Chapter 84 - DREAM

Fiona's World is scarcely populated once the clock hits seven. It's just like Aunty said, the crowd is better in the mornings, gets fewer in the afternoons and then less in the evenings. Currently, we have about five people in the bakery and they've all been served.

''Why don't you take a break? I don't think anyone would come in anytime soon.'' Aunty Fiona suggests. I nod and say my thanks then make my way to the table where Theo is seated making a phone call. I slip into the leather seat opposite him and raise a brow because he's stress talking on the phone.

I guess that's partially my fault because he has to babysit me till nine.

''…I'll call you later,'' he responds gruffly. ''Thanks for the update.''

Not knowing what to say, I start. ''Do you want a cookie? I could get one if you like.''

''No, thank you.''

His lips meet the edge of his cup of lemonade before putting it down with a sigh. ''That was Officer Louis.''

Oh.

''What did he say?''

''That you were right. The two letters aren't a match.''

''I was actually right?'' I'm a little surprised. There was always this possibility that I could be wrong and I was reading into things a little too deeply but now that I'm right, I can't help but feel relief and dread.

Relief that I'm right. Dread that my worse fears may actually come to reality.

''You were,'' he affirms. ''We got it analysed by forensics and even had two handwriting experts examine the two letters. They were a twenty percent match.''

Which means there's an eighty percent chance that someone is trying to fuck with us.

Theo runs his fingers through his hair. ''Someone is trying to throw this investigation off course. They know we're looking and they're trying to hide something.'' I swallow a lump in my throat. ''You may not like what I'm about to say but if someone wrote this letter pretending to be Bob, then there's a very high possibility that whoever it is kidnapped Bob or is holding him hostage somewhere. That someone may have also been the one who caused the shooting at Lakedale.''

''And we can't track them? There's no trace of DNA or anything?''

''We can't necessarily get the DNA of a person off a letter. If we had the pen the culprit used, a hair sample, saliva, blood sample, it'll be easy to run it in the database but we sadly don't have that.'' His voice is full of regret. ''This person, whoever it is, is one step ahead of us.''

''Hey, don't be like that.'' He raises my downcast chin up with his forefinger. I'm forced to meet his hazels and he has what seems to be a reassuring smile on his face. ''We will catch this person or persons. Bridgewood is a small town and whoever is playing these mind games still lives here.''

''But what if Bob is dead?'' Sometimes, I blame myself for what happened that night at Lakedale. If he hadn't offered to drive me home, this shit-show wouldn't have happened. If we hadn't gotten into an argument in the car, maybe we would have been aware of who was following us.

''At this point, I don't even know. I can't give you false hope and tell you he's alive because hostage situations-if this is a hostage situation- never end well.''

That's the scary part.

''Also-''

''Hold that thought,'' I say and stand up when I see a couple enter the bakery. They take a seat at the far right side, next to the ice-cream machine and I make my way to them.

''Hi, I'm Melody and-'' No freaking way. ''Fabio? Suri?''

I haven't seen any of my workmates from the diner since that fateful night. The only people I was really close to where Fabio and Kathy. Kathy and I still text a lot and we follow each other on social media.

Fabio and I, not so much.

''Melody?''

''In the flesh.''

When he first entered the bakery, I couldn't recognize him and now I see why. He's sporting a beard, a full one that almost swallows his entire chin. He also looks taller than I remember or maybe it's just me. He has on a black wool sweater and faded blue jeans while Suri has on an emerald green oversized sweater and grey skinny jeans.

''Shit, it's been so long,'' he says and moves in for a hug. ''I didn't know you worked here. How are you?''

''I'm really good.'' I turn my attention to Suri and give her a hug, noticing that there is no more baby bump. ''Suri, I missed you so much.''

''Missed you too.'' she responds in a small voice and compliments it with a smile. Suri isn't that much of a talker. The only time she talks a lot is if she's comfortable with you. ''I gave birth last month.''

''I can tell.'' Actually, if you weren't aware she was pregnant, you wouldn't believe that she just gave birth. Her post-baby body snap back game is top notch because where is the baby weight? Far as I'm concerned, she looks the same from what I remember. ''Boy or girl?''

''A girl,'' Fabio responds, practically squealing. ''I'm a girl dad now and her name is Angel.''

I like the name.

''That is so cute,'' I coo. ''I'd love to meet her. I'm sorry I haven't been over in a while,'' I apologize. ''After the diner closed down, I've been swarmed with school, extracuriculars and tests. You know how it is.''

He nods in understanding. ''Hope you're getting those grades up?''

''It has never been down,'' I gloat.

''Atta girl.''

I hand them the menu so they can order. ''After the diner closed down, I didn't hear a peep from anyone,'' Fabio starts. ''I didn't even understand what was going on. One minute, I had a job, the next minute I didn't. Then I see Bob's face all over T.V and they say the police are out l looking for him.''

''Yea.''

''The police even came over to question me about him.''

I look over at Theo's direction but he has his hands pressed on his keypad. ''They did?''

''Yup,'' he confirms. ''They asked me about my whereabouts on September 7 and asked what I knew about our boss-well ex-boss,'' he corrects. ''I work in construction now.''

''Go on.''

''Weren't you the last person to leave the diner that day?'' he questions, looking at me curiously.

''Bob was the last person to leave,'' I lie smoothly. No one at the diner knew about our relationship and I'd still like to keep it that way. With everything that went down, it's best if everything is still shrouded in secrecy. ''After you and Kathy left, I went home shortly after. I know as much as the rest of Bridgewood. I heard there was a shooting and then there was a warrant out for his arrest. It's so crazy.''

''Right,'' he says and hands me the menu. ''We'll have five slices of pound cake and a chocolate chip cookie.''

I put down the order on my notepad. ''Did the police question you too?''

They did more than question me.

I nod. ''They did.'' If they questioned Fabio, then that means they probably questioned every single employee at the diner. ''God knows what's going on.''

''I can only hope that Bob is safe and not into some shady shit because why would the police have a warrant out for his arrest?'' Fabio wonders.

I shrug lightly. ''I guess we'll never know.''

....

Deciding to put my gnawing fear behind me, at least I'm going to try to put my gnawing fear behind me, I grab my laptop from the desk drawer and get started on those college applications. It's been a long time coming but I've finally made my decision: I'm applying to three schools, two out-of-state and one in-state.

Preferably, I'd love to put a million miles between me and Bridgewood, Oklahoma because I want a fresh start. Sure I'd miss my mum and Sophie but they'll live for the next four years without me. I have my own life to live.

Grabbing my glasses which is squished in between my bed covers and my books, I perch it on my face and start applying. Yesterday, as scheduled, I had a talk with Mrs Finley and we chose these three schools together: Dolemite University, Dearena Joy State University and Harbourdale University. They were the ones that had the most scholarship opportunities. 

Dolemite is in New York, Dearena Joy State is in Texas and Harbourdale is in Oklahoma, but not in Bridgewood. It's about three hours away, four if you calculate traffic and it's in this town called Plainsville.

Much to her disappointment, and probably to Bob's disappointment if he were here, I didn't pick an Ivy League school. 

I don't exactly see what the big deal is in attending an Ivy League and quite frankly, I don't care. Far as I'm concerned, people only attend these schools for bragging rights.

''Clear your head and concentrate,'' I whisper to myself as my fingers open the school's website. I login with my school email and password and start the process. I don't know how it's done in other schools, but at Adelaide, they to an extent handle your applications for you. All you need to do is login to the site, click on Applications, fill in the required spaces, write an essay if there's a need to hit submit and that's it.

''Dolemite University...''