Something I Keep Upstairs by J.D. Barker

Author:J.D. Barker [Barker, J.D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hampton Creek Press / Simon & Schuster
Published: 2025-05-12T16:00:00+00:00

15

She was standing behind Mr. Lowell, the man who ran our local post office. Who, at six-four and with the girth to support the height, towered over her. Our eyes only met for a brief second before she vanished behind him again, but I knew she saw me.

I looked at Mundie, who had his back to me, and at the several other officers standing around, none of whom seemed to know I was even there. Whaley was still down at the water, and I didn’t expect he’d be back up anytime soon.

Before I could change my mind, I ducked under the tape, rounded the people from the outer edge of the parking lot, and came up behind her. When I tapped her on the shoulder, she nearly jumped out of her shoes.

Her eyes were filled with panic. “Billy, what’s going on down there?”

I grabbed her arm, maybe a little harder than I should have. “We need to talk. Now.”

“You’re hurting me.” She tried to shrug me off. “Let go or I’ll scream.”

“Kira, I—”

She glared at my hand. “Let go.”

When I did, her eyes didn’t leave mine, and I felt like I was staring at a stranger. Or maybe she was in shock. When she spoke again, her voice was cold, distant. She turned from me and looked out past the fort, toward the water. “Not here.”

“I can’t leave. I told Whaley—”

She turned and started toward the street. “Stay if you want—I’m going.”

I almost grabbed her arm again, but something told me if I did that, I wouldn’t get another word out of her. She’d walk off and I’d be alone in all this, and I couldn’t be alone, not now.

With one last look at Deputy Mundie and the others, I followed her down the street to a red Toyota parked on the edge of Wild Rose Lane. “Why do you have Matty’s car?”

She pulled the keys from the pocket of her jeans and opened the driver-side door. “Are you coming or not?”

When I didn’t move, she frowned and shifted her weight to her left leg.

“I have Matty’s car because I was with him and Chloe at the historical society when I got your text. He parked behind mine so it was easier to just take his.”

“Text? I didn’t text you?”

She frowned at me like I was some kind of crazy person, then showed me her phone. There it was, right on top:

Meet me at Jaffrey Point 3:45 PM 5/28/2021!

“Did you drop your phone or something? The time stamp is all screwy.” She pointed at the screen. “This says you sent it like eleven years from now.”

I took out my phone and scrolled through the messages. I didn’t have anything going out to her since that morning. I’d sent her one right before we left for the deposition at the court house. Nothing after that. I held my phone next to her and stared at the two screens, as if expecting one or both to change. I was still staring at them when I noticed the message that had come in before mine on Kira’s phone.

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