The Forum by Marie Reyes (short books for teens .txt) 📕

"You sure you're okay to drive?" Aadesh asked as he noticed the tremors come back to her hands when she started the car.

"I have to be." She waited for the Honda to pass and pulled out behind it.

Aadesh wondered what he could say to calm her down. She needed to calm down or there could be an accident. "You know it could be a coincidence. Lots of people work here. It's not that far from where you live. It's well within the realms of possibility that—"

"He was the one that found me, on a dating site."

Aadesh took a photo of the license plate through the windshield. "Did he do anything strange on the date?"

"Yes. He seemed nice at first, but then... I couldn't get him to leave. What if he was the guy? We did stuff. I can't even..." Her hands started shaking more, and the car kept veering.

"Stay calm, okay. We don't know if it's him yet. No point worrying for no reason. This guy could just work there. He could even help. No sense in panicking," Aadesh tried to talk her down, but he had that niggling gut feeling that this was him.

"Can you tell us anymore about the date? Anything else he did, or said?"

Kristen turned to follow the Honda, telling herself to remain focused. "I remember his eyes. They were so blue. Like a light blue, but really intense. Almost unnatural, like he was wearing contacts or something."

Aadesh could see Martin and Piper look at each other, and he knew exactly what they were thinking as he was reminded of the masked man approach the camera in the second video. This person worked at the office that two of the victims had called, and the daughter of one of those victims had been invited out by someone from that office on an online dating site. Someone with intense blue eyes, just like the person in the video. Yes, it could have been a coincidence, but in Aadesh's mind, this was undeniable.

Martin and Piper did not speak up, probably for the same reason he hadn't. He could only imagine what Kristen's reaction would be. To think that you had been intimate with someone that did something so heinous to someone you love. They could tell her once she was no longer in control of a moving vehicle.

Chapter

Thirty Two

Kristen pulled up a few cars down from the Honda Civic and they watched as the guy got out and walked up to one of the houses and pressed the doorbell. An older woman answered the door and looked at him with familiarity before letting him in and closing the door behind him.

"Listen Kristen. What you said about this man, your date. The man in the video faced the camera. His eyes were just like you described." Aadesh looked at her, waiting for the penny to drop, waiting for her world to fall apart and the pieces to crash to the floor. There was no crying, screaming, or shouting, just a sad, empty look of resignation.

"What do we do then?"

"We need to find out who this guy is. I wonder how long he'll be in there for? I saw him put his work pass on the dashboard before he got out. It might have is name on it."

"What if he comes out?"

"I'll only be quick. I can do it," Martin offered. "I'm dressed smart. If anyone comes out, I can just pretend I'm a salesman or something. It'll only take a second to glance through the car window."

"What if he recognizes you?"

"Seriously, don't worry. I'll just be a second." He opened the door before anyone could talk him out of it. He walked as fast as possible to get it over with. As he neared the house, he could see the curtains were only opened a crack, and he could easily go unnoticed. As he got closer to the car, he started crouching a little, peering in through the window.

The pass was there, card side up with those blue eyes looking up at him. They gave him the creeps and he couldn't shake that feeling of being watched. The name on the badge was small, and he brought his face right up against the glass to avoid the glare. Connor Miller. Such an innocuous sounding name, he thought as he committed it to memory.

The honk of a horn made him flinch, and he looked back at Kristen's car. They were waving at him.

"Can I help you?" A female voice came from his left and he froze. Every muscle in his body clenched and his throat felt like it was closing up.

"Who are you?" was the only thing he could think to say.

"I live here. Who the hell are you?" The girl looked at him and despite her firm voice, there was fear in her eyes.

"This guy clipped my car when we were driving, but he didn't stop. I just wanted to get his plate number, find out who he was so I could make a claim against him." It was the first thing that came to mind, and he wasn't sure she was buying it.

"Why were you looking in through the window, huh? All you should need is the license plate number. Were you trying to steal my stepbrother’s car?" She waited for a response, but Martin couldn't get any words out. "Well? Answer me or I'm calling the cops."

For some reason, the pressure got to him. He wasn't some criminal. Was he really going to ruin their cover, and to let this guy know that they were onto him? He tried not to, but the words slipped out of his mouth like a glass sliding through his fingers and the liquid within pouring all over the floor. There was no putting the