Page 7 of Sage

Sage quickly tuned her friends out and searched for a towel. "I guess I'm not going to find a release tonight." Sage shook her head, annoyed at the entire situation. She checked the cabinets and drawers for a towel, but there was nothing in the bathroom and no luck in the hall closet, either.

Where the hell are your towels Marco?

Across the hall appeared to be the master bedroom. Sage wandered in and looked in the closet to see if she could find anything. Tucked away in the back of the closet was a gorgeous ruby-red robe. She decided that it would have to do for now, but she made a promise to herself to find the towels before taking another shower.

Sage continued digging through the closet, finding a box tucked away in the back. She struggled to pull it out, but after a couple of attempts she succeeded, squatting down to open it up. The box was packed full of women's clothes that she could only assume had belonged to Alana. Sage sat back on her heels and began to dig through it.Damn Alana had great taste when she wasn't trapped in her uniform.Sage was pleased to see when she checked the tags that they wore the same size and celebratedthe fact that she wasn't doomed to only have her almost burial outfit to be the only thing she had to wear.

As she dug deeper into the box, Sage found a cute little black dress. It reminded her a lot of the one that Alana had worn the night that she found her lost in the woods. Sage had never owned a dress like this, besides lingerie, the majority of her clothes were long dresses that covered most of her skin to help protect her from the elements. She also believed that it helped provide an extra layer of protection between her and the drugged-up perverts that stumbled into her neck of the woods. But this… This felt nice. Maybe it was time for a change.

Sage twirled around like a giddy school girl and then stooped back down to continue siphoning through the clothes hoping that she might come across some shoes that would go with it. When she reached the bottom of the tub she was disappointed that there were no shoes but when she went to put the box of clothes back in the closet, she realized that it was her lucky day.

An entire box of shoes stared back at her.

Chapter Five

The Locket

Charles didn't waste any time putting out a BOLO for Sage. Hans couldn't blame him. It was what an officer should do after all. Unlike himself, sitting back and waiting for the circus to begin. It made sense. With Marco gone, Charles was essentially standing in his place. He probably felt that if he did a decent job then he deserved to be Marco's replacement.

Ugh.

Hans couldn't shake Marco’s face from his brain, how small and pathetic he had looked as Hans sat him down in the car. He wasn't the strong, cocky son of a bitch that he portrayed himself as at the precinct, but an actual human being.

Bastard.

Marco had won Hans over and he knew that he was going to miss him more than he wanted to, but that is life now, Hans supposed. Missing a man and having a psycho stalker killing people for him.

Yet, deep down his feelings for Sage still burned bright. Hans continued thinking while he fiddled with the locket between his fingers.

"Hans, I want you to have this." Gretta handed him a velvet satchel that contained a beautiful locket. "Why me?" Hans asked. They hadn’t been friends for long and he didn’t think that he was deserving of a best friend's necklace, just yet.

"So you'll never forget who I am at this very moment."

It's like she knew that one day she would no longer be herself.

Hans licked his dry lips, noticing the metallic taste. He really needed to make a store run to get some lip balm.

"Shit, my car!" At the reminder that his car had been destroyed, he sunk back into the couch a little deeper this time, hoping he would just be absorbed into it. Hans couldn't even bring himself to be okay with the idea of having his car towed from the hold the forest had on it. There were too many memories there and he didn't dare show his face back in those woods. Brighton Forest was on his do not enter list, indefinitely.

What about work?Hans' mind started running a million miles per second, unsure of if and when he would be able to return. He had become a detective with the intent of solving the mystery of what had happened to Gretta. Now that he had his answers, he didn't technically have to be a detective anymore. Right?

Wrong.

That was the only life Hans knew, and his desire to help others solve their own mysteries was what kept him going. He just didn’t have to continue that life in Acadia.

Hans reached into his pocket to grab his phone and call a buddy of his to see about any available cars when he stopped,remembering that his phone had also been destroyed. Once Sage was finished texting Marco, pretending to be Hans, she had used a sledgehammer to ensure that no one else would be able to track his location.

Fuck!

Hans was starting to feel extra vulnerable in his own home. Sage had taken everything from him and he was left unsure of what his next move was going to be. He had been a resident of Acadia since the day he was born, but now he found himself beginning to question if he was going to be able to stay here. Perhaps a new start was exactly what he needed...

Glancing at the time, Hans determined it was too late to be shopping around for cars anyway. Itwasn'ttoo late to get his laptop fired up and start applying for other precincts far away from Acadia though.

He freed himself from the grasp that the couch had on him, rising to his feet. Shuffling to his room to grab his laptop he then made his way to the kitchen, flipping on the coffee pot.It's never too late for coffee. Hans smirked as he thought about all the times he had given Alana hell for her late-night coffee binges. Before the coffee had finished brewing, he poured a cup and made his way back to the couch to start his research, double-checking that his resume was up to date just to be safe.

The concept of relocating was becoming more tempting by the minute.

California? Too many bros.

---