“What’s wrong?” Gabriel mumbles, and I hesitate, feeling a bit guilty over having woken him.
“Sorry. Go back to sleep,” I say as I pull the covers up his shoulder a bit more.
“Can’t sleep?” he asks.
“No, it’s okay,” I murmur. “Sleep.”
“What are you going to do?”
“Go back to sleep.”
“Okay,” he says, patting my bare chest for some reason before dozing off with his hand on me. I try to be careful not to bump it while I try to fall back to sleep, but I can’t. Now all I can think about is whether or not there’s an employee exit that no one uses, so no one brought it up.
Is that where Nadine exited the zoo?
I search where the bus stop is and find that it’s near the botanical garden.
But if she was involved in his death… why disappear? Did she help the killer, but then the killer became irrational and they killed her too?
I play the recording of Zach on the ladder, stopping only to speak to Nadine.
Nah. Those eyes. Those eyes… that fixation.
It’s like a dog watching a rabbit.
A lion watching a gazelle.
He’s starving.
And he’s found something to feast on.
I’ll check in the morning. Or shoot a text to someone who’s working third shift and send them out.
But what if they miss something? What if they mess up something? Really, it’s best if I just zip over there and quickly check myself. It’ll be such a quick check.
Slowly, I slide Gabriel’s hand off my chest, and it’s like a wake-up lever.
“Where are you going?” he mutters.
“I’m just going to check something real fast. Please go back to sleep.”
He pops up, wide awake as his eyes try to find me in the dark. “Liam… you told me you’d tell me before you did… those things.”
Those things?
Oh? Does he think I’m off to kill some unlucky person? “Not that, hon. I’m not. I have an idea where Zach’s car might be, and it’s just… bothering me. I have to look.”
“Send the information to someone who is working.”
“What if they do it wrong? What if they fuck up the scene?”
“Don’t be so obsessive. Others can do good jobs too,” he assures me, but he must get a look at my face in the dim light of the room because he sighs.
“Alright,” he says before throwing back the covers.
“What are you doing? I’m just driving; I’ll go alone.”
“I’m not letting you go alone,” Gabriel insists as he gets up and starts getting dressed. “If it was anyone else, I’d have sent them off. But if you’re this certain about it, I’m sure we’ll find something.”
