Page 24 of Crushed
CHAPTER 7
Scarlett
One of Lizzy’s favorite spots had always been Brunch Island in Sage City. It was a restaurant that, despite its name, served every meal. It wasn’t on an island, or on the coast, but they made up for that with 3-D projection mapping that made the walls come alive with videos of the natural beach and all of its creatures. A restaurant for patrons who wanted the atmosphere of the beach without the actual sun or sand. Or water, for that matter. Brunch Island was the closest I would go to the ocean.
We requested the table in the corner, the one that was farthest away from others, but also had a great view of the projected ocean. Once seated, Lizzy ordered calamari with a sriracha aioli to share, clams in a garlic butter sauce over potatoes for herself, and I got fish tacos.
“You are even harder to get ahold of than usual,” I said, once the waiter had left us. “I tried calling you almost every day this week.”
“I know,” Lizzy said. She took a sip of lemon water and looked out at the fake ocean. “Just look at that view.”
As if the projection was an explanation as to why she wouldn’t answer my calls or texts. She was avoiding me. It likely had to do with ‘teaching me to work independently.’ But if she answered the first time, I would still be working independently and wouldn’t have called every single damn day to check on her. Running to get new burner phones was annoying.
“I met with Issac,” I said.
“And how’s he doing,” she said as if I was talking about a friend from my old soccer team. She shoved a bite of calamari in her mouth.
“He said he knows something about Ada and Gavin.”
With those two names, Lizzy froze, her jaw tight in mid-chew, then glanced at me. I shoved my face full of calamari and pretended like I hadn’t said anything important.
“He knew your parents?” she asked.
I shrugged. “He says he knew them right before they died. But he only brought it up after I said I wasn’t going to rush to finish the assignment.”
Lizzy took another bite and glanced at the watery wall. “What else did he say?”
“He didn’t like that I was taking my time. The moral code annoyed him.”
“Typical.”
“He also said that I should ‘do my job like my boss said’ or something like that.”
She cracked a smile, turning towards me. “He thinks I’m your boss, then, eh?”
“I guess he doesn’t understand the way SNC works.”
Lizzy tilted her head, a grin on her face. I ate another bite of calamari, dipping it in the sauce, then followed her gaze. A pixely seagull was flying from the coast out to the water, hovering for a moment, then flying back to the shore. He did this repeatedly, looking at some fish he wanted, taking his time hunting it. A loop on repeat.
“I can talk to him for you,” she said.
There was some relief in hearing her say that. I might have been better at seducing the targets into their positions, but Lizzy had always been better at negotiating with the clients. But I knew that talking to Issac wasn’t what she wanted.
“Wouldn’t that be getting involved?” I asked.
“Not necessarily.”
I wanted to believe that they were two separate tasks, that she could help find out more about my parents and I could still do the assignment on my own, but they were intertwined. I couldn’t let her get involved, even if I wanted her to.
“It’s important that I do this on my own,” I muttered. “That’s what you said.”
“And it is,” she said. “But your parents aren’t part of the assignment. Issac is using that as bait.”
“Motivation,” I muttered.
“Exactly. And you need to be able to do this one on your own time.”
There it was. She didn’t want me to feel rushed, so she was willing to have a discussion with Issac to make sure that everything was smooth on my end.
