Romeo continued, “We saw the window had been smashed when we got home.You locked Mercutio in the kitchen so he wouldn’t cut himself on the glass while I got the dustpan and brush to sweep up the mess.That’s when you found the rock.”
Chad looked down at it on his lap.
“I didn’t want you to read the message, but I couldn’t stop you.When your back was turned, I snatched it, balled it up and put it in my pocket, but I couldn’t find the rock,” he snorted.“You must’ve taken it.”
“Then what happened?”
“You got a call from Josh and made plans to go see him.You left.”Romeo lowered his gaze.“You didn’t come home.Josh called me to say you were at the hospital.”
“We didn’t ...fight?Row?”
Romeo frowned.“No.”
“It must’ve just all got to me,” Chad whispered.“And I don’t blame myself.It makes perfect sense, doesn’t it?”he glanced at Romeo like he understood the thoughts he shared.“This is too much for anyone.”
“Tate, Lucinda, Vincent, I know they were on your mind, and you were sick too.”
“Sick?”
Romeo bit his lip.He thought back to the box of capsules he’d shoved in the kitchen drawer.
Chad’s secret sleeping pills.
“You were taking medicine to help you sleep.They had side effects.You’d been reading horrible articles about yourself before you...”Romeo blinked.“Wait...”his head snapped up.“What happened?Why were you at the fishing lake?”
“Fishing lake?”
“You were parked close by.Josh said bystanders pulled you from the water.What happened?”Romeo got to his feet.He ran his hand through his hair.“Did you decide to go for a walk?Did you fall ...or did someone push you?”he closed his eyes and his head filled with his most disturbing nightmare.“Did they surround you?Did they drag you into the water and try to drown you?”
Chad didn’t answer.
Romeo opened his eyes.
He’d been so wrapped up in Chad losing his memory he’d stopped trying to solve the mystery of what had happened that afternoon, what had taken Chad’s memory from him in the first place.
“I will kill them all,” Romeo’s eyes burned.“If that’s what happened I’ll—”
“I wasn’t at a fishing lake.”
“I found your car.”
Chad looked at him blankly.
“You’d parked it close by to The Henley.”
“The what?”
“The fishing lake!”
Chad shook his head.“I don’t remember what happened that day, but I didn’t walk around any lake.I walked along the A14.I walked about two miles.”
Romeo frowned.“I don’t understand.”
“I was looking for the right spot.”
“The right spot for what?”
“To jump from.”
