Page 54 of In the Light of Day

There are two checkouts open, a small line now forming as the old biddy counts her coins for the poor lady at the till. The other checkout has a trainee on it so neither line is moving fast.

The front of the store has floor to ceiling windows and I watch the bustle of Main Street as people go about their lives. Basking in the last weeks of the summer sun. I move forward in line, another person closer to getting out the door and back home.

The sparkling wine bottle begins to condense in my hand, slowly dripping water onto the polished concrete floor. The coldness of the glass only adds to all the restlessness I'm feeling. Looking out the window again, an old beat up car looks out of place against the pristine backdrop. Its dirty exhaust tarnishing the air as the engine lets out a high pitched squeal.

Confusion overwhelms me, this all too familiar feeling as I inspect the vehicle. Taking in everything I possibly could about it. It's only when the driver comes into sight that dejavu hits me with full force. The driver is the same strange man we saw at the rehearsal dinner, he looks different, smiling and laughing with someone else in the vehicle. Images flash through my brain of a night that happened several years ago, standing on the roadside with a scared woman at my side.

A woman who is now safe at home.

My wife, who is safe at home.

The shrill ring of my phone bursts from my pocket, and I shut my eyes and sigh. Everything is okay. It's just my imagination.

Nova is fine.

Nova is fine.

But the caller ID says, Charlie.

Accepting the call, I don't trust my voice to speak for fear of what could be happening.

It has to be a misunderstanding.

Not letting me get a word in, Charlie talks a mile a minute, her voice high pitched and panicked. I only manage to pick out words, enough to realise my perfect world is falling apart.

“Front door open ... blood ... tyre marks ... Porter is coming.”

I'm in a daze. My brain is like quicksand as I take a microsecond to digest everything that's happening. This is good, I won't need to worry about Charlie's safety if Porter is on his way but as she says the words I can never be prepared for, the ones I refuse to accept, the beat up car turns the corner and I catch sight of the passenger.

Thad.

Laughing along like they're congratulating each other.

“I can't find Nova. Ace, I can't find her. Is she with you? Ace, is she with you!”

The sparkling wine slips from my grasp, exploding under pressure as it hits the polished concrete floor. Shards of glass mix with the spray and I’m vibrating as my brain puts all the missing pieces together. I always thought it was odd that a man was driving through the forest to the middle of nowhere all those years ago and now I know it was no coincidence. Nova spoke of receivingdeliveriesin the bunker. Food and other essentials didn't just magically appear. Someone had to have helped her uncle but all avenues turned up nothing. Seth and I were forced to stop the search after we had explored every lead we had. Without a doubt, Thad knows something, and him being here today is not a coincidence. Especially with the help of the strange man driving.

Who is he?

And why does he wantmy wife?

The last of the wine spray finds its intended target, a moment of silence as the surrounding people make sense of what happened. I drop the basket I'm holding, not waiting a second more than I have to when I need to catch up to the car they're driving. If Charlie can't find Nova then there are two dead men who might know something about it and I'm not about to give up my one chance of finding them.

“Charlie. Have you searched the house?” I snap into my phone, my gut tells me she's not there, that they’ve taken her somehow, but I need to be sure. If they've taken my wife, they will not live to see the light of a new day. Nobody will find their bodies. They will simply cease to exist, forgotten for all eternity.

Slamming my truck door shut, the engine roars to life and I fishtail out of the parking lot, barely avoiding a street lamp that was in my way.

“Porter said I had to wait outside. I've called out bu—” Porter's stern voice cuts Charlie off as he instructs what’s happening. “Put it on speaker phone and go wait by my car. Ace, I'm checking the house, give me sixty seconds.” Sixty seconds, that's all I'll need to wait to be sure. I speed down Main Street but I can't see them anywhere. Turning left and right, I check every block but I come up empty.

“The house is clear ... Ace, there was a struggle. Tell me what you need.”

Porter's voice is like ice, the mafia in him coming out to take charge.

I’m numb though, my single reason for living has all but disappeared. It's only because the lights at the volunteer fire station turn on, the loud siren ringing out across the town, that I sit up in my truck and start to pay attention. Something has happened and I can't see what it is yet but as I pull a U-turn and head back down Main Street, I see the whisps of flame lick the side of a building further up. A sage green building that I helped paint. Smoke billows in the air as Beans, Nova’s coffee shop comes into sight.

Thad and that man have done this, that much is clear. A distraction to cover their tracks. But what they don't realise is that I have a particular set of skills, ones that were trained so thoroughly in me that I basically became top secret.

“What I need?” I repeat Porter's question. A frantic laugh spilling out of me about what's going to happen when I find them. “WHAT I NEED IS MY GOD DAMN WIFE.”

---