Refractive Index

            “Look mama, it’s a whale,” the little girl pointed out over the ocean. It was a cold day but warmer than most in the town of Whittier Alaska.

            “Step away from the water Lily, if you get your shoes wet, you’ll catch a cold,” her mother, Claudia said.

            “Nuh uh teacher said that wasn’t true,” Lily said and stuck her tongue out at her mother.

            “Well then your boots will shrink and we will have to cut them off of you,” Claudia said.

            Lily laughed and ran around in circles inching closer to the water, then she suddenly stopped, “Mommy, look! Rainbows in the water.”

            Somewhere in the distance a loud crashing sound bellowed out into the crisp air, an explosion of some kind. A piece of metal landed right at Lily’s feet burying itself into the dirt at least a foot deep. Lily and Claudia screamed and that’s when the sirens started blaring.  

One Week Later

            A tunnel? Of all the things Wren disliked the most, tunnels were in the top three. And this one was one way.  Traveling was up there too, and she had been doing that for hours, all the way from Galicia, Spain. She had her suitcase, her trench coat, and her fedora. And a number from a man who was ‘just a friend’ just in case. That’s what he had said but in case of what she didn’t know. She wasn’t sure what kind of scenario would make her call a firefighter/bartender who was half the world away. Reina had sent her packing all the way to Whittier, Alaska. The concept of the place was fascinating. But the further into isolation Wren got, the more claustrophobic she felt. Reina’s daughter Noa was a scientist sent on location with a small team of peers to examine the effects of an oil spill on the ocean water. There had been an explosion in the lab, and the only possible witness was traumatized into not speaking. At all. It was odd considering the work they were doing probably didn’t involve that many volatile chemicals. They were just testing the waters.

            Wren wasn’t sure she could help. Sure, she knew some trivia about science but compared to professional scientists, she knew next to nothing. And despite already having worn some of the girl’s clothing, she had never met Noa. She was doing this as a favor for Reina, the wonderful park ranger who had called for her help to solve wildfires in Galicia. So, here she sat riding a passenger train about to go through a dark tunnel two and half miles long to get to a town of only around three hundred. Three hundred people who pretty much all lived in one building. The tunnel or a boat was the only way to get into the town.  Isolated was an understatement. And the tunnel was just ahead, the road for cars converged with the train tracks. The only way in or out on land. Two and a half miles with 4,137 feet of mountain bearing down overtop of them. Wren read the brochure about the train over and over. Why did she do this to herself? She always thought it would help to know every detail. And every time she learned the same lesson. Thunder roared over the mountain as black clouds swirled around it, choking the top of it. Rain pelted the big window by her seat, and above her. The windows went all the way to the top of the train so people could watch the scenery. How nice for people. No one sat beside her. She gripped her trench coat tighter around her chest. Trying for some sort of cocoon of comfort.

            “You alright miss?” a train stewardess asked as she passed out final drinks.

            “Nope,” Wren said and looked the woman in the eye, asking, ‘what can you do about it? Honestly?’

            The woman blinked rapidly, “Umm, is this your first time through the tunnel?”

            “Yep,” Wren said, talking made it worse, take the hint lady.

            She sat down in the empty seat next to Wren who sighed hard, she put her hand on Wren’s shoulder, “I go through that thing all the time, nothing bad has happened once.”

            “Bad things don’t happen… until they do,” Wren said. Wren could see the front of the train going into the tunnel. It was seconds until they were in the darkness. They would all be buried alive in a giant moving coffin, that’s what this was right now. She started to feel her chest tighten and she gasped for air.

            “Just a few minutes and we’ll be on the other side,” the woman said brightly. She took Wren’s hand and held it. Wren gripped hers like a woman in labor. She heard the woman groan in pain, but she didn’t stop smiling.

            “Then I’ll have to do it again when I leave,” Wren said.

            “Well, if you leave by train, I’ll probably be here…” the woman kept talking but they were in the darkness of the tunnel now and Wren heard her voice as a distant mumbling. Past the ringing in her ears. She closed her eyes to make the darkness seem like a choice. She felt the woman’s other hand on the back of hers, rubbing it slowly, patiently. She focused on that feeling and nothing else and her heart slowed.

            “I’m asleep,” she whispered out loud.

            “Yes, you’re just dreaming and as soon as I say to wake up, you can open your eyes and see that it was all a bad dream,” a soothing voice said, a voice that had dealt with a million or so screaming brats, angry parents, grouchy elderly people and who knows what else. The patience of a saint or maybe an angel. Wren gripped the arm of her seat with the other hand and focused on the other hand being petted. The air was even cooler in the damp tunnel; she could feel it. The sound was nearly unbearable, the loudness of the train echoing off the suffocating walls that swallowed the train. Whittier was a monster and this was its throat.

            “Okay, the front is out, we’re almost out,” the voice of an angel said. A few moments later she pulled her hand from Wren’s grip like she couldn’t take another second. “Okay, you can wake up,” she said, like this was still the best day of her life even with a broken hand.

            Wren opened her eyes, almost expecting to be in a tropical paradise like she’d just left behind but no, just rain. Well, they were out of the tunnel at least. Trains, rain, pain, all of them were nothing compared to the torture she’d just experienced.

            She looked over at the woman, “You are an angel, truly, what is your name?”

            The woman giggled and pointed to her name tag and said, “Ironic huh? My name is Agelu, it means angel in Samoan.”

            Wren chuckled even though she could still barely breath, “Well I am a detective, but I didn’t know I was that good.”

            “Oh?” the woman asked.

            “Amateur detective, I’m really an author. But you know… bad things keep happening,” Wren said.

            The woman tilted her head, “And you fix them?”

            “I read them, analyze them, and find the truth in the story that someone is trying to force reality to tell,” Wren said, “I guess that’s the writer in me actually.”

            The woman smiled, “Well, I hope you find your story here, welcome to Whittier.”

            “Thanks,” Wren said, relief like this brought out a kinder, gentler side of her that didn’t surface often. She was glad it was getting used on someone who truly deserved it.

            The train station was nothing more than a tarp attached to metal poles sitting on some cement blocks. People huddled under the tarp to stay dry but most of them ran across the road immediately. This was just a place to board the cruise that was waiting at the dock for most of them. Wren had her one bag and de-boarded just in time to see a young girl with curly hair holding a sign with her name on it. It said ‘Wren Adlern’. Well, that was a good start. The girl looked just like Reina in the face but younger, though her hair was much longer. She wasn’t dressed too much like a scientist, though it was hard to tell from her puffy coat. It was very cold for June.

            “I’m Wren… it’s Alden,” Wren said holding out her hand.

            “Sorry, mom told me your name over the phone, she doesn’t like to text much,” Noa said.

            “It’s fine,” Wren said pulling her trench coat tighter around her against the wind and rain that the tarp was doing nothing to keep away from them. “Looks like I’m going to need a bigger coat,” she said chuckling a little at her own joke.

            Noa just tilted her head in confusion.

            “Instead of boat, you know, like the movie?” Wren said.

“Oh!” Noa said, “it’s from a movie?”

“Never mind,” Wren muttered. She knew she wasn’t that much older than Noa, but she let it go.

“It won’t be that bad, our boss rented us a car, and the heater works at least fifty percent of the time, follow me,” Noa said.

“Welcome to Whittier,” Wren muttered to herself as Noa walked away. She had grown up in Washington and spent the last year in Ireland but it’s not like she loved being this cold in June. She might even have preferred being here in winter. At least the snow would make her feel like she was in a snow globe. The sky was grey, the buildings were grey, even the land looked grey somehow. She looked back at the mountain they’d just come through as they walked to the giant parking lot behind the train ‘station’. Then she looked around the small town, pretty sure she could see just about all of it from here. There were a few words that came to mind, they were: oppressive, tight, confined.

“Breathe,” she whispered to herself. Noa led her to a small rusty car, it was grey like everything else.

“Spared a lot of expense,” Noa laughed motioning to the car. “Your ride ma’am.”

Wren rolled her eyes, “Who is this boss?”

Noa rolled her eyes, “No one special, trust me.” They got in the car, and it took about ten tries to get it started. It was loud and cold. Noa didn’t turn the heater on because it was summer, supposedly.

“The tour,” Noa said as she drove down one of the two or three roads in the entire town, “to our left you will see charters, charters and more charters, boat and canoe rental, ski rental, that’s about all this place is. It’s all about the water. Well mostly it’s just the place to board cruises. Most of the people you see around town, if they aren’t behind a counter, they are cruisers, passengers or crew.”

Wren just nodded, most coastal cities were ninety percent boat. Noa pointed to a tan, pink, and teal building, it stood out in the grey landscape like a smashed thumb.  

“That’s Begich, the building most year rounders live in, there’s a tunnel underground going to the school behind it. There’s another tunnel that’s closed off to the Buckner building way over there, you see it?” Noa asked.

            “Yeah. They’re pretty far apart,” Wren said.

            “The tunnel has got to be a mile long, can you imagine?” Noa shook her head.

            Wren shuddered, “I would rather not.” She could imagine all sorts of nefarious things people could do with that.

            “That’s the smaller inn, we were staying there until the explosion, but boss moved us up to a better one out of guilt,” Noa said pointing to another building, “this one has a grocery store, restaurant and laundromat.”

            “Where is the one he moved you to?” Wren asked.

            “At the top of those towers,” Noa pointed at the tall tan, pink and teal building, “I wanted to stay at the Inn at Whittier but that was a ‘no’.”

            “Which one is that?” Wren asked.

            “It’s the one over on the water, with the turret. It’s the nicest building in town and it has a fancy ass restaurant with killer views of the mountain,” Noa said.

            “You don’t talk like a scientist,” Wren said watching her closely.

            Noa laughed, “Pass me the cyclohexane. Beakers, Bunsen burners, beep bop boop.” She had donned a robotic voice. Wren just laughed. They took a loop past the inn at Whittier, which was the nicer hotel. And that was about the entire town.

            “Not much to it huh?” Wren looked around, then decided to do some fishing, “Wonder why your boss picked this town?”  

            “Isolation was a selling point for this location but also there was an oil spill here in the 80s,” Noa said.  

            “Exxon?” Wren asked.

            “Ahh she does her research,” Noa smiled at her.

            “That’s what I do,” Wren said.

            “I tried to get the boss to post you up in your own room but no dice. You’ll room with me I got two beds, I hope you don’t mind,” Noa said.

            “It’s free?” Wren asked.

            “Yep,” Noa said.

            “Good enough,” Wren shrugged.  

            “You want to unpack first or go check out the lab?” Noa asked.

            “I’d like to see the lab, I just have the one suitcase,” Wren said.

            “Okay, get ready,” Noa said and drove on the main road through town and out the other side. It wasn’t far when Noa pulled up into a driveway.

            “You put the lab out here?” Wren asked.

            “Rich guy in that nice ass cabin owns most of this little peninsula, loves the environment, let us set up shop in his back yard for free, we couldn’t say no to that,” Noa said.

            “I don’t say no to free stuff either,” Wren said.

            “There’s Barney, our overnight security guy,” Noa said as they passed a man waving at them as he got out of his truck, “I told him to come over in case you had some questions.”  

            “You have security for a small operation like this?” Wren asked.

            “Mostly it’s to prevent cross contamination. Once, on another job, someone snuck a sandwich in and got the tiniest bit of spicy mustard in one of the samples. Caused CHAOS. Everyone was ten kinds of confused,” Noa said, Wren chuckled.

            They drove past the big ‘cabin’ that was actually more like a mansion, Wren saw the shipping container that had been transformed into a lab. What was left of it anyway, she shook her head, “That’s not just an explosion… that’s an explosion!”

            “Right?” Noa sighed.

            “What caused it? Do you know?” Wren asked her.

            “No clue, police didn’t find anything that shouldn’t be here, no devices or shit like that,” Noa said as she parked.

            “What about accidental chemical reactions?” Wren asked.

            “We never leave that stuff in here overnight; creepy thing is I would have been working with shit that’s really bad, it would have blew this place sky high if I hadn’t overslept,” Noa said getting out of the car.

            Wren pulled out her notebook to take notes and followed Noa out of the car, “What made you oversleep?”

            “Well, we were sharing the room at the smaller inn, Tyler and me, two beds… but Tyler worked overnight on cleanup. Jake and I are on research,” Noa said biting her lip.

            “Where was Jake? Why wasn’t he here?” Wren asked.

            “He got a suite at the nicer place, but he was hanging out with me and we both overslept. Two beds though so you know?” Noa said trying to downplay it.  

            “Tyler isn’t a scientist?” Wren asked, she didn’t care much about Noa’s personal life.

            “Yeah, he’s really good too but Jake’s dad is friends with my boss, we just met him. Tyler and I went all through school together, I helped him get this job but nepotism put him on overnight cleaning duty,” Noa said as they walked over to the remains of the shipping container.  

            “So, you and Jake overslept but you’d have been in there when…” Wren trailed off and motioned to the wreckage.

            “Yep, I thank God my alarm didn’t work that morning. Tyler is usually here when we get here but he must’ve got tired of waiting and left to come get us, because he left before it happened. It could have been all of us, someone was looking out for us. I woke up late but early enough to get here. I tried to get Jake up, he insisted it could wait. That we had time for breakfast, so I didn’t come… Thank God I didn’t…” she said looking off into the distance.

            “And he’s new? Like to you guys?” Wren asked.

            “Who Jake?” Noa asked and Wren nodded. “Yeah, we never met him until we got on site, he was already here when we got here, his dad owns private planes and shit.”

            “And you never leave dangerous chemicals in here overnight?” Wren asked as they stepped inside the part of the container still standing.

            “No, look at this place man, it’s slapped together with duct tape, but it was airtight, we had vents but if the stuff we use gets sparked, bam!” Noa slapped her hands together making Wren jump. Noa laughed and scratched her head looking around.

            “And Barney checks everything that passes through here?” Wren asked pointing to the little hallway where security sat.

            “Every drop of water is checked to make sure it’s just water, EVERYTHING!” Noa said karate chopping the palm of her hand for emphasis.

            “Maybe someone left something behind?” Wren looked around.

            “I checked the logs myself; it’s logged in and out. There was nothing that could react that would blow out the whole side like this. And no one came in but us.” Noa said.

            “Barney was left here alone?” Wren asked chewing on the end of her pen.

            “Aww shit my record player, I forgot.” Noa said running over to the side of the building that was open air.

            “A record player? In a lab?” Wren asked.

            “It was a record player, now it’s kindling,” Noa said picking up a charred piece and tossing it.

            “What’s this?” Wren picked up something black and handed it to Noa.

            “The needle, plastic, melted all to shit,” she said handing it back to Wren.

             “There’s string on it,” Wren said.

            “Probably just a piece of melted plastic stretched out.”

            “Looks like fishing line.” Wren said. “I’m keeping this.”

            “Have at it,” Noa said.   

            Wren heard something behind her and spun around to see Barney walking towards them, he held out his hand, “Barney, security.”

            “Wren, Author,” Wren said.

            “Thought you were bringing in a detective?” Barney looked at Noa.

            “Yeah, she is, she is,” Noa said.

            “Amateur Detective, professional Author,” Wren said, Barney looked skeptical, but she pressed on, “Noa said you were the only one here when all this happened.”

            His eyes grew wide, “I sure was, I could have died.”

            “Indeed,” Wren nodded, “But you didn’t, so you’re here to tell me what happened.”

            “It exploded,” he said, completely serious.

            Wren looked down at her notes so he wouldn’t see her grin, “Yep, got that. But what else? Did anything out of the ordinary happen that night?”

            “Nah…” he said looking around, he ticked his tongue a few times, “well… nah that’s nothing.”

            “Nothing is nothing, what is it?” Wren asked.

            “Just that song,” he said shaking his head.

            “A song?” Wren asked.

            “Yeah, they all play music in here,” Barney motioned toward Noa. He shook his head again, “Never heard that one though, Tyler forgot to turn it off that morning I think.”

            “You think?” Wren asked then bent down to inspect a piece of charred broken glass, they were all over.

            “Well thing is, usually, those two come in and he’s still in there and once they get here, he leaves, music just plays through the transition,” Barney said, “But I never heard that song before, one of those old songs.”

            “Do you know what song it was?” Wren asked, slipping some glass into her pocket.

            “What does that matter?” Noa asked, crossing her arms.

            Wren shrugged, “It might not, but it also might.”

            “I don’t know the song, and I can’t usually hear them real good through the hall, and door, but it was pretty loud that morning and I kept hearing ‘at ta bob baby’.”

            “Bob?” Noa chuckled.

            Barney shrugged, “That’s all I heard, he didn’t think to shut it off, too worried about why,” he nodded toward Noa, “was late. Is my guess.”

            Wren chewed her lip as she scribbled it down. They looked around some more with Barney. Wren asked him all sorts of questions, but he swore on his grandmother’s grave that he checked everything like always. Swore that nothing else was different besides Noa and Jake being late and the song playing being unfamiliar. Wren hadn’t seen the lab before the explosion, and she wanted to know if Noa had pictures, but she didn’t. The police had already searched for devices. They found nothing but a piece of a record that Noa didn’t think she’d seen before, it had the letters ‘A and T’ on what remained of the label. Wren wanted to keep that too.

            This was going to require something unconventional to break it, but that was Wren’s usual way. As they got back in the rented car Wren said, “I should talk to Tyler since he was the last one in the lab.”

            “Yeah… that might be difficult,” Noa said.

            “Why?” Wren asked.

            “Kid is traumatized with a capital T,” Noa said shaking her head.

            “So, I should leave him alone?” Wren asked.

            “No, absolutely not, I brought you here specifically to talk to him,” Noa said.

            “Me?” Wren asked.

            “He hasn’t spoken to anyone since the explosion, we’ve tried everything. A few therapists, psychologists, nothing is working, that’s why I needed you, mom said you were amazing,” Noa said.

“Well, I’m not sure what I can do about him not talking, I mean, I’m not a therapist,” Wren said.

“No but you’re a writer,” Noa said.

“I’m not sure I follow,” Wren said.

“Well, you’d have to know something about the human mind to be able to live inside the minds of others, even fictional ones,” Noa said. Wren pondered that silently as Noa drove them out to a spot at the end of the peninsula. She pulled off the side of the road and parked.

“What’s happening?” Wren asked.

“Little kid found a piece of the lab down here in the water, police took it but said it could have killed that kid if it would have hit her, Tyler comes down here every day and sits staring at the spot it made in the ground,” Noa said.

“Whoa, that’s rough,” Wren said.

“Yeah, he walks all the way down here every morning and walks back in the evenings,” Noa said. It wasn’t that long of a walk but twice a day was a bit much to just stare at a hole in the beach.

Wren saw someone sitting on a log when she got out of the car. He was facing away from them with a gray hoodie. Of course it was gray, and the hood was pulled up over his head. They walked over and circled in front of him. He didn’t even look at them, just kept staring at the water several yards in front of him.

“Tyler,” Noa said, “this is a family friend of mine, her name is Wren.” Tyler didn’t acknowledge their presence at all. Noa cleared her throat and Wren watched Tyler’s face closely. Noa continued, “Wren is an author, she has solved a few real crimes recently and I thought she might be able to help. She’s not ‘the man’ or a cop. Just a writer who wants to help us.”

“Hey Tyler,” Wren held her hand out to him, but got nothing. She looked out at the water and sighed, “Noa, did you say you wanted coffee?”

Noa looked confused then raised her eyebrows, “Oh, yeah. You want to go with me?”

“Nah...” Wren sighed like she was considering it, “I think I’ll take in this view, it’s my first time in Alaska. Bring me a cream and sugar.”

“Alright, Tyler you want anything?” Noa asked. Tyler blinked once and Noa nodded, “Americano, two sugars, got it.” Then she took off, walking back to the rental car, leaving Wren alone with Tyler on the pebbled beach. She turned back once and gave Wren a look that said, ‘good luck’. Wren didn’t need luck, she needed strategy.

She looked out at the water again and stretched her arms out above her head. It was still drizzling rain a little bit but not something most people would run inside about. She sighed loudly and groaned as she stretched. Tyler’s face changed, not in an obvious way, his expression stayed the same but something behind his eyes shifted once Noa started the car and he knew she was leaving. Most people wouldn’t have seen the shift, but Wren was not most people.

“You know I killed a guy once,” she said. Tyler’s eyes moved to her and flicked back quickly to the water. But it was too late, she’d broken through something, and she laughed, “Element of surprise does wonders, doesn’t it? That was the last thing you thought I’d say, huh?”

Tyler looked down and nodded slowly.

Wren paced around a little bit, giving him more space, “Ahh look at me, right? A small woman dressed like… this,” she spun around to face him and motioned to herself. She was in jeans, shoved into hiking boots, a must for Alaska. A thin t-shirt and her tan trench coat and fedora, a true gumshoe look. But it also helped with the rain.

Tyler fought a grin and looked her up and down, then he sighed, “I feel guilty.”

“Of course you do,” Wren said.

“I was cleaning,” he said.

“And listening to music,” she said.

He looked at her for a moment then nodded, “Noa and I have been friends since college, did she tell you?”

“She did, she also told me that Jake was working with her during the day on the findings while you were on overnight cleanup, that has to piss you off right? Someone new comes in on his daddy’s name and dime and takes your spot?” she asked.

“No, not really, I like the solitude, but I worry about her, that guy has a way with words, he’s a smooth talker,” Tyler said.

“She’s falling for him?” Wren asked.

Tyler looked at Wren then out to the water and shrugged, “I think so, and now I feel guilty. I should have fought for my spot and maybe she wouldn’t be getting so close to that guy, he doesn’t like me at all.”

“And they conveniently overslept and avoided the explosion?” she suggested.

He looked behind him like he was making sure they were truly alone out here at the end of the world, then back at her, “How much do you know about science?”

“Compared to you guys, practically nothing,” she shrugged, sticking her hands in her pockets.

He sighed, “Well I know Barney is good and so is Jeff,” he paused when she tilted her head, “Jeff is daytime security,” he explained.

“But…” Wren said.

“I saw a bottle of Lithium and one of Argon in the lab that night, I didn’t think anything because they were just sitting there empty… but…” Tyler looked at her expectantly.

She smiled at him, “You’re the scientist, does that mean something?”

“Not really, we have those things, lots of chemicals go in and out of there. Empty bottles get left all the time, that’s why I clean up,” he said.

“Are those things dangerous?” Wren asked.

“Not alone but mix them up and… well,” he watched her face as he said it, waiting on her to come to her own conclusion. His lip twitched on one side.

“Boom huh?” she raised her eyebrows. “You think Jake did this?”

“How should I know? We don’t know anything about him but… his vibe… his dad is rich, and you want to know how?” Tyler asked.

“I sure do,” Wren said.

“He owns a lot of companies but made a lot of money off stocks in oil too,” Tyler said.  

“Why talk to me about this?” she asked. “Why not the police or therapist?”

“The therapist hired by our boss? Jake’s dad’s friend? And I don’t like cops, we… me and Noa are supposed to change the world with science and not work for ‘the man’, we had plans, it wasn’t supposed to… well things don’t go like you think they will,” he said.

“Okay so you don’t trust authority, I am way ahead of you there, but Noa, why not talk to her?” Wren asked.

“She’s changed, Jake has her wrapped around his rich asshole finger and she wouldn’t hear it anyway, I tried once, when we first… anyway, she thinks he’s nice,” he scoffed, “I thought he was just a rich asshole anyway, now… it could be worse and I didn’t try to…” he trailed off.

“Now that you think he could be dangerous, you feel guilty for not trying harder to protect her from him?” she said.

He finally smiled a little bit, “Yes.”

“I see, well, could you at least talk to her about normal stuff now? She’s worried about you,” Wren said.

He smiled bigger, “Really?”

“Seems to be,” she said. Right then Noa pulled up in the rental and parked off the road. She brought their coffees and was very excited when Tyler muttered a ‘thanks’. He didn’t talk much after Noa got back but he wasn’t mute anymore. They drank their coffees and watched the rain on the water for a while. Tyler said he wanted to walk back later. Noa gushed all the way back to Begich Tower about Wren being a miracle worker. Wren chewed her lip and scribbled notes to herself during the short trip, mostly ignoring the praise. She needed quiet to think. She had her first suspect, but she knew things were never that simple. She needed to find out a lot more before she could even know who was doing what and for what reason.

She didn’t really unpack, just sat her suitcase on the bed and took out her laptop to look up a few things. She stuck the chunk of vinyl record, glass pieces and piece of needle with wire in a Ziploc bag she kept handy everywhere she went. She stuck the bag in her pocket. She wanted to walk around the town alone and think.

“Want to go for lunch?” Noa asked her.

“Not yet, I need… some air,” she said. She’d almost said she needed quiet, because Noa was talky. But she liked her and didn’t want to offend her.

“Well, when you get hungry, text me and I’ll meet you for lunch. You HAVE to try the oceanfront Café, it’s cheaper than the inn but just as good,” Noa said.

“Alright,” Wren said, because she could maybe see Noa being quiet with food in her mouth. Plus, Wren wanted to see people, watch them, overhear things.

The Begich tower was incredible, isolating and oppressive, but incredible. Everyone she passed in the halls were friendly and accommodating. There was everything inside that would be in a small town. She wandered the halls slowly and took it all in, Noa told her the tunnel to the Buckner building was in the basement. She snuck down there and looked around, seemed to be for storage. She saw the doors to the tunnel and shivered.

“No thank you,” she said as she spun around to leave. She stopped, she thought she heard something and saw someone walking ahead of her. “Hello?” she shouted. They turned, it was Agelu, and Wren waved. Agelu spun around and started walking quickly away. Strange. She thought she heard someone else behind her and waited to hear more. Nothing. After several minutes of looking, she gave up.

“Okay,” she sighed, but filed the incident away in her mind. She left the tower and walked around the tiny town. She had walked around the entire place besides over at the Buckner building but it was fenced off anyway. You couldn’t get in from the outside and it was dangerous in there anyway. Not somewhere she would go without a very good reason. She walked over near the water’s edge of town and saw the little café Noa had mentioned. She was tired and starving so she texted Noa to meet her at the café. She went on inside to wait because the rain was clearing up and it was getting a little warmer.

She went inside and ordered a coffee and a muffin to nibble. She saw a bar along the very back window and wanted to sit there and think for a while alone. She’d get a table and real lunch with Noa. She took her drink and snack to the bar and sat on a bar-stool and put her trench coat and hat on the stool beside her. The place was dead, empty of all, but a handful of people scattered around. There was an older man a few stools down drinking coffee and looking out over the water. There was a fishing pole and tackle box beside him on the floor. Wren sipped her coffee and casually took the evidence bag out of her pocket. She fiddled with the items in front of her.

“You fish?” she called down to the man. He glanced at her and then down at his tackle-box. Then he grinned. Wren chuckled, “Right, well can I ask you something?”  

He sipped his coffee and smacked his lips, “Sure.”

She hopped over a couple of stools with the record needle arm and string and held it out in front of him, “Is this fishing line?”

He took the strange object and examined the string for a moment, “Sure is.”

“You’re sure?” she asked.

“A-yeah,” he said.

“Great! Thank you!” she said and started back to her original stool.

“You’re one of those scientists here about the oil spill ain’t ya?” he said. She stopped and sat back down beside him.

“Something like that,” she nodded.

“Nah…” he side-eyed her, “You’re a cop.”

“I assure you I’m not,” she giggled.

“Well don’t matter, it won’t do any good investigating big oil, you’re too young to remember but not far from here was a big spill, in the eighties,” he said.

“Exxon Valdez, I researched it,” she nodded.

“Right, the internet,” he scoffed.

“At least it doesn’t forget,” she said.

“I don’t either,” he glared at her.

She sighed, and ticked her tongue, new strategy, “It is a shame, what they did, what they always do, you think it will ever change?”

“Nope,” he said and took a sip of his coffee. She wished hers was in arms reach.

“You lived here long?” she asked.

“All my life, over in Begich,” he said.

“That’s where I’m staying, it’s kind of creepy, especially in the basement,” she shuddered again. He watched her carefully and she did the same to him. He didn’t say anything else, so she cleared her throat, “I bet the winters are crazy.”

“There is an isolation that you can’t imagine… growing up there…” he sipped his coffee and continued, “There is always a musty smell, the tunnel and both buildings are said to be haunted. They feel haunted. Not by real ghosts, I don’t believe in those as in people being stuck on earth after death. That place just has an energy, like the walls and the bricks know they are in a lonely place. It’s cold, almost all year it’s cold. But it’s more than just the weather, it’s cold in a way that only old buildings are. No room or space in the building feels cozy or like a true home. It’s like staying in a motel no matter how long you live there. Most of the town is inside the building. Everything you need in one building. It’s like a prison. Isn’t that what prison is? A building with its own town inside? Every place in there sounds hollow. You can hear the wind outside all the time, even if just faintly.”

Wren sat there watching him, “Have you considered writing?” He smiled at her and then looked behind her and made a sour face. “What’s wrong?” she turned and saw Agelu again, whispering with a man in a ball-cap pulled down low.

“That girl is up to something, she’s been acting strange,” the fisherman said.

“I know her,” Wren muttered. She turned back toward the window, maybe Agelu wouldn’t recognize her without her trench coat on. It was over on the stool and Wren hoped she didn’t see it. She turned her head the other way to watch Agelu out of the corner of her eye. The strange man handed Agelu some money, and she stuck it in her pocket quickly and looked around. Paranoid, extremely. She and the man parted and went outside separately but quickly. Wren spun around to the fisherman, “Do you know her?”

He nodded, “Works on the train, lives in Begich, like most people.”

“That’s where I met her, on the train I mean, she was so nice,” Wren said.

“She is,” he agreed.

“But you think she’s up to something?” Wren asked and he nodded, she bit her lip, “what do you think it is?”

He shrugged, “It’s none of my business, people come here to keep secrets, I learned a long time ago it’s best to let them keep em’.”

“You’re not curious?” she asked.

But before he could answer someone said, “Wren!” Wren almost fell off the bar-stool trying to stand up. Noa was coming toward her.

“What are you doing? Let’s get a table,” Noa said.

“Just a minute,” Wren said glancing at her untouched muffin a little way down the bar, “thank you… uh…”

“Rusty,” the man said.

“Right,” Wren said, of course that was his name. Wren gathered her things and put the fishing line and needle back in the bag. Then joined Noa at a table across the café. They had lunch and talked about Reina, Noa’s mom, their mutual connection. It was nice and Wren liked her, but she did talk a lot. Then in the middle of lunch a man walked in. He was young, tall and very attractive.

“Oh Jake, over here,” Noa waved to the man who waved back and then went to the counter to order, he had only given Wren a curious glance. “You need to meet Jake,” Noa said.

“I agree,” Wren said watching Jake charm the woman behind the counter for a moment, then she turned back to Noa who was also staring at Jake. But she was looking at him with a dreamy look in her eyes. Wren rolled her eyes and sipped her coffee.

“Who’s this?” Jake said walking up behind Wren and then around, sitting in the seat beside Noa with his arm resting on the back of her chair.

Wren held out her hand, “Wren Alden, author.”

“Oh, that’s interesting,” he nodded with a big pearly smile. His hair was jet black and combed back but just enough to look unpolished. It was performatively casual, and so was his outfit. Jeans but they probably wore a thousand-dollar price tag, ragged t-shirt that had never seen a washing machine. He was a little tan but still white, nevertheless something about him reminded her of Dylan. She shook that thought off quickly. Dylan was and would remain a distant memory if she could help it.

“Wren was over in Galicia helping mama, you know I told you about the wildfires,” Noa said.

“Oh? As an author?” he looked at Noa confused.

“Well, she’s also a detective,” Noa said. Jake didn’t have a reaction, just a light nod. Hmm.

“Amateur detective,” Wren chimed in, “I’m just an author who has helped a few friends, it’s not official or anything.” Jake smiled at her, she had to admit it was disarming, to the average person. She felt it happen but was also hyper aware of it happening. She sat up straighter to keep her composure.

“Modesty, I like it,” he said. Noa giggled in a tone that rose three octaves above her usual register. Wren wondered if this place had dignity on the menu, Noa could get it as a side to Wren’s secondhand embarrassment. But one good thing about Jake was that he could distract Noa while Wren investigated.

“I umm, I guess I’m finished eating,” Wren said.

“Oh? And I just got here,” Jake said like it was a tragedy.

“Don’t be out too late okay?” Noa said.

“Why? Do the mean streets of Whittier get wild after dark?” Wren asked.

Jake chuckled, and Noa giggled, then she got serious, “No, there are bears, big ones.”

“Oh,” Wren said.

“I’m not joking, be careful,” Noa said.

“I will, I promise,” Wren said. Her attention might have been on Jake, but Noa’s heart was just like her mom’s, always in the right place. Wren said goodbyes to them and pretended to leave. She wanted to watch Jake when he thought he was alone with Noa. She went out the door and watched them through the window while pretending to make a call on her cell phone. They sat close but weren’t overly affectionate in public. Still, anyone with eyes could see that she was into him, and he seemed to be into her too, genuinely. He had insisted she stay with him in bed the morning of the explosion. He had saved her life, but did he know he was doing it? If he had been planted by ‘big oil’ did that necessarily mean he was willing to hurt someone? But Tyler or Barney could have been hurt or even killed. Maybe Jake only cared enough about Noa and not anyone else. She would have watched them longer, but she needed to be discreet, and she wanted to try and find out what record the piece with “A-T” could be.

She spent a good part of the rest of the night on her laptop doing all sorts of research. It felt like she was about to write a novel. Noa didn’t get back to the room until late, Wren was sort of surprised she’d returned at all. They talked casually as they both got ready for bed. Wren was itching to get back to research but in a place like this, chatter with the locals was worth ten websites about chemicals and old songs. Noa talked a lot about Jake, and it was all positive. Things about his personality, how funny he was, and cute, good in bed. Wren didn’t need to know any of that, she needed Noa to spill it about Jake’s dad. The rich on oil dad of this nepo-hire. But she couldn’t push it because Noa would get defensive, Wren knew people. Maybe Tyler could give her more information. But was he reliable when it came to Jake? When she did lay down to go to sleep she tossed and turned. She kept hearing something through the wall from the room next door.

“Noa,” she whispered loudly.

“Hmm,” she heard mumbled from the other bed.

“Are you asleep?” Wren asked.

“Kind of,” Noa groaned.

“Don’t you hear that?” Wren asked, sitting up.

Noa didn’t say anything for a moment, then, “I don’t hear anything but you.”

Wren rolled her eyes to herself, “It sounds like music coming through the wall, you don’t hear it?”

“Maybe, but it’s probably just Tyler playing a video game, I told you we used to play all the time in college,” Noa said.

“Yeah, but this sounds… familiar,” Wren said. And it did, but it didn’t.

“He plays popular games sometimes,” Noa said.

“You don’t play with him anymore?” Wren asked.

“Not when I’m asleep,” Noa said pointedly. Point received and taken. Wren tried to go back to sleep but she could still hear it, faintly. It was driving her mad. She waited until she could hear Noa snoring softly before sliding out of bed. She had on a pajama set, but she grabbed her ‘tool kit’ and snuck out of their room. The hall was dim and she could hear the music more clearly now. It was coming out of the room on the right. She tried the door just in case it was unlocked. It wasn’t. She rapped it lightly, not wanting to make more noise. No way he would hear that over the music. She didn’t have a choice. It’s not like she was breaking in to steal something. She got out her lock picking kit, and it took no time to get the door unlocked. She cracked it open and shoved her head inside. The music was very loud once the door was open.

“TYLER!” she whispered loudly. Nope, that wasn’t good enough. She slipped inside and closed the door behind her softly. She hoped he wasn’t still too paranoid. She walked through the small hall and into the living area of the condo. Tyler had all the lights off except for the screen of his TV. It was projecting all sorts of neon colors into the room. Wren squinted at the brightness of it. He was sitting in a chair facing the tv with a controller in his hand. He seemed to be playing fallout; Wren knew this because she had researched the game earlier in the evening. It was playing one of the many creepy songs it had on its soundtrack. The song that was stealing her sleep and driving her to madness.

“Tyler!” she practically shouted.

“WHAT?!” he jumped up and spun around dumping a pile of snack wrappers that had been on his lap into the floor. He saw her and picked up the controller that he’d also dropped and paused the game. Sweet silence flooded the room.

“Whatcha doin?” Wren asked cheerfully.

“WHAT? What are you…? How did you get in here?” he asked running both hands through his shaggy blonde curls.

She held up her lock picking kit, “I had the right tools.” She started walking around the condo looking at his things. It was a mess, several empty soda cans and bottles were scattered around. Junk food wrappers, clothes, anything a college-age boy would have lying around was here. It was almost too on the nose for a gamer. Something was off, something didn’t fit the narrative.

“Ah, I see it,” she said walking over to the counter in the kitchenette. It was like a miniature lab set up.

“You can’t bother that stuff,” Tyler walked over and got in her way before she could look at his real toys.

“I was just curious,” she shrugged.

“Some of that stuff is dangerous, please,” he held out his hands like he was going to push her away, but he just held them there.

“Okay,” she sighed, then turned around and sauntered over to the messy couch. She brushed aside a pile of clothes and sat down.

“Isn’t it a little late to hang out?” Tyler asked, not moving away from the counter with his lab equipment.

“But not too late for Halo?” she motioned at the T.V.

“Fallout,” he corrected. “And no, not for me, I have been working overnight for weeks.”

“Fair enough,” she nodded. “I can’t sleep either, I kept hearing this song… what is that?”

“I don’t know,” he said, “probably just something on the game.”

“Oh, so tell me about this game, what’s happening?” she smiled at him.

He squinted at her, “You don’t care about this game.”

“You don’t know that. Besides, I can’t sleep so…” she leaned forward and patted the chair he’d been sitting in, “humor me.”

He sighed and rolled his eyes but came over and sat, picking up the controller, “Well, it’s a nuclear fallout.”

“Oh, hence the name,” she laughed.

“Right,” he rolled his eyes again, “And the shelters, you know, fallout shelters.”

“Creepy, I would hate that,” she said.

“Why?” he asked.

“I don’t like… underground things,” she said.

He nodded slowly, “What about the tunnel in the basement of this place, that’s pretty scary huh?”

She shuddered hard, “I don’t even want to think about its existence to be honest.”

“So, what’s the story? You claustrophobic?” he asked as he started playing again, but he turned the volume down so they could hear one another.

“Not all the time, just with tunnels and things similar to tunnels, I imagine a fallout shelter would have tunnels right?” she asked him.

“In this game they do, wanna play?” he offered the controller.

She raised her eyebrows, “Absolutely not.”

“Might help, you wouldn’t REALLY be in a tunnel, you could you know… whatever the word is for that,” he said.

“Acclimatize?” she offered.

“Sure, maybe,” he nodded and kept playing.

“So, you’re not mad that I broke into your condo?” she asked.

He side-eyed her, looking her up and down then shook his head, “Nah… it’s not really mine and anyway I was bored.” She smiled at him and asked him more about the game. He got really into telling her all about it. Then got really into playing the game as she watched. She told him she had to use the restroom, and he just jutted his chin towards where it was. She knew where it was. Right behind him next to the kitchenette. She went over and opened the bathroom door and closed it without going inside. Then she quietly looked over the things on the counter. One of the beakers had a sheen to it, like it had been cleaned. The rest of them looked dusty or had things in them. This one was off to the side, like on its own somehow. She grabbed it and put it behind her back. She opened and closed the bathroom door again and faced where Tyler sat.

“You know, I’m actually sleepy now. It’s not as creepy hearing music now that I know it’s just you in here saving the world,” she laughed.

Tyler turned and looked at her and she smiled sweetly; he looked at her arm behind her back. She did a quick tuck of the beaker into the back of her pants and prayed it wouldn’t drop to the floor. Then she used that hand to brush loose hair behind her ear. Satisfied, Tyler nodded and turned back to his game. “Night,” was all he said.

“Goodnight,” she said, getting the beaker and going back to her and Noa’s condo. It wasn’t really evidence as far as she could tell but she had to gather anything that looked out of place. A mystery was like a jigsaw puzzle that didn’t come with pieces. You had to collect them all and see which ones fit together to make a picture. In real life, some of the pieces didn’t fit at all. She shoved the beaker into the bag with the other pieces and washed her hands thoroughly just in case. Then she went to bed and slept like a log.

The next morning Wren was sitting on Noa’s bed staring at her when she woke up. Noa screamed when she saw her. “Where are the logs?” Wren asked.

“What?” Noa rubbed her eyes.

“Barney’s logs, where he checks things in and out, I need to see if anything was checked in or out the night of the explosion,” Wren said.

“I looked, it was just stuff to clean with, Tyler took some extra vegetable glycerin,” Noa said.

“And he checked it out too?” Wren asked.

“Yes, but it doesn’t matter, it’s as harmful as water,” Noa said.

“Hmm,” Wren chewed her lip.

“Can we have coffee before a conversation maybe?” Noa asked. Wren rolled her eyes, but she was dying for caffeine too. They went to the café again and got coffee. Rusty was there and waved at Wren.

“I guess I made a friend,” Wren said as she sipped her coffee. “So, Tyler had lab equipment in his condo.”

“So?” Noa said.

“Isn’t that weird, you don’t have any in yours,” Wren said.

“Yes I do, it’s in the closet, you would know that if you unpacked your bag,” Noa laughed.

“Okay, his was sitting out on the counter,” Wren said.

“Because he’s a scientist who’s been put on cleanup duty, this is our passion. I’m sure he would have one at home too, if he had one,” Noa said.

“He’s homeless?” Wren asked.

“Between houses, that’s why we’ve been taking every gig we can, they set us up with a place and it helps him out until he gets enough for his own place. Mom struggled to pay for my college, but Tyler was a working student, for all I know he got a gig on the side or is a science influencer on Instagram,” Noa chuckled.

“So, that’s not suspicious?” Wren asked.

Noa almost spit out her coffee from laughing, “Tyler? No, never. You saw how traumatized he was right?”

“Yeah,” Wren sighed.

“Listen, I have to supervise cleanup of the lab today, make sure nothing gets tossed that could be evidence, can you hang out with Jake today?” Noa asked her.

“Jake? Why?” Wren asked.

“Just to keep him busy, he always wants to be around me. And you can’t be at the lab, real police will be there, and no one knows officially that you’re investigating,” Noa said.

“Oh, so Jake and I are babysitting each other?” Wren chuckled.

“I mean, don’t think of it like that, besides don’t you want to hound Jake for information. He’s got to be your main suspect,” Noa said casually.

“Why would you say that?” Wren asked.

“He said that. He knows it looks bad, his dad made a lot of money in oil, but trust me, Jake’s a cinnamon roll. He would never do that,” Noa said. “And keeping me from going that morning, he saved me.”

“Well, he didn’t know he was saving you, unless…” Wren started.

“Stop, just get to know him,” Noa said.

“Alright,” Wren said. Noa had to take off to the lab. Wren was told Jake’s room number at the Inn at Whittier, the nicest place in town. Of course he was staying there. It was beautiful inside with fantastic views of the ocean. She went through the restaurant and up the log spiral staircase. Jake was in a large suite; Wren had her evidence bag in her oversized trench coat pocket.

She knocked on the door in the lush hallway and waited, as soon as he opened the door, wearing only pajama pants, she said, “Hi Jake, I’m here to babysit you.”

He laughed, “I thought I was babysitting you.”

“Looks like it goes both ways,” she said.

He chuckled charmingly, “Alright, Noa wants to make sure I’m a good boy, I get it. Come on in.” Wren followed him inside and it was like a western version of a palace. It was probably the nicest suite in the building, meaning the nicest room in all of Whittier. She smelled bacon cooking.

“Is that bacon?” she asked.

“Hungry? I was cooking enough for me and Noa, but… well I have extra,” he said as he went into the kitchen. He stood at the stove and flipped some of the bacon. He had potatoes frying and checked something in the oven, probably biscuits.

“You cook yourself?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m an excellent cook,” he said, “homemade biscuits from scratch.”  Her mouth watered but her mind was working overtime. Spoiled rich boy knew how to cook, what was his angle? She took the beaker out of her pocket and sat it down on the counter in front of him. She watched his face.

He looked at it, then looked up at her, “What’s that?”

“Shouldn’t you know it’s a beaker?” she asked.

He laughed, “Well yeah, but like… you want orange juice in it or something?”

“Have you seen this before?” she asked.

“I mean, they kind of all look the same,” he said, turning to get some eggs out of the fridge. He was wholly unbothered, or really good at pretending not to be bothered.

“You’re telling me that you don’t think this looks different somehow?” she said.

“I mean it looks new,” he said sitting the carton of eggs on the counter and picking up the beaker. He sniffed the inside and made a face.

“What?” she asked.

“Bleached,” he said, “this is used but scrubbed clean.”

“Aha!” she pointed at him.

“Aha what?” he asked.

“So, it was used and cleaned really well… for what?” she asked.

He laughed, “Why is that so suspicious? Where did you find it?”

“Tyler’s condo,” she said putting her hands on her hips.

Jake tilted his head, “Then why are you questioning me about it instead of him?” Wren dropped her arms, that was a good question.

She squinted at him, “Maybe you planted it there.”

“If it was planted, anyone could have done that,” he said cracking an egg into a pan. He was cool, too cool. This guy had probably never gotten in trouble for anything in his life. All he had to do was call his dad and poof, rich white guy freedom.

“I’ll eat your breakfast, but I will not trust you,” she said.

“Well watch me close then because I could have poisoned something,” he laughed. She frowned at him. He laughed harder, “Oh my gosh I’m totally kidding, come on. Lighten up red.” He flicked a strand of her hair. She hated that normally but grinned in spite of herself.

She tried to eat his breakfast in silence. But he kept talking about Rufus, his dog. Really? Rufus? That name was borderline animal abuse. But she let him talk because the food was amazing, and also, more importantly, free. She mostly tuned him out but then he paused for a long time, so she looked up at him.

“I just miss him so…” Jake stopped and looked out the window. He was tearing up. In front of her, a practical stranger. About his dog.

She cleared her throat, “What kind of dog did you say he was?”

“Great Dane,” he said, then wiped his eyes, “ahh sorry, sorry about that, didn’t mean to get emotional on you.”

“That’s okay,” she whispered.

“So… who’s Wren? You’re an author, Noa says you do detective work on the side?” he asked.

“Something like that,” she said and took a bite of her biscuit, “hmm… what do you know about vegetable glycerin?”

He laughed, “What?”

“Well, Noa says that that’s what was checked in and out of the lab the night of the explosion and she said it’s used to clean things sometimes, that it’s not… you know…” she searched for the word.

“Volatile?” he offered.

“Right, so I don’t know, I’m looking for anything I guess,” she tapped her plate with her fork for a minute.

“You want to see something neat?” he asked.

“Umm, maybe?” she raised an eyebrow. He laughed and got up and went to the kitchen and came back with a bottle of clear liquid and a little glass tube.

“Let me see that beaker you had,” he held out his hand.

She still had her coat on, and the beaker was in her pocket, but she said, “What is that stuff?”

“This is vegetable glycerin,” he said, “and I want to show you something cool.”

She sighed and handed him the beaker. He sat it on the table and poured some of the glycerin in it almost to the top. He crouched down to eye level with the beaker and looked at her expectantly. She got up and joined him by bending over to watch. He took the glass tube and stuck it in the beaker of glycerin. It was taller than the beaker but all of the tube that was submerged disappeared.

“What?” Wren heard herself giggle a little bit.

“Cool huh? It’s like a magic trick,” he said.

“But how?” she asked standing up straight.

He stood up and lifted the beaker, “Refractive index, Pyrex glass has the same Refractive Index as vegetable glycerin, gives the illusion of invisibility.”

“Oh,” she said.

“Refractive Index is…” he started.

“I know,” she held out her hand.

“You sure? I could get out the white board and show you the math and how it all works,” he said, his eyes twinkling with mischief.

“No. Thank you,” she said rolling her eyes. He laughed and she did too. Wow was this really working on her? And wait, wasn’t this important somehow? She started chewing her lip. Had he just shown her how he had got away with it? Whatever it was?

“Now I guess I should clean this out again, someone went to all that trouble,” he sighed holding up the beaker. “Sorry I messed up your evidence.”

“Whatever evidence was in that was bleached out already,” she said. She wasn’t just trying to be nice to him; it was the truth. Besides she had found that beaker in Tyler’s room, not Jake’s, if it was a frame it wouldn’t have been cleaned like that. Tyler was the overnight cleaner; it shouldn’t have been surprising that he cleaned things. Well, lab related things, his actual living space was a disaster. The beaker, that specific one anyway, seemed to be a dead end. Jake made lots of noise washing dishes in the kitchen. She would have offered to help but she hadn’t asked him to cook. Eventually the kitchen door opened.

“Maybe we should go have a talk with Barney, get the logs?” Jake suggested as he walked back into the room.

“Noa doesn’t want us out to the lab today,” Wren said.

“We could go talk to Tyler,” Jake said. As if they were a team investigating this together. What was he up to?

“Sure,” Wren said. She needed a way to lose him so she could trail him secretly, he wasn’t going to show his hand if he knew she was watching. He went to his bedroom and got dressed. She walked around the rooms of the suite storing it all in her mind. She wandered back into the kitchen. Aside from the beaker on the counter, everything was in its perfect spot, guy was a neat freak.

“Wren?” she heard from the living room.

“Coming,” she said and cursed herself for not escaping when she had the chance. They walked through the small town and discussed where to look for Tyler first. But then Wren saw someone familiar across the street, Agelu.

She was rushing down the road with her rain slicker pulled over her head. Wren recognized her by her shoes, pants and the way she walked. She walked like someone hiding, was the only way Wren could have described it. So, she followed. Jake was walking ahead of her and talking, moving his hands as he spoke. He didn’t even see her fall back and cross the street. Before he realized she was gone, she had ducked into a shop. There were some slickers hanging up for sale and it was raining a bit. Perfect. Her own clothes were too noticeable, so she hurriedly bought a dark rain slicker. She threw that on over her trench-coat. When she stepped out, Jake had backtracked and was looking for her. In the other direction, Agelu was just rounding the corner to the right, Wren rushed to catch up to her. She kept back a few yards and kept her hood over her head, nearly covering her face. Agelu went down the sidewalk and into a charter rental building. Wren followed, it was a public place after all. Agelu was inside with a couple of people, she was handing them little blue cards. No. Green cards. She saw Wren and froze.

“Detective,” Agelu whispered.

Wren held up her hands, “Wait… just tell me what’s happening.”

Agelu sighed, “I’m the one that got these made, don’t harm them, I’ll go.”

“Go? What do you mean?” Wren asked and then looked around. It dawned on her, “Oh! You’re helping them?”

“Yes,” Agelu said walking over to Wren and lowering her voice, “it costs so much to become a citizen here, these people need to make a living and can’t in their own countries.”

“Oh, okay,” Wren said.

“So?” Agelu said.

“So what?” Wren asked as she took off the slicker, it wasn’t really her style and she didn’t mind rain.

“These are fake green cards, this is illegal,” Agelu said.

Wren smiled and put her hand on Agelu’s arm, “This is not the crime I’m here to solve.”

“Don’t you have to report it?” Agelu asked with tears in her eyes.

“Why would I? I’m just an author,” Wren shrugged. Agelu nodded in understanding.
“Well, sorry I was stalking you back there, just covering all the bases,” Wren said and started out.

“Thank you, you’re an angel,” Agelu called out to her.

“Nope, I’m just an author, you’re the angel remember,” Wren winked at her and went out the door. Well, that was almost a waste of time, but every angle must be examined. It was a box checked and cleared.

Jake was marching towards her as she slipped out of the little building, “Where did you run off to, I was worried.”

“I just saw a friend, it’s nothing,” Wren said.

“Well,” Jake put his hands on his hips, “Noa is taking her lunch at the Inn at Whittier, we are meeting her there.”

“We literally just had breakfast,” Wren said.

“So have coffee,” Jake said. Wren sulked all the way back to the Inn that they had just come from. They met up with Noa who was having lunch. Jake and Wren got coffee, the place was really nice, Wren had to admit. Jake had also asked Noa to bring the check-in logs from the lab to so they could see what had been brought in the night of the explosion. She handed it to Wren.

Jake was leaning over the table to read it upside down and Wren glared at him until he stopped. He smiled, “Anything interesting?”

“Actually…” she saw that yes; Tyler had brought in exactly one beaker of vegetable glycerin. According to Noa that was normal and wasn’t explosive. But the weird thing was that Tyler had left with the exact same amount of glycerin.

“What is it?” Noa asked when Wren hadn’t continued. Wren looked up at her, and Noa’s eyebrows were furrowed.

“Could be nothing, maybe he took it just in case he needed it and found out he didn’t,” Wren said.

“Took in what?” Jake asked.

“Vegetable glycerin,” Wren said.

“Oh right, like that little trick I showed you,” Jake nodded.

“Yes, yes exactly, Pyrex glass has the same refractive index as vegetable glycerin,” Wren said slowly.

“And? I mean it’s not like glass or vegetable glycerin is volatile,” Noa said.

“Jake, can you go get me another coffee?” Wren asked, smiling at him. He looked at Noa and then back at Wren, he knew she was getting rid of him. But he nodded and got up to fetch it. There was no way she was drinking that.

“What’s up?” Noa asked as soon as Jake left.

“Is there anything else with the same refractive index as vegetable glycerin?” Wren asked her.

            Noa looked thoughtful and then went pale, “Yes.”

            “What is it?” Wren asked.

            “Nitroglycerin, but…” Noa shook her head, “Barney would have caught that, there is no way the tester mistook that for vegetable glycerin. Besides where would anyone get that without being flagged? That’s dynamite, it doesn’t exactly fly under the radar when someone buys it. And there was nothing in the lab overnight that could have started a fire.”

  “There are plenty of things to start fire trust me,” Wren said.

 “There wasn't any eucalyptus oil in the lab,” Noa said, and took Wren’s hand across the table, “it wasn’t that, believe me there would be evidence.”

“Doesn’t nitroglycerin explode if you drop it hard enough?” Wren asked.

“Well yes, but no one could get out in time for that, someone would need a timer or something, there was nothing there,” Noa said.  

“But…” Wren started but then Jake returned with her coffee.

“You can trust him,” Noa nodded.

“What did I miss?” Jake asked and handed Wren the coffee.

“Nothing, I’ll take this to go,” Wren said taking the coffee and standing up.

“Wren!” Noa called out to her, but she took the coffee to the bar in the corner and just left it sitting there. She went back to Begich and to her room to do research. She had her notepad out and all the evidence laid out in front of her. From her research she found Noa was right, all three things, Pyrex glass, vegetable glycerin and nitroglycerin all had a refractive index of around 1.47. She looked at all her pieces of the puzzle: the fishing line, the piece of record, the beaker, the shards of glass. She looked over her notes, the song Barney mentioned. ‘At ta bob baby’ an old school song. She looked at the record and the fishing line. Someone would need a timer. It was all there and she knew it. But what was it? She sung the lyrics to herself a few times.

“At ta bob baby,” she sang again, “I know I’ve heard that.” It was there in her mind, the finished puzzle but the pieces kept not fitting. She turned them this way and that mentally and they started clicking as she chewed on her thumbnail. Just when she almost had it, her phone rang.

“UGH!” she grabbed it off the desk and answered without looking at the number, “Hello?”

“Uhh is this Wren?” an unfamiliar voice asked.

“Yes, who is this?” Wren asked.

“Is Noa back there yet? She didn’t come back from lunch and that was hours ago,” the voice said.

“Barney?” Wren asked.

“Yeah,” he said.

“No, she’s not here, I left her with Jake,” Wren said, her heart rate sped up a little.

“Oh,” Barney chuckled, “That explains it.”

Wren wasn’t sure it did, “Hey Barney, can you sing?”

He laughed, “Not a bit, why?”

“That song you heard, the one playing in the lab, can you sing the lines you remember a little bit?” she asked.

“Oh, I’m embarrassed,” he nearly whispered. A big, tough guy alright.

“Come on, it’s just me on the line, it could help solve this,” Wren said.

“Alright,” he sighed, “At ta bob baby.” He sang the words in a familiar tune, but the words made no sense.

“Okay, thank you,” Wren said.

“If you see Noa, tell her to get her butt back here,” he said with a laugh.

“Okay,” Wren said. She’d see her alright, she was already getting ready to leave to go look for her. Something didn’t feel right. Noa liked Jake a lot, but she wouldn’t abandon her work for anything. There was too much Reina in her for that. Wren went over to the Inn at Whittier first, it was starting to get dark. She went to the restaurant where she’d last seen Noa and Jake. They weren’t there. She asked some of the staff and they said the two went upstairs for a bit but then Jake returned alone. Wren thanked them and then snuck up to Jake’s room. She knocked first, just in case. Nothing. She got her kit and picked the lock. Was this dangerous? Maybe.

She opened the door, “Hello?” she called. The living room was a mess; there were clothes scattered around it. That was odd. She checked the kitchen, on the counter was a mess of lab equipment, little glass vials with glass lids, the log in sheet from the day before the explosion. A note from Jake’s father. Wren read it.

“Jake!” she called out, no answer. The letter was a plea from Jake’s father asking him to mess with the data at the lab. Offering to provide nitroglycerin if things went wrong. Had Noa come back to his room with him and found all this? Confronted him maybe? Could she be in real immediate danger? Wren took pictures of the letter and evidence and took off again. She had to find Noa. She searched all over town, ran into Rusty, no one had seen her. She called Agelu to see if Noa or Jake or anyone had left town. Agelu hadn’t seen them, but said she’d make some calls to make sure. Wren couldn’t look through the entire forest, but she could check the closer places. She walked all the way to the lab where everyone had cleared out for the night. No sign of Noa or Jake. Then she walked all the way out to the beach where she’d first met Tyler. Nothing. On the way back to town, she noticed the Buckner building. Alone, ominous, darker even than the darkness surrounding it. No one went there; it was the perfect place to hide. Had Jake taken Noa there? Or her body?

Wren ran toward it and slowed down when she got close, she didn’t want to be heard if someone was inside. There was a fence around it that would be difficult to get through, but not impossible if she found the right weakness in it. She walked around the building slowly. At the back she heard it or thought she did. A song, distant, very distant. She couldn’t make out the words, but she could hear something. Couldn’t she? Or had she just been singing Barney’s song over and over to the point of actual madness? She moved closer and further toward the sound and yes, it was real. At least she knew she wasn’t going crazy. She still couldn’t figure out the song, but it sounded so familiar and not just from associating it with the one in her head. She had actually heard this before, recently. It was just about to snap into place when something even louder drowned it out completely.

SIRENS! Warning sirens, loud and blaring. She felt her phone vibrate and looked at it. It was Agelu, a text. Get to Begich, there is a bomb on the train, whole town on lockdown. A bomb on the train? Wren ran toward town, maybe someone had planted the song in the Buckner building to distract her? From the train? Did someone want to keep people in town? She couldn’t think straight with the siren blaring continuously. She had to get back to the room. Maybe Noa had returned while Wren was looking for her. Wren rushed inside along with a few other people and the doors were locked on them. Well, great. Noa had to be in the room otherwise Wren would never find her. She went up to the room and wasn’t surprised to see it empty. She went over to Tyler’s condo and knocked. Nothing.

She finally responded to Agelu’s text, Did anyone say if they’d seen Noa?

No one has seen her. – Agelu 

Is everyone off the train – Wren

Yes, so far, they can’t find the bomb, they are still looking – Agelu

Oh, someone called in a threat? – Wren

Yes – Agelu

That’s good news, threats are usually empty – Wren

That’s good to hear, I hope you find Noa – Agelu

Thanks – Wren

She knocked on Tyler’s door harder, but nothing happened. She picked the lock and went inside. It was a mess but that wasn’t unusual. He wasn’t there but he had left his game playing on the TV. It was on pause and she picked up the controller. She un-paused it just on a whim. The game music started up.

“Oh, OH!” she shouted and dropped the controller without pausing it back. She rushed out of the room and took the elevator; she had to get to Noa. She had to get to the train. Wait… or that’s what someone wanted her to think. Someone was very good at creating an illusion. Just like Jake’s refractive index trick. Wren had to look at this from another angle, as a writer. What story was being told to cover the truth. She turned the puzzle in her mind. Her phone rang.

“Hello Jake,” she picked up.

“My suite is a disaster, did you do this?” he asked, angry almost yelling.

“No, but Noa is missing,” Wren said.

“I know that they won’t let me out of the building! I HAVE to find her! Where are you?” Jake asked.

“I’m in Begich,” Wren said.

“She’s not there?!” He shouted.

“I’ll find a way out,” she said.

“They won’t let you out! What if someone took her out of town?” he whined.

“I checked with the people working the tunnel, she’s still somewhere in town. I think I know where, I just have to get there,” Wren said. “I have to get out of this building.”

“Where is she? Where do you think she is?” Jake asked.

“The Buckner building,” Wren said.

“Oh, thank God, you don’t have to get out, you can just go through,” Jake said.

“Through what?” Wren asked. Knowing the answer, praying he wouldn’t say it.

“The tunnel,” Jake said.

“No, no, no, nope, I can’t do that,” Wren said.

“WHAT? WHY NOT?!” Jake asked.

“I…” she started but was too embarrassed to finish, she had to tell him, “I’m… I’m claustrophobic.”

“For PETE’S SAKE WREN! Her life could be in danger, please…” he broke off into a sob, “please save her.”

She felt a lump in her throat. It choked her and she swallowed hard, “Jake… I will find a way out of this building.”

“And what if you don’t?” he asked.

“I will, I’m… crafty,” she said.

“If it comes to it, please say you’ll go through the tunnel, please,” Jake pleaded, “think about Noa, her mom…”

“Okay, geez, it will be fine,” Wren said.

“Promise me,” he said, she could tell he was crying hard now.

“I promise,” she said. He let out a sigh and just hung up. She looked at her phone, “Rude.” The elevator came to a stop with a jolt. She heard noises from outside in the hall. She was on the main floor. The tunnel was in the basement. She could do this; she could talk to someone and get out of here.

She left the elevator and the hallway was overcrowded with people. Most of the people in town lived in this building. And most of those people were in this hallway. She elbowed her way through to the front doors. A police officer and some security guards were standing there with their arms crossed. She walked up to the officer with a big smile.

“Hi, I’m gonna need to get past you there,” she said pointing at the door.

He laughed, “No one’s getting out of here, didn’t you hear? There’s a bomb on the train.”

“No see, that’s just a distraction, the real bomber is in the Buckner building and I need to go save my friend, Noa,” Wren said.

“Sure lady,” he scoffed.

Wren sighed and looked at the guards; they were much bigger than her. There was another door out somewhere. She tried all exits and nothing, they were all guarded by men who didn’t believe her. Other people were begging to be let free too, nothing worked. Not even tears, or she would have tried that herself. But she saw others trying it first and it saved her the trouble. The last thing she said to the officer at the garage door was, “Do you know what you’re making me do? DO YOU?” and he just laughed because he didn’t. And she couldn’t really tell them because they might try and stop her from going down there. And then Noa really would be on her own.

She got back in the elevator. She wasn’t going down there. She could go back to the room and pack. Wait for the police to solve it, this wasn’t her actual job. She was just an author. Why was it up to her to risk her life for someone she’d just met? She leaned against the back wall of the elevator and looked at the buttons. The fourteen was calling her name, she could abandon all of it and just hide in shame. Then she thought of Noa’s sweet face, couldn’t stop picturing it, actually. That giggle that had annoyed her played on a loop. The girl had been so happy and carefree with Jake. Her career and lab were blasted to pieces, but she was all smiles around him.

“DANG IT!” Wren said as she pushed the button to the basement. Her hands clinched and unclenched at even the idea. Who’s to say she could even get into the tunnel anyway? Wasn’t the door locked? She chewed her lip and tried to ignore her lock picking kit in her pocket. If only she’d accidentally left it at Jake’s. Then she would have a real excuse to back out of this. Oh well, doors locked. Shrug emoji. Then guilt punched her heart. Poor Noa. She had to be more scared of whatever was happening to her, than Wren was of a tunnel. The elevator doors opened and Wren stood there frozen.

“Autopilot, just move,” she told herself out loud. The basement was dark as she made her way across it. Through the big cages of stored items. Things people didn’t really want anymore but couldn’t bring themselves to throw away completely. Is that how Tyler felt? Like something placed in storage? Wren had felt that way before, but she hadn’t done what Tyler had. Not really.

“Stop thinking about it,” she whispered to herself. She decided to sing to herself instead as she picked the lock to the tunnel. She opened the doors and looked down into the blackness. She took out her flashlight and turned it on. The light bounced all over as she held it in her trembling hand. She tried to hold it still as she took a step inside. The air was damp and her breathing echoed off the walls. Dust and mustiness filled her nostrils and she gagged. Her coughs echoed back at her.

“I hate this, F you Tyler,” she muttered. Each step felt like a mile. She wanted to close her eyes like on the train but couldn’t. The only thing she could do was take it one step at a time. It was going to take a longer time the slower she went so she tried to walk faster. Her footsteps echoed off the walls. The beam of light from the flashlight bounced around wildly. Her hand wouldn’t hold still. The walls seemed to get smaller around her as she went. That couldn’t be real, could it? Her breathing was shallow and she felt that static in her head. She could feel the nerve endings in her brain prickling. Tiny little fireworks of warning.

“Stop it,” she whispered. If it was like this the whole mile, she’d never make it to the end. Never make it to Noa. She stopped and sobbed a few times. “Think of Noa,” she said. Then she closed her eyes and tried to picture Noa’s face. Her brain was too busy overreacting to conjure the image. But someone’s face materialized, Carmine. Then, Felix, and finally Selma. That brave woman.

“I believe you, I will help you,” she heard Selma say. From her memories. She owed it to Selma. She owed it to Reina. To Noa. All the helpers in the world. This wasn’t Wren’s job; it wasn’t even her calling. Writing was her calling. But she was the one who knew where Noa was, she was the one stuck in these buildings. It was the right thing to do. So, she did it. She started walking again. She told herself that she was as far in as she was out of the other side. She knew she was lying but decided to believe herself anyway. The light didn’t help guide her, but it kept it from being dark. She didn’t need to see where she was going anyway. It was just one long, extremely long tube. Besides who knew how long it had been since anyone had come through? She didn’t really want any surprises. She tried not to think about the way the walls moved. The way her hands were numb with fear. The sound of train. The light at the end of the tunnel as the train came closer. The smell of smoke from the engine. The struggle against the tunnel wall. Pushing, pushing against hands of steel. Pushing his chest. The splat.

“Enough!” she shouted. The sound echoed. She couldn’t turn back. She truly was just over halfway through. She just had to distract her mind somehow.

 She started singing the song. Barney’s song. The words she knew anyway, which was literally just the title. The words echoed back to her. And then eventually the echo wasn’t her own voice anymore. But the real one, from the game. She saw lights ahead of her. At the top of some stairs. She stopped singing and turned off her own light. She still had the element of surprise; he thought all this would stop her. He thought she wouldn’t go through the tunnel. Too many men had underestimated her in her life; they had all been wrong. They had all regretted it.

She crawled on hands and knees up the stairs and saw the inside of the abandoned Buckner building. The room was just an open area falling apart. There was a generator running a small TV and record player. The song was playing on repeat. The game was on mute. There was a little couch made of random debris, wooden crates and wet leaves for cushioning. Tyler sat there playing like he did in his condo. Noa was beside him tied up, gagged, crying. Her hands held the other controller as best they could since they were tied together.

“Just like old times, just like old times,” Tyler said and took a drink of soda. He offered it to Noa and she shook her head. She cried harder and he took her gag out. “What is wrong with you? Are you not having fun?” he asked incredulously.  

“Tyler, let me go, please,” Noa begged.

“Just play with me, you love this game,” Tyler said, casually. 

Wren slowly stood up and walked softly into the room, she didn’t have a plan, so she did what she usually did and winged it. She held her phone at her side and hit record.  

“Want to know how I knew you were lying the first time we met?” Wren said. Tyler jumped up in surprise, spinning around to face her.  

“You actually came through the tunnel?” he almost smiled at her.

Wren ignored his question, she had to control the conversation, “I knew you were lying because you told me you were.”

“You caught that huh?”  he said, relenting control, for now at least.

“Lithium and Argon, I knew they were harmless, even when mixed and the chemical symbols being Li and Ar… nice touch, almost poetic. I thought maybe you were just trying to be clever to see if I would call you out, or maybe you really did feel guilty and wanted me to catch you trying to frame Jake,” Wren said.

“You lied too, you said you didn’t know much about science,” Tyler said. Wren walked around to face Noa who was watching them back and forth nervously.

“I said I didn’t know as much about it as you guys, that’s true. I didn’t lie,” Wren said.

“But you still didn’t see it,” Tyler laughed.

“I was gathering. You lying was just one of the many pieces. And honestly, did a part of me want the rich nepo hire to be the bad guy instead of the traumatized friend from college? Sure, but sometimes a cigar is just a cigar,” she shrugged. She was an outsider, smart and witty. Tyler was the same, they spoke the same language.

“And a liar is just a liar, huh? I’m just a loser, screw up, now a criminal?” he sneered at her.  

“You’re smart, Tyler, this all took a lot of genius, and you could have gotten away with it, but I showed up,” she motioned to herself, almost bowing.  

“You think you’re smarter than me? Is that it?” Tyler asked with a scoff.

“No, that is completely irrelevant actually. I might not be smarter than you, I’m just better at reading,” she said winking at Noa. Tyler laughed and turned back to Noa, like he had plans to do something more to her.  Wren quickly said, “You called in the bomb threat?”

“Of course I did,” Tyler said.

“Another illusion, misdirection, gee Tyler maybe you should have been a magician instead of a scientist. So, there is no bomb on the train, it was all to keep people from finding you here in the Buckner building with Noa, who you kidnapped?” Wren said.

“That’s right, there is no bomb on the train. But I have this nitroglycerin, can kill us all right here, all I have to do is drop it,” Tyler said taking a small vial out of his jeans pocket. She wasn’t sure he would have a weapon, but she figured he’d have something. She held her composure.

“Yep, just like in the lab. See you did make a few mistakes; you played that song loudly. Barney thought it was saying ‘at ta bob’ but it was really the song ‘Atom bomb baby’ from your favorite game, you had to be sentimental, didn’t you?” Wren tilted her head.

“It was a bit of flair, took you forever to figure it out,” Tyler shook his head, disappointed.

“So what? You had those little vials of nitroglycerin and dropped it into a beaker of vegetable glycerin and poof; it disappears. Barney tested the surface of the liquid and didn’t even think that a smaller, nearly invisible glass vial could be in there. Mostly, because he trusted you,” Wren said.  

“Barney’s an idiot,” Tyler said.  

“So, you took some fishing line and tied it to the vial, placing it on a high shelf. Song plays on after you leave and when it stops, the needle pulls back into place and jerks it off the shelf and…”

“Blammo!!” Tyler shouted, laughing. Wren hit send on her phone, which she had been holding down at her side. She’d been recording the whole time and now she had sent it to Jake. And he could play for the police.

“That’s so simple, and yet so complex. All of that to mess with data for Jake’s dad’s oil investments?” Wren asked.

Tyler scoffed, “No, that was already done, too easy, I could have changed the numbers in my sleep, got all the money I needed to pay off student loans and enough left to impress Noa.”

“So why the explosion?” Wren asked.  

“Because I told her… I told her I might have some money coming in and she says, ‘that’s nice’.  That’s it, ‘that’s nice’. She still liked that guy for some reason. NOTHING I do will be good enough, not compared to him. I had to get rid of him. His dad wouldn’t listen, wouldn’t take him off the job. Then he just stopped answering my calls, so I showed them how I mess with ‘data’.”

 “So, you helped them and they discarded you, aside from the money?” Wren asked.  

“What money? He didn’t even end up paying me. So, I thought I could teach him a lesson by taking out his son. Then Noa would be alone with me out here. I could make it look like Jake blew himself up like the idiot he is,” Tyler said. Let’s hope he isn’t, Wren thought to herself.  

“And that’s why you turned off Noa’s alarm, so she wouldn’t come to work that day and Jake would be alone?” Wren asked.  

“Yeah, that was the plan,” Tyler said.

“But Jake stayed over with Noa that night. Guess their relationship progressed faster than you expected,” Wren shrugged.

“She slept with that guy and that messed it all up. They both survived, it was supposed to be just me and her left. I could console her over her dead boyfriend. And then she would realize that I’m the better guy,” he said.  

“Are you though?” Wren asked. Noa’s eyes got wide. It was risky but Tyler just ignored it.

“When that didn’t work, I thought of a new plan. I decided to just let everyone assume it was Jake; they were going to eventually. But then you came around,” Tyler said.  

“And you tried to frame him? Did you make that fake letter?” Wren asked.

“It wasn’t fake, Jake’s dad did ask him to change the data, but Jakey was too goody-goody to agree to it, so his dad came to me,” Tyler said.

“And you were just desperate enough to do it. For what? You have no money, it didn’t make Noa love you,” Wren said.  

“She will love me, she HAS to. Noa is the last thing I have that is mine," Tyler said putting his hands over his face. Wren glanced over toward the window. She could see lights flashing in the distance, heading their way. She had to keep Tyler from seeing them. She got close to him.

“She’s not, now that I’m here,” Wren said. Tyler looked at her and she went around him; he turned to watch her. Good. Good boy.

“You don’t like me,” Tyler said, “you’re like a cop or something.”

“No, I’m not, I was just asked to come look around. I get it Tyler; you and I are alike. You know that. I know you feel it,” Wren said, and it worked because it was true. “We both grew up with no one and nothing, right?”

“Right, it’s hard,” he let out a soft sob.

“And Noa was just the first person you got attached to, the first person you trusted. But she discarded you, like everyone else,” Wren said.

“Yes,” Tyler huffed. He started to look back at Noa, but Wren put her hand on his cheek. He looked surprised.

“You don’t need her anymore Tyler,” Wren said, then let her hand slide down his chest as her other hand slid down his arm. She held his wrist and then joined hands with him. The vial was between her hand and his. She let it lay there loosely. Just then there was a crash and a swat team ran in, guns drawn. In his surprise, Tyler dropped the vial of nitroglycerin, right into Wren’s open palm. She held it to her chest as the chaos erupted around her. Jake ran in and straight to Noa. Tyler was forced to put his hands behind his head and drop to his knees. He looked up at Wren, hurt. Truly hurt.

“Sorry,” she mouthed and she wasn’t sure if she meant it sarcastically or not. Like refractive index, it was all a matter of perspective.

The next day it wasn’t even raining, which was rare for Whittier. Wren was ready to leave; her suitcase was in the rental car. As much as she didn’t want to see another tunnel in her life, she couldn’t wait to get through the one out of there. She was down at the pebble beach with Noa and Jake. One last visit to Rusty, who was fishing off a big rock. One last outing with her new but temporary friends. Tyler was on his way to prison. The oil company was hiring lawyers; they’d get a slap on the wrist. Tyler even said the explosion was all his doing. And probably it was, but they’d lit a fuse they couldn’t put out. Ironically, he had become the oil company’s unstable weapon, volatile like nitroglycerin. Wren looked into the water one last time and it was crystal clear.