I THINK NOT…
LUKE
I pulled into Josh’s driveway, killing the engine and stepping out into the crisp evening air. Walking around to the passenger side, I opened the door for Sarah. She fumbled with her crutches, her expression expectant as she looked up at me.
“You’d better go around the back,” I said, my tone flat. “No stairs that way. I think Josh already fixed the shelf.”
Sarah nodded, wobbling awkwardly on the crutches as she maneuvered herself toward the backyard. I watched for a second to make sure she wouldn’t topple over, then headed. through the front door.
Inside, Josh was waiting for me in the living room, his arms crossed and his face grim.
“Everything okay with Sarah?” he asked, though the tension in his voice said he wasn’t really interested in small talk.
“Hairline fracture,” I said, dropping my keys onto the counter. “She’s got a cast and crutches for seven weeks. Can’t work. Won’t be moving out anytime soon.” I let out a sharp breath, rubbing the back of my neck.
Josh’s expression darkened further. “We need to talk.”
The way he said it made my stomach sink. I followed him into the kitchen, leaning against the counter as he grabbed a beer from the fridge and popped it open.
“That shelf in the pool house?” he started, taking a long swig. “I fixed it.”
“And?” I asked, already feeling the knot forming in my gut.
“It was yanked out of the wall,” Josh said, his voice low but laced with disbelief. “Bolted in there, Luke. Nothing heavy was on it, nothing that could’ve ripped it out. It didn’t just fall.”
I frowned, my hands tightening on the edge of the counter. “What are you saying?”
Josh exhaled sharply, shaking his head. “I’m saying someone tore it out. Like on purpose.”
I stared at him, trying to wrap my head around it. “That doesn’t make sense. Why the hell would someone-”
“Wait, there’s more,” Josh interrupted, setting the beer down with a dull thud. “The plumber sent me the report about what went wrong. Said pipes were loose or were loosened-
deliberately. That’s what caused the flooding and short–circuited. the electricity.”
“What the fuck?” I muttered, running a hand through my hair.
“Yeah,” Josh said, his voice growing harder. “Someone had been messing around in there. I asked Laura, and she said she didn’t do it.”
I let out a slow, disbelieving breath, the pieces starting to fit together in a way that made my skin crawl.
“You think Sarah’s behind this?” I asked, my voice sharp with incredulity.
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Josh shrugged, his expression a mix of frustration and suspicion. “I don’t know, man, but I think Sarah’s playing some kind of game here. And we need to get her out.”
I rubbed my temples, trying to ease the pounding headache forming. “She has a fucking fracture, Josh. She’s not going anywhere anytime soon.”
Josh hesitated, his jaw working like he was debating whether or not to say something. Finally, he leaned forward, lowering his voice.
“There’s one more thing,” he said. “I found a gun in the pool house.”
That got my full attention. My head snapped up, and I locked eyes with him. “What?”
“Yeah,” he said, his tone dead serious. “Tucked behind some boxes in the corner. Loaded.”
I felt like the ground had just shifted beneath me. My mind raced, running through every possible explanation, but none of them made sense.
“Are you sure it’s hers?” I asked.
Josh gave me a look that said, Who else’s would it be?
“I don’t know, man,” he said, his voice quieter now. “But all this stuff? The shelf, the pipes, now the gun? It’s not random. Something’s off.”
I straightened, pacing a few steps before turning back to him. “If she’s doing this on purpose, why? What the hell does she
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want? I mean, how well do we really know her? She could have been like this before the whole plane crash, and we wouldn’t know.”
Josh shook his head, his hands resting on his hips. “That’s the million–dollar question, isn’t it? But I’m telling you, we need to watch her. She’s dangerous.”
I exhaled sharply, feeling the weight of the situation pressing down on me. My first instinct was to defend Sarah–after all, she’d just been injured, and she’d been nothing but sweet since she showed up. But Josh’s points were hard to ignore, and the gun? That was a whole new level of alarming.
