The Year of Lies: The Complete Series by Jessica Sorensen

Author:Jessica Sorensen [Sorensen , Jessica]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Borrowed Hearts Publishing LLC
Published: 2022-10-14T18:30:00+00:00

32

ISABELLA

By the time we make it to Mapleview, it’s almost ten o’clock. Indigo tells me I should probably text Grandma Stephy so she doesn’t freak out when she gets home and we aren’t there. I send her a text, but she doesn’t reply.

“She’s probably still on the plane,” Indigo says, ashing her cigarette out the window. “When was her flight supposed to land?”

“I’m not sure. She said she’d be home by eleven, though.”

“I hope her flight doesn’t get delayed. She’ll come home all cranky if it does.” She slows down the car as the speed limit drops. “What road was this gas station on?”

I open the notepad app and tell her the address. “I think it’s on the east side of town.”

She flicks her cigarette out the window and focuses on the road. “This town is dead. Not a single store is open, and it’s only ten o’clock on a Saturday night.”

“Mapleview’s like that,” I tell her. “It’s lower key than Sunnyvale.”

She frowns at the stores bordering the street. All of them are closed up, the only lights coming from the lampposts. “It looks like a ghost town.”

“It kind of is.” I type the address into a map app so we can get directions. “I mean, people live here and everything, but it’s the kind of place people live when they’ve done something shady or do stuff that’s shady and don’t want to be found.”

“Then why’s Kai here?”

“He probably was just visiting someone or something.” But I know that’s not true. He mentioned something about Big Doug getting him into this mess. I just wish I knew what kind of mess he was in. “Make a right off here.” I point at a street sign.

Indigo does what I say and turns down the side road. The longer we drive, the sketchier the area gets: fewer lampposts line the streets; the stores turn into boarded up warehouses; and people have gathered in parking lots and street corners, doing God knows what. By the time I spot the gas station, I’m ready to grab Kai and say “peace out” to the town.

“There’s his car.” I point at it while unbuckling my seatbelt.

She pulls into the parking lot and parks next to Kai’s car. That’s when I notice the passenger side window is shattered, the hood is dented, and the headlights look cracked.

Indigo’s eyes practically bulge out of her head as she takes in the condition of Kai’s car. “Did he get in a wreck?”

“I have no idea.” Panic sets in. What if he’s hurt?

I jump out of the car and don’t stop, even when Indigo shouts at me to wait a minute. By the time I fling the door open and stumble inside the gas station, I’m a nervous wreck, all wild-eyed and trying to catch my breath.

My gaze skims the gas station. I spot Kai sitting behind the counter at a table, playing poker with an older man who’s wearing a button-down shirt with the gas station logo on it.

“I think you might be cheating,” Kai says to the man, glancing down at the cards he’s holding.

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