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“Like gasoline. I remember it was so strong it was almost painful to breathe in. And antiseptic. Like a cleaner, but intensely pungent,” she explained.

I took mental notes on the descriptors. It was the first real clue we had as to who this man was. “Brooks is a mechanic,” I mumbled. He didn’t reek of gasoline when I saw him, but the entire shop did.

“Silas’s brother?” she clarified, and I nodded.

“It couldn’t be him,” she countered. “Could it?”

I shrugged. “You said he was a suspect.”

She swallowed hard, and her fingers passed over his name, not touching the paper, but just ghosting over the pen marks. I could see her unwillingness to believe it was him in her eyes, but she was hesitant to be definitive. “He was just a baby when my parents were killed.”

“Could it have started with someone else?” I wondered aloud. “Maybe that’s why Silas was kept alive.”

“But why take me? It just doesn’t make any sense,” she muttered and closed the notebook.

“I don’t know. I’m just guessing here,” I explained and settled into the bed, my head now resting on the pillow next to her hip. I was close enough that I could smell the cherry and vanilla from her body wash.

“So it’s either Peter Baker, despite both Darren and me not believing so, or it’s Brooks and his mysterious unnamed accomplice?”

“Baby, we can’t solve this in a night,” I explained and threw an arm over her lap to pull her closer to me.

“You’re a pain, Lex,” she mused, but I could hear the teasing in her voice.

“You’re a pain,” I teased back, smirking up at her. She let out a surprised laugh, playfully whacking at me, which just made me smile wider. “You keep reading through that and take whatever notes you want for when you and Silas meet up. I’m just gonna go to sleep right…” I trailed off, lifting up slightly and shuffling closer to her before dropping my head into her lap and wrapping my arms around her. “…here.”

I could practically feel her roll her eyes, but I also knew she was smiling, and that made it all worth it. I did eventually doze off on her lap as she penciled in notes, using my head as a table. I didn’t mind. It was these quiet moments, where the rest of the world was away from us and I could simply exist with her, that I wanted to live in forever.

Goldie

It was weird being back in the office. This place had been my entire world, yet it felt so foreign. The same walls, the same scratch on the floor from when I helped Jackie move the conference table. There was still a stain on the couch that had existed as long as I could remember, and the smell of vanilla wafted through the space as it always had. Everything here was familiar, but familiar to who I had been—not who I was today.

Silas was meeting me here so we could start our joint project. It was time we told his stories and the stories of all the other victims. It was the least he and I could do as the only survivors. The office was empty today, and I had a feeling that was Lexington’s doing. Or Jackie’s. I wasn’t even sure it was for me, but for Silas instead. He still wasn’t acclimated to the world. He may never be. Today it would be myself, Lexington, and Silas, with Jackie close by.

I had a feeling Fai and Oliver would pop in eventually; it was hard to keep us all apart, and they wanted to help where they could, too.

“You good?” Lexington asked at my side, his voice soft.

I shook away my thoughts and looked up at him. We still hadn’t figured out what we were to each other, but I knew whatever we had was important. I nodded. “Just finding my footing.”

I wandered from the entry of the office, flicking on the lights as I passed the switches and making my way toward my closed office door. I pushed it open, the hinges creaking as it swung wide. The room felt untouched, everything where I had left it. It was raining hard today, the drops hitting the window in rapid succession as gloomy light filled the room.

“Has no one been in here since?” I asked Lexington.

He swallowed hard and nodded. “Yeah. Well… mostly. A few detectives looked around when you first went missing, and we had cleaners come in once a week as usual since then to keep it, well… together. But other than that, no.”

I looked around the room, seeing scattered notes on my desk, the files for the Watcher sitting on my couch haphazardly. My usual mug even sat on the coffee table, untouched and waiting. Waiting for me, I guess.

A throat cleared behind me, making me whip around toward the door. I was immediately moved behind Lexington as he did his best to shield me from whoever had just entered. I couldn’t help but giggle at his reaction, patting his arm as I stepped around him. “You good?”

He looked at me with shocked eyes and nodded. “Yeah, sorry. Panicked, I guess.”

I looked to the door, where Jackie stood behind Silas, a smile on her face as she watched the two of us. Silas looked completely out of his comfort zone, a zip-up hoodie hanging on his shoulders, his hair a mop on his head, and a backpack slung over his shoulder.

In that moment, I was overwhelmed with gratitude that Jackie had taken the kid under her wing while he figured this world out—buying him clothes and books, putting him in therapy, and moving him into her house all because he needed the support.

Silas rocked back on his heels and lifted his hand in a small wave.

Lexington, feeling Silas’s tension, waved back, a bright smile painting his features. The same smile that for so long had made me want to whack him brought butterflies to my stomach. “Silas, right? I’m Lex.”