Tymber Dalton - Pinch Me

The woman beamed a radiant smile at Kern. “I hope so, too. This has been so much fun!”

Laura wasn’t allowed to lift tanks. She couldn’t dive. She couldn’t work on regulators because of the risk of exposure to cleaning chemicals.

She couldn’t do much, it felt like. In the office, she pulled her iPad from her purse. Rob and Steve both said she’d used it a lot…before. But she hadn’t found much use for it other than reading the older journal files Bill had loaded on it for her. She didn’t like browsing the Internet on it, no matter what Rob and Steve told her she’d done, because her laptop had a larger screen.

Sarah was in the middle of doing a replenishment order on the office computer and Laura didn’t want to make her move. She sat at the other desk and, with the iPad and its little portable Bluetooth keyboard, she started working on her novel after using Dropbox to download the latest backup copy.

Sarah stepped out of the office to check inventory levels on a couple of things for the order.

Laura needed to look something up on the Internet, but still didn’t want to disturb Sarah’s order. She clicked on the pull-down of sites to find a quick link for Google and saw a list of other frequently visited websites.

She froze as she studied it. One of the listed links was a site called www.classfriends.link .

Why does that sound familiar?

She closed her eyes, feeling dizzy, and grabbed at the edge of the desk to steady her. This was maybe the second time she used the Internet on the iPad since the attack.

Since before.

She figured out how to access the browser history. Sure enough, the last time she’d accessed that site was the day before the attack.

Then she accidentally hit the Home button and the main screen appeared. One of those hunches hit her, the kind that recent experience told her was maybe more of a memory than a hunch. She swiped through the menu screens until she found what she was looking for.

An icon for the Evernote app.

With trembling fingers, she tapped it.

No wonder she’d never found the journals. She didn’t find her journals on the computers because they weren’t on the computers—they were stored here, on her iPad, via Evernote. She could have accessed them from anywhere if she’d had it installed on the other computers.

She closed her eyes and swore. The Evernote app had been on her phone, and early on she’d had Bill delete it and anything else she wasn’t sure how to use.

Fuck. All this time there they were, waiting for her to find them.

She immediately exported everything into a document and sent it to her iPad so she could read it. She scanned ahead to the days before the attack, and other than a notation about signing up for the Classfriends site, there was nothing that would help.

Tear stung her eyes. She had been so sure, so certain that she’d find the answer there. Still nothing.

The final entry was at 1:14 p.m. the afternoon of the attack.

Doogie’s getting snipped. I get to bring him home tomorrow morning. Poor guy, but he needs it. We should be getting our wedding invitations from the printer any day now. I can’t wait! This is really happening. I’ve met Prince Charming. Well, my handsome Sir.

He’s not an ugly toad, either.

I think I’m looking forward to the collaring even more than I am our wedding. And it’s pointless to stay in the condo. I want to start moving all my stuff to the house. I’m going to surprise him with the news this weekend, over a candlelight dinner. I’ve got it all planned…

The memory returned. Not of the attack, but of writing that entry. How happy she’d been, making her shopping list, even the music she wanted to play on the stereo. Remembering how deeply in love she felt that afternoon.

And upset that, after all these months, there were still no more answers.

Steve entered the office and found Laura sobbing over the iPad. “Honey, what’s wrong?”

She pointed to the device. “I found the missing journals. They don’t tell me shit .”

He turned her chair to face him. “Sweetheart, you knew it might not give you any information.”

“I was so sure it would.” Steve held her, let her cry against him. Sarah heard the commotion and walked in, closed the office door behind her, and sat with them.

“What’s wrong?”

Steve told her. “Did it trigger any memories?” Sarah asked.

Laura finally sat up and shook her head. “Not of the attack. I thought it would. I thought for sure it would answer everything and I would know who did this to me.”

The weather radio alarm sounded, blasting its warning tone and startling them, announcing a marine thunderstorm warning.

“Looks like the boat returned just in time,” Steve said. “We’ll have to cancel some charters this week if that latest tropical depression spins up our way.”

When Rob picked up Laura from the shop a little after four that afternoon, she told him what she’d found. He hugged her.

“It’s okay, baby girl. We’ll figure it out.”

He wouldn’t let her help with dinner, knowing she was emotionally worn out. She decided to explore the Classfriends site on her laptop. Maybe if nothing else she would remember something. The username and password combo was her usual, and she logged in. Her last recorded login date was the afternoon of the attack.

Nothing.

Something itched at her conscious, though. It was a feeling she hadn’t had in weeks, like a buried memory wanted to come through. But it didn’t feel like it was about the attack. And frankly, that’s all she cared about at the moment was remembering who did it to her.

Rob didn’t want to leave her, but he was scheduled to work a twelve-hour shift starting that evening. “I could call in or swap off.”

“No, don’t do that. I’ll be okay. Really.”

“You want me to call someone to come stay with you? Or I can take you over to Seth and Leah’s.”

She shook her head. “No. I’ll be okay. I’ll probably go to bed and watch TV until I fall asleep. You’ll be home tomorrow night, right?”

“Hopefully. Depends on this storm.” He stared at her. “You’re sure you’re okay?”

“I’m just…” She stared at the iPad, which she’d left on the coffee table. “I need to read through everything.”

He cradled her face in his hands. “We’ve talked about this. You knew it might not be a magic pill. And you’ve got so much back.”

“I know.” She let him pull her close, holding her tightly. She couldn’t take her eyes off the iPad. Somehow, she sensed it still might hold the answers.

If she could just figure it out.

Thomas called her cell phone that evening.

“Two calls in a week?” she quipped. “To what do I owe the honor?”

“Are you at home?”

She didn’t like his terse tone. “Yeah?”

“Doors locked?”

“You’re freaking me out.”

“I’ve dispatched a deputy to your house. He’s already on the way.”

She shivered and walked to the living room where she closed the curtains. “What’s going on?”

“We discovered a woman’s body late this afternoon down in Placida. Not far from your shop.”

“What?” She gripped the phone tighter.

“She was strangled and beaten pretty badly.”

“What does that have to do with me?”

Laura knew. In her gut, she knew.

“Have you checked your email lately?”

She walked to the table where her laptop was set up and opened her email program.

Her blood chilled. Sure enough there was a message from MedicineMan.

Her spit dried up. “How did you know?” she hoarsely asked.