said. “And she saw the woman, not the man. Finding her is the priority right now.”

“I’ve put together a list of restaurants near the motel — any of them could be her workplace. We need you to check out these spots today if possible,” Nash instructed. “It’s been several weeks since Lily was killed, so we can’t be sure if this woman still works at the same place, but let’s hope she does.”

Now Sabrina and the other four were at the third restaurant on Nash’s list, and though Gabby hadn’t seen anyone who resembled the waitress from her vision, Sabrina remained optimistic. After the way they’d managed to generate such a big lead at the cabin, she was eager to see what they could do next.

Gabby was conducting a sweep of the billiard area with Justin, who had taken it upon himself to stay by her side, mumbling something about how she might need his help. Z was roaming around by herself, listening in for any thoughts that could help them. And Sabrina was parked at a table with Andrew in the bar area, watching the incredibly depressing landscape of patrons, mostly disheveled middle-aged men sitting alone. The bartender was by far the youngest person in there, besides the five of them who looked incredibly out of place.

“You ever been here? To Falcon Rock, I mean,” Andrew asked.

“Once,” Sabrina answered. It was only a forty-minute drive from Cedar Springs, but the town of Falcon Rock couldn’t have been more different. Cedar Springs was woodsy and charming with rolling grass fields and picturesque hiking trails, while Falcon Rock was right off the highway, the run-down homes and trailers visible from the exit ramp. Sabrina had a blurry memory of buying Percocet out there once, then throwing up in a dumpster behind a Popeyes. Not one of her finer moments.

“It’s a little … délabré.”

“A little what?”

“Decrepit. I was bored last night, so I decided to learn French.” Andrew said it casually, but he couldn’t suppress his grin. “The book I downloaded said it would take three months, but I pretty much had it down after three hours.”

It was fascinating to see the difference between the Andrew she’d first met in that classroom and the confident genius sitting across from her now.

“That’s amazing, Andrew. How fast can you read now?”

“I can read a five-hundred-page book in about a half hour. I couldn’t decide between French or German, but I downloaded a German book, too, so maybe I’ll try that one tonight.”

“French was a good call. Much sexier language.”

Andrew blushed from one ear to the other. Sabrina had a feeling he didn’t have much experience talking to girls.

“Boning,” Z said as she slipped into the chair next to Andrew. “That’s what all these old dudes are thinking about. Boning their waitresses. Pathetic.”

“You’re lucky you could at least hear something,” Sabrina said. “I haven’t seen any ghosts since Lily at the cabin.”

“Maybe you need to concentrate on something specific to see them. Like something directly related to them. That’s what I’ve seen mediums do in movies,” Andrew suggested.

“Maybe,” Sabrina agreed, filing that suggestion away to try later.

The bartender walked over to their table, his eyes all over Sabrina.

“Let me get you another iced tea. A girl who looks like you shouldn’t have to go thirsty,” he said with a grin.

Z’s disapproving snort practically echoed through the restaurant.

Not that it deterred this guy. “Or I can get you something stronger. Let me guess, you’re” — he looked her up and down — “a tequila girl, right?”

“Actually I’m underage. Another iced tea would be great,” Sabrina answered curtly. She didn’t want to give this guy any ideas.

“Coming right up. I’m Toby, by the way.” He winked and walked away. Clearly he wasn’t a pro at taking hints.

“What’s wrong, Sabrina? Not your type?” Z asked. “If he has a girlfriend, would that make him more attractive?”

Was that why Z was always so rude to her? Because of Scott?

“Look, Z, I was using your brother for drugs,” Sabrina told her candidly.

Andrew shifted in his chair uncomfortably, as though he wanted to bolt from this confrontation, but now that she’d started, Sabrina wanted to get it all out. “He had access to pills I wanted, so I hooked up with him. I didn’t know he had a girlfriend. But to be honest, if I had known I probably wouldn’t have cared. It was a mistake and it wasn’t the worst thing I’ve ever done to get drugs or get money for drugs.”

Sabrina’s speech seemed to shut Z up. But only for a second.

“What was the worst thing you’ve done?” Z asked, her curiosity slightly defrosting the chill in her voice.

Andrew awkwardly cleared his throat. “You don’t have to tell us, Sabrina.”

It was only a week earlier that she had sat in a room with the others, mortified at the idea they would find out her secrets. All the horrible things she’d done over the past few years. Now, these were the only people she felt she could trust. “It’s a toss-up between pawning my grandmother’s wedding ring and stealing money from a sleeping homeless guy.”

“Whoa,” Andrew said quietly. “That’s grim.”

Z flashed Sabrina a quick smile. “I still think hooking up with my brother is worse.” Sabrina laughed.

“One iced tea on the house for Sabrina, who hopefully won’t leave without giving me her number,” Toby interrupted, setting the drink in front of her. He must have overheard Z or Andrew saying her name.

“I don’t think so, Toby,” Sabrina said with a tight-lipped smile. “But thank you for the drink.”

“My pleasure.” He finally left them alone.

“Do lines like that ever work?” Andrew asked.

“No,” Sabrina replied.

She was about to take a sip of the iced tea when Z’s hands flew across the table and snatched it away. “Don’t drink that!”

Sabrina looked up at her in surprise.

“He put something in it.”

“What do you mean?” Andrew asked anxiously. “Like” — he lowered his voice — “a roofie?”

Z nodded. “Yeah. A few sips of that and you won’t remember you weren’t interested. That’s what was going through his head when he gave it to you.”

Sabrina’s stomach turned at the thought of what could’ve happened. “Oh my God. Thanks, Z.”

“Should we call the cops?” Andrew asked.

He whipped out his cell phone, but Sabrina shook her head. “I don’t think we should draw any attention to the fact that we’re here. We can call them anonymously later. So he can’t do that to anyone else.”

“It sucks, but she’s right,” Z agreed solemnly just as Gabby and Justin walked up to the table.

“She’s not here,” Gabby told them. “I guess we should go to the next place on Nash’s list.”

Sabrina, Z and Andrew were already halfway out the door.

*    *    *

As they walked down the block to the next restaurant on Nash’s list, Justin covertly glanced at Gabby. Her hair was down again today, and he wondered if maybe it was due to the fact that she knew someone had liked it the day before at Lily’s cabin. Did she realize it was him and not Andrew?

His phone buzzed with a text from Coach Brandt. I got permission to open the weight room early tomorrow morning. See you then. To Justin the subtext was crystal clear. You sucked at practice today and need to do everything you can before the game tomorrow night. He sighed.

“What’s wrong?” Gabby asked. Justin wasn’t used to people picking up on his moods. Unless, of course, it was anger — in which case, people generally knew to give him a wide berth.

“I had a crappy practice today and now Coach is on my case to do an extra weight-training session.”

“Just because of one bad practice?”

“More than one,” he admitted. He’d been a walking disaster on the field all week, and he couldn’t figure out why he was suddenly sucking so badly. “It’s like I can barely get my body moving. Guys are slipping through my fingers.”

Gabby thought about it. “You must be a little distracted with all this …”

“Maybe.” Being undercover for the FBI could do that to a guy.

“It’s thrown my concentration off, too,” Gabby told him. “I can barely get through my homework.”

Could it be that simple? That he just needed to focus a bit more?

He looked back at Gabby and debated asking her to come to the game the following night. He’d never asked a girl to a game before, and now he imagined what it would be like, looking up and finding her in the stands between plays. After this week, though, maybe it wasn’t a good idea. He didn’t want to risk her seeing a crapfest on the field.

They reached the Tipsy Tavern, a ramshackle restaurant wedged next to a 7-Eleven. As the others stepped in, Z pulled Justin aside with a knowing look. “Why don’t you just ask her out, already? If not to your football game, something else?”

Justin looked around to see if Gabby or any of the others had heard her, but luckily they were already inside and out of earshot. He turned back to Z, annoyed. “You’ve got to get out of my head.”

“I know,” Z agreed. “It’s not that interesting a place to be.”

“Then why do you keep coming back for more?” He gave her a long look. “It’s not cool. How would you like it?”

Z reluctantly sighed. “All right. I get it. I’ll try,” she promised.

“Try hard,” Justin told her, before he entered the restaurant. The Tipsy Tavern was different from the geezer-infested craphole they just left. It was loud and packed, mostly with people in their twenties who needed to blow off some serious steam after work, by the looks of it. There were guys and girls doing shots, playing drunken games of darts and making out sloppily, almost on top of their burgers and fries.

The group fell into the same pattern they had at the last place. Sabrina took her post at a table while Andrew followed her there like a pathetic puppy dog. Z walked toward the back of the restaurant to do her mental eavesdropping thing, and he and Gabby went the other way, trying to look casual as she examined everyone.

A blond waitress emerged from behind the bar and he nudged Gabby. “Is that her?”

Gabby shook her head. “No. The woman in the vision was a little younger, I think.”

They made their way to the back room of the restaurant, which housed another bar and was much less crowded. Two waitresses were serving, one blonde and one redhead. Justin looked at Gabby hopefully.

“No,” she finally said. “It’s neither of them. What if she was wearing a wig at the motel? Or she changed her hair color? I don’t know if I’d recognize her.”

“We still have one more restaurant to go,” he responded, his upbeat tone sounding foreign even to him. He felt the need to pump Gabby up, though. She was starting to wilt.

Just as he was about to motion to the others that they could leave, he felt Gabby’s nails dig into his wrist. Her eyes were on a hard-looking woman coming out of the kitchen, her large black purse slung over her shoulder, keys dangling from her red fingertips.

“That’s her,” Gabby said. They watched as she waved to the bartender.

“I’m out,” the woman said brusquely.

“You’re off already, Sadie?” the bartender answered, sounding annoyed. “I thought you were on till nine.”

“Nope,” she said. “You’re on your own.” The chip on her shoulder was so big that Justin could almost see it as she headed for the door.

“Should we follow her?” Justin asked.

“Nash and Patricia just said we should identify her. And now we know her name.”

Justin nodded. If he had been by himself, he probably would’ve done it anyway, but Gabby was a rule follower and he didn’t want to push her.

They both realized at the same time that her hand was still wrapped around his wrist. She quickly pulled her hand away, embarrassed, but he could still feel the warmth of her touch as they joined the others.

“Sorry, guys. I don’t have anything to report,” Z said. “Except that guy over there by the darts asked me if I would buzz off his hair like mine.”

Andrew made a face. “That’s so creepy.”

Z shrugged. “I would’ve done it. But he didn’t have a razor on him.” Z suddenly noticed Gabby’s smile. “Did you find her?”

*    *    *

Justin slung his jacket over his shoulders as the group walked into the cool fall night. It had worked. They’d actually managed to find the waitress from Gabby’s vision. He was pretty sure they were all feeling the same mix of awe and excitement.

Andrew said exactly what Justin was thinking. “The five of us have gotten further on this case than the cops or the FBI.”

“Not bad for a group of lost causes,” Z noted wryly.

Sabrina smiled. “Tell me about it. If being a lost cause means solving a murder faster than the FBI —”

“And saving humanity —” Gabby chimed in.

“Then that’s who we are,” Sabrina finished.

“A hundred percent,” Justin agreed. He looked down the line at the group — the other Lost Causes — and felt a grin sweep over his face. He hadn’t even wanted to be seen with them the other morning at the flagpole, and now he realized they were people he actually kind of liked being around.

“Anyone want to grab some dinner on the way home?” he asked. “There’s an awesome burrito stand halfway between here and Cedar Springs.” It was the first time they’d all be hanging out voluntarily … not as part of a mission or assignment.

For a split second, Justin wondered if maybe he’d misjudged the warm, fuzzy vibe among them all, but then Sabrina spoke up. “I’m in! Let’s do it.”