Mindsiege (Mindspeak #2)(9)

“Who? What are you seeing? Where are you?” Jack sounded panicked.

“I gotta go.”

“Lexi, don’t hang—”

I pushed end on the phone. The waitress who had served my breakfast several minutes ago approached my table. “You need anything?”

I grabbed my backpack and handed her some money, never removing my eye from the front door. “Is there a back way out of here?”

“Yes.” She pointed behind me. “Is everything all right?”

“Fine.” A man in dark sunglasses was placing his hand on the front door, pushing it open. “I have a restraining order against my abusive father, and he’s entering the shop right now. If you could stall that man in any way…”

She glanced over her shoulder then back at me. “Consider it done.” After a wink, she turned and shielded me while I slipped down the hallway behind her and out the door.

Tires screeched and horns blared in the not-too-far-away distance. My phone vibrated in my back pocket, but I didn’t have time to look at it.

Morning traffic was thick. I crossed the street and tried to blend in with a group of students I presumed were walking to class.

Once I was a good distance away, and on the front side of Big Blue Brew, I looked back. The two men in suits stood outside the coffee shop. One was on his phone.

I pulled mine out. I had a text from Marci. “No use running, Lexi. We are not going to hurt you.”

Right. So, why the big black SUV and scary-looking men in suits? And Marci? My heart sank. Dad had trusted her. I had trusted her.

~~~~~

Unable to think, I simply walked. Straight through campus. I found myself at the entrance of the Arboretum—the site of my first date with Jack. I sat on a bench off to the side, behind some evergreens, but with a perfect view of the parking lot. I placed my head between my knees. I was hyperventilating, suffering a panic attack, or something.

“Get it together,” I whispered to myself. My thoughts raced. It seemed that the same black SUV that had run Jack and me off the road the night of our first date was after me again. Jack and I had barely known each other five seconds before people started stalking me and trying to kill us.

And how cliché. Was it a requirement that bad government people had to drive dark SUVs? Maybe it was normal for big scary vehicles to pull up on the curb of a coffee shop in the middle of a college campus.

I lifted my head and smoothed my hair behind my ears. A couple of moms with their giggling toddlers passed in front of me. I smiled at their innocence before an uncontrollable sob escaped my throat.

Calm the hell down, Lexi, I berated myself. Think.

My phone vibrated with a text from Jack. “Plz, let me know ur ok. Going crazy.”

He still cared. He just thought I was a liar. I typed back, “I’m fine.”

Immediately, my phone rang. I declined Jack’s call. What would I tell him? He wasn’t even in a position to help me. He had things he needed to do.

I needed to slow my rapid pulse. Find a place to stay while I read through more of Dad’s journals and waited for Jack to secure Addison’s safety. I also needed to discover more information about Jack’s so-called friend, Jonas.

One of the Arboretum’s gardeners watered the flowerbeds in front of me. I breathed in the scent of the wet soil and the mums blooming in a pot beside the bench. My heart rate was finally slowing down. I was safe for now, but it was still early in the day.

Jack texted, “Check front page of Lexington newspaper. Not good. Re: Marci. Call me. Plz.”

No sign of big, bad SUVs in the parking lot. Everything seemed normal around me. Quiet, even. So I ventured toward the visitors’ center. Mostly workers, walkers, and some mothers with their children strolled through the gardens.

The visitors’ center was quiet. A lady behind the desk looked up when I approached. “Can I help you?”

“Yes, ma’am. Do you happen to have a copy of today’s paper I could peek at for a second?”

She searched the desk, and then bent down to look under the counter. “I just threw it away.” She handed me the folded bundle. “You can have it.”

“Thanks.”

Once I was back outside, I unfolded the sections, looking for the front page. I knew I had found it the minute I saw the picture. The headline read: Local Reporter Found Murdered On UK Campus. I stared at the headline and the picture under it in disbelief. My fingers grazed the outline of the woman’s face.

Tears pooled in my eyes. Oh, Marci.

Somebody had killed her. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered to no one through quiet sobs.

Beside the picture of Marci was another photograph, this one of a man. The caption read, “Dr. Jeremy Porter of the University of Kentucky College of Agriculture named as a person of interest in the case.”

I stared at the picture for a few seconds. “It can’t be,” I mumbled.

The picture was a man similar in age to my father, but who looked just like Jonas.

~~~~~

I called Jack immediately. “What does this mean?”

“I don’t know.”

“Marci was so scared of something the last time we talked. Does Jonas know about this Dr. Jeremy Porter person?”

“I don’t know,” Jack said again, his voice low, but unable to hide his frustration with so many unknowns. “Please just tell me you’re somewhere safe.”