Zack and Cooper exchanged a brief but worried glance. Daniels was becoming more upset, his face growing redder. He’d jumped up from his chair and was pacing the small space between it and the window, mumbling to himself.

  “Dad never told us about the giants,” Cooper said, his tone even and almost soothing. “I wish he had. Clearly, we’ve missed out on something important. How tall are these giants? Where are they being hidden?”

  That’s it, Coop. Ask the important questions. Shit.

  “They can be as tall as seventeen feet,” Daniels answered. “They’re being hidden underground in government bunkers. They have been for over a hundred years. My dad told me stories about them. He worked in one of the facilities. He made friends with them. He told me that we didn’t need to be afraid when it was time.”

  Since Joel Winslow had basically admitted to being Sarah’s biological dad, Zack believed it to be true. However, after hearing Lloyd Daniels go on and on for the last few minutes, he wouldn’t have been shocked if the whole parentage thing was simply a delusion.

  Cooper opened his mouth to ask what was probably another inane question about the existence of giants, but he stopped when Zack dug his elbow into his brother’s ribs. While he was okay with humoring Daniels about this, he didn’t think it was necessary to extend this visit any longer. At this point, he couldn’t trust what Lloyd Daniels had to say.

  If giants did at some point take over the earth, he’d apologize profusely and personally to Lloyd.

  Daniels didn’t appear to be hurting anyone or himself with these thoughts, so Zack wasn’t going to try and change the older man’s mind. If it made him happy to believe in giants, then more power to him.

  Thanking Daniels, Zack dragged Cooper back to the car, and headed back to Winslow Heights to let Lucy know that they hadn’t learned much that was useful. Lloyd had confirmed that Sarah was going out, but he didn’t know where or with whom. His information was suspect at best.

  “You didn’t let me ask my questions,” Cooper chuckled. “And I had lots of them. For example, who benefits from keeping giants a secret? If they’re so powerful, why would they agree to be hidden? Who brought them here? Are they aliens? How many people would have to be in on this to be able to keep it a secret? After all, I unwillingly know far too much about the Kardashians, and I’m actively trying to stay away from people telling me about them. A giant is much more interesting than a Kardashian, although others might feel differently.”

  “I didn’t let you ask those questions because it would be like making fun of an old man. He seriously believes it.”

  “I know,” Cooper declared. “I wasn’t making fun of him. I truly wanted to find out the basis and extent of his beliefs. I’ve known people who believed far more outlandish crap, and I stayed friends with them. I wasn’t questioning his beliefs. I was trying to learn about them.”

  Cooper was always trying to get into people’s heads and figure out what made them tick. He should have been a psychologist.

  “Either way, we weren’t going to find out anything about Sarah that we could trust.”

  “He confirmed that she was partying, and with the way Ed Farrow acted when you tried to talk to him, I have to say that I’m mighty suspicious that she might have been hanging out in his bar.”

  “That’s why we’re going back to talk to my friend Jay. He knows more, and I’m going to have another shot at getting him to talk.”

  “Let’s do it then. Maybe if we tell Jay that we already know what Sarah was up to, he’ll spill the beans thinking that he’s not telling us anything new.”

  “That sounds like something out of a bad detective novel. Do you honestly think that he can be tricked so easily?”

  “It works in the movies. Why not give it a try? Do you have another plan?”

  Zack did not, which meant that they might as well try Cooper’s.

  Maybe - just maybe - Jay might finally tell them the truth about Sarah.

  23

  Zack and Cooper had walked Lucy to the bookstore before heading off to meet Lloyd Daniels. It was nice to be back at work and in some sort of familiar routine, especially when her world felt like it had been turned upside down.

  “You can stay with me as long as you need to,” Jane said, placing a latte in front of Lucy. “If you’re not comfortable staying with Cooper. I bet he’s a slob.”

  “He seems to do quite well cleaning up after himself. And thank you for the offer. I think I just need to suck it up and go back home today. Finn sent me a message that they’ve released the condo, and I can go in anytime. It’s my home, although it doesn’t feel like it at the moment. Plus, my parents are a bit miffed that I didn’t stay with them last night.”

  “If I were a betting woman - and I’m not, although my ex was - I’d place money on your mom and dad showing up here today to make sure that you’re okay. They’ll want to see for themselves.”

  “That sounds like my parents,” Lucy sighed. “They’re wonderful, but sometimes they fuss a bit.”

  “Did they suggest moving back home?”

  “Yes, and as nicely as I could told them that it wasn’t an option. I’m not going to move home when I’m in my mid-thirties. I love my mom and dad, but I need to be independent and have my own place.”

  “Zack could stay with you at your condo,” Jane suggested, waggling her eyebrows playfully. “You two are getting serious. And don’t deny it because it’s as plain as the nose on your face. The way you guys look at each other would be nauseating if you weren’t my best friend in the world.”

  Lucy wasn’t one to kiss and tell, sharing her innermost secrets even with someone she was close to like Jane. She didn’t really have to as her friend was eerily perceptive and an avid people watcher. But this was different…in a way that Lucy didn’t know how to explain. She was happy, incredibly so, and she kind of wanted to shout it from the rooftops.

  I’m in love with Zack Winslow and he loves me, too.

  “It is getting serious,” she replied. “He says he’s going to stay here and give our relationship a chance.”

  “For good?”

  “For now,” Lucy amended. “That’s good enough for me. We’re going to try, and that makes me happy. Eventually, he may want to do something that’s outside of this town, and we’ll work it out then. He’s not planning to go back to New York City anytime soon.”

  “That’s awesome,” Jane cheered, her smile wide and genuine. “I mean, good for you. I wouldn’t want that. I’m happy on my own. Been there, done that. And I didn’t get a t-shirt when I divorced.”

  “Not every man is bad.”

  “Says the woman that just found the last good one,” Jane laughed. “I know you’re right, but the energy that it takes to find a decent guy is too much for me right now. I’m exhausted at the end of every day. The care and feeding of the male animal isn’t a top priority. I’d rather get a puppy.”

  “That’s some unconditional love right there. I don’t blame you.”

  They were busy as the day went on, customers in and out of the store, and they didn’t have much time to talk until the usual mid-afternoon lull. Jane had gone to Tate’s to grab them some lunch to go, and they both sat in the backroom to quickly eat their meal while one of the part-timers, Tara, watched the register.

  Lucy was almost done gulping down her chef salad when Tara joined them, holding out a white envelope.

  “I forgot to give you this yesterday.”

  “What is it?” Lucy asked, accepting the envelope. It had Zack’s name on it. “Who is it from?”

  “I dunno,” Tara said. “Some guy dropped it here early yesterday morning. He said to give it to you or Zack Winslow. I shoved it in the drawer behind the register and forgot about it until today. I’m sorry about that.”

  The envelope was sealed, and Lucy wasn’t going to open something that wasn’t addressed to her, but her fingers ran over it, feeling something bumpy that she couldn’t identify.

  “Did he say anything else?”

  “No, he was in a hurry. He practically tossed it at me and ran out. I am sorry about forgetting.”

  “It’s fine,” Lucy assured Tara. “I’ll make sure Zack gets this. Thank you.”

  Tara went back to the main room, leaving Lucy holding the envelope.

  “Are you going to open it?”

  “It’s not addressed to me,” Lucy reminded Jane. “It’s for Zack.”

  “You can call him,” Jane suggested. “He might tell you to go ahead and open it.”

  “I should be hearing from Zack anytime now. I don’t want to bug him if he’s meeting with Lloyd or one of his friends from high school.”

  “Are you saying you’re not the least bit curious about what is inside? Because I would be.”

  Lucy placed the envelope on the table between them.

  “Of course, I’m curious but not enough to rip it open. It’s probably nothing anyway. Probably just a letter. Or something.”

  “Something?” Jane echoed. “Something besides a letter?”

  “I felt something,” Lucy admitted. “It feels like there’s something solid in there.”

  Frowning, Jane also ran her fingertips over the envelope, also finding the bumpy item.

  “There is something there, but I can’t tell exactly what it is.”

  “You do realize that it’s probably just something dropped off by Cooper for Zack.”

  “Tara knows who Cooper is,” Jane pointed out. “It couldn’t be him.”

  “Okay, then one of Zack’s other brothers. Maybe Tate or Sam.”

  “She knows Tate, but maybe Sam. But it’s still intriguing. Who would drop something here for Zack?”

  “Because the whole town knows we’re dating?”

  “True, but you’d think they’d drop it at Tate’s or with Cooper.” Jane ran her fingers over the bump again. “It feels square.”

  “It’s probably something from Sam. Maybe Sam dropped it here for Zack, knowing that he’d be coming here.”

  Jane sat back in her chair, shaking her head.

  “That’s a great theory except for one thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Sam was at the apartment with all of us last night. He never mentioned it once. Don’t you think he would? At least to ask Zack if he’d received it? I don’t think this is from Sam.”

  “Who do you think it’s from?”

  “I don’t know, but if you opened it, we would know.”

  “I’m not opening it. Zack can when he gets here.”

  Now Jane had Lucy wondering what was inside, piquing her curiosity. Five minutes ago, she hadn’t cared all that much. Now she wanted to know.

  Except that this envelope wasn’t nearly as exciting as what Zack was currently doing.

  It was simply a plain white envelope. Nothing exciting in the least.

  Zack found Jay at his parents’ house, hanging out in the backyard while his kids played in the sprinklers. A pretty dark-haired woman who was probably Jay’s wife was handing out popsicles and trying to corral the boisterous trio of children. Jay’s parents sat on a couple of patio chairs, the mom relaxing with a book.

  Jay jumped up from his chair when he saw Zack, a grin spreading on his face.

  “Hey, what a surprise. I didn’t expect to see you again so soon. What’s going on? Do you want a cool drink?”

  Cooper had decided to wait in the car, saying that Jay might not talk in front of someone he didn’t know well. Zack had agreed but wasn’t sure that Jay would say much anyway. The last time they’d met, Jay had clearly not wanted to talk about Sarah at all.

  Zac glanced quickly over to Jay’s wife who was busy with the kids but had given a small wave to acknowledge that they had a visitor.

  “I was hoping you and I could talk for a few minutes. Can we go inside? This won’t take long.”

  Jay appeared confused but agreed, opening the sliding glass door to the kitchen so that Zack could pass through.

  “What did you want to talk about?”

  The welcome that had been there only moments before was now replaced by an uneasiness that Jay wasn’t bothering to hide.

  “I’ll get straight to the point,” Zack replied. “I want to talk about Sarah and what she was into right before she died. Did she go to that campus bar that let teenagers in? Farrow’s? Was she drinking or doing drugs? She was my half-sister, and she deserves to rest in peace.”

  Sighing, Jay dropped into a kitchen chair, his shoulders dropping.

  “Why won’t you just leave this alone? Nothing good is going to come from this.”

  Zack sat down in a chair opposite, leaning over the table so that Jay had to meet his gaze.

  “I’m sick and tired of everyone acting like I’m the problem. It looks like my own friends were keeping secrets from me—”

  “We did it for your own good,” Jay broke in, shaking his head over and over. “We did it because you said that you needed to stay out of the bar in case your old man found out. You already had enough issues with him, and you didn’t need any more. Besides, everyone was scared of Joel Winslow. He could have shut it all down.”

  Being scared of Zack’s dad sounded more plausible than that they were all worried about him. He’d had copious amounts of problems with his dad in his teenager years, and his friends were certainly more than aware of them, but he doubted that had been the main reason.

  They’d kept him in the dark because they didn’t want “something” shut down. What was it?

  “What happened in that bar?” Zack asked, keeping his tone even but firm. “And don’t try and bullshit me. Something was going on there. Sarah was into something right before she died.”

  Jay’s jaw was set, and it looked like he wasn’t going to say anything. The sliding glass door opened, and his wife stuck her head in.

  “Um, hello. Jay, will you be out soon? The kids are asking for you. Hi, I’m Ella. You must be Zack. I’ve seen your pictures in Jay’s yearbook.”

  “I am Zack, and it’s nice to meet you, Ella. I promise I won’t keep your husband much longer.”

  “That’s fine. Take your time.”

  The door slid closed again, and Zack levered up from his chair and walked over to it, looking out at the three children jumping through the sprinklers.

  “You have a daughter.”

  “I do. Blair. She’s an angel. I’m proud of my boys, Nathan and Evan, too. They’re great kids.”

  Zack turned back to his friend, whose face had turned bright red.

  “I know what you’re saying. I’m a dad now, and I wouldn’t want my little girl getting into the shit that Sarah was into.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I can’t be suggesting that because I don’t know what Sarah was into. You haven’t told me. And it sounds like there was some sort of conspiracy to make sure I never found out.”

  Jay leaned forward, cradling his head in hands, groaning out loud.

  “Fine,” he said, looking back up at Zack. “Farrow liked them young, if you know what I mean. He liked to be surrounded by young teenage girls, so he let them in to the bar, along with some guys, too. You know…the football team mostly. He told us that if we brought in our female friends, he’d comp our drinks. Help us out. You know…with…things.”

  For once, Zack was grateful that his mother hadn’t let him play football. She’d said it was too dangerous. He’d argued until he was blue in the face, but she’d never relented. Now he was glad if this was what they were up to.

  “No, I don’t know. How did he help you?”

  Rubbing his forehead, Jay sighed again out loud.

  “You know…steroids. So we could get big and compete. If your dad had found out…shit…we didn’t want that to happen.”

  Because my dad’s been such a bastion of morality. Fuck, Joel Winslow probably wouldn’t have given a rat’s ass. But people in this town have such a skewed idea of who he truly is.

  If Zack had known, his father wouldn’t have been the person he would have told. He would have talked to his mother.

  “Steroids? You brought girls to the bar in exchange for performance enhancing drugs? Is that how Sarah got there?”

  “Yes,” Jay growled. “Ethan would take her. She liked to go because it got her out of the house. After a while, she’d go without him or anyone else.”

  “Did she sleep with Farrow? Is that what he was doing with those girls?”

  Just asking the question made Zack sick to his stomach.

  “I don’t know. I don’t know if any of them did.”

  “You didn’t want to know.”

  Jay shrugged, seemingly done talking. He sat at the table, staring at his hands and not looking at Zack.

  “Is there anything else you’re not telling me?”

  Still not speaking, Jay simply shook his head. Disgusted, Zack reached for the door handle and slid it open.

  “None of those girls did anything that they didn’t want to do. We didn’t force them to go. They wanted the attention and the free drinks.”

  Jay’s tone was defensive and aggressive all at the same time. He’d jutted out his chin, stubbornly holding onto being in the right.

  Rationalize much?

  “I guess that makes it all okay then,” Zack said, stepping outside into the sunshine. “Have a nice rest of your vacation and trip back home.”

  So much for that friendship. It’s over.

  He didn’t look back as he strode to the car where Cooper was waiting. They’d head to the bookstore and let Lucy and Jane know what they’d learned.

  Then they needed to take another look at Ed Farrow. And maybe Joel, too. Had he known what his friend was up to eighteen years ago? It was a question that needed asking.

  Soon.

  24

  They all met at Tate’s later that day, gathered at the bar. The tavern wasn’t that busy, just a few patrons playing darts in the back. Zack and Cooper filled Lucy, Jane, Tate, and Frankie in on their meeting with Lloyd Daniels and Jay.