Marcus Reid's Arc

Chapter 2 of 3

Marcus ran back up to the room. Empty. The bed was made. Simone's phone sat dark on the nightstand. He grabbed it and swore. She'd gone to the beach without it. Claire's words looped in his head. People in the way don't last. He took the stairs down and pushed out the back doors into the sun. The beach was wide and loud. Families crowded the water. He scanned every dark head, every white dress, and found none that were hers. He called her name. The waves swallowed it. Each minute he searched, she was out there alone, and Claire could be anywhere. He moved fast along the sand. Past a rental stand, two jet skis sat parked on a trailer, red and blue, hulls still wet. A worker rinsed them with a hose. Marcus grabbed his arm. "A woman in a white sundress. Black woman. Did she come by?" The worker pointed down the shore. "Walked that way. Maybe ten minutes." Marcus ran. The crowd thinned. The buildings stopped. At the far end stood an old hut, boards gray and split, roof sagging. His stomach dropped. Simone stood beside it, shading her eyes, calm, like she'd found something worth looking at. She was fine. She was alive. Then he saw the second figure in the hut's doorway. Claire. Gray hoodie, blond hair flat in the wind. She watched Simone the way a cat watches a bird. One hand stayed in her pocket. "Simone," Marcus said. "Come here. Now." Simone turned. "I was looking at the hut. Someone's been sleeping in there." She saw his face and stopped. "What?" "That's her," Marcus said. He stepped between them. "That's the one leaving the notes." Claire didn't move. "I told you," she said. "She's in the way." "You're done," Marcus said. His voice shook, then steadied. "I called the front desk before I came down. I gave them your name. I gave them the camera and the hoodie with my name on it. They called the police. They have your face from the hotel cameras." It was true. He'd done it on the stairs, phone pressed to his ear, before he knew Simone was gone. He'd almost forgotten in the panic. Claire's eyes flicked past him, up the beach. Two uniformed figures came toward them, moving quick across the sand. For the first time, her calm cracked. She stepped back into the hut's shadow. "You can't watch me from a cell," Marcus said. Claire looked at Simone one last time. Then she ran. She cut behind the hut and up the dunes. The officers broke into a sprint after her. Marcus pulled Simone against him and didn't let go. "You're squeezing too hard," Simone said. But she held on. They caught Claire at the top of the rise. Marcus watched them cuff her. The fear didn't leave all at once. But Simone was safe, and now the police had a name. The hunt was over. The questions were just starting.