Uncovering You 10: The Finale by Scarlett Edwards Read Free Book Online

inside me. The feeling left me in such unbridled ecstasy that I still have not come down.
    But now I’m back in the office, staring at the puzzle I’m sure is there. Some people would say there’s nothing to be found. Yet I have the inkling of a pattern emerging. That knowledge is faint, hovering just on the edge of my mind. But it is there. I can feel it. Pattern recognition—maybe it’s something that I inherited from my father. He sees things that others don’t. If it manifests in his art, then it’s not a curse, but a gift.
    Sadly, a gift that none but I will know.
    However, not sadly, some of that talent must have transferred to me. Formerly untapped, I can sense it, lying latent, waiting for the spark that will start the fire and reveal the hidden darkness of the room.
    Or, at least—reveal the thing that Hugh is hiding in all these sheets.
     

     
    Another half day goes by and I’ve made no tangible process. It’s infuriating, feeling that I’m close to a discovery but being unable to reach out and grasp it.
    I look outside. The May sun is shining in earnest. It makes me think of beaches and palm trees and ocean-side summer parties. It makes me think of the time Jeremy and I spent on his yacht, then on his island, almost half a year ago.
    I want to go away with him again. Forget all this, and just float in the bliss that his touch can provide. Get away from the frenzy, the people, and the noise.
    But isn’t this what I envisioned for myself before I met Jeremy? Isn’t this what I thought I wanted when I was still in school?
    Damn! Nobody says I cannot have both. I can ask Jeremy to whisk us away. We’ll return to his tropical paradise. We’ll spend a few nights there, and come back to work. He’s mobile. He can run his company from anywhere. And I am too. To be honest, at the moment I feel totally useless.
    No, I’m not going to ask for a getaway just yet. Not until I uncover whatever it is that’s staring me in the face.
    But I do need a little break. I push up, off the table, lock the door, and go downstairs and outside.
    Immediately, I feel refreshed. The sun feels wonderful against my skin. I wander through the crowds of people, enjoying the sense of anonymity that comes from being one in a thousand.
    I start to walk faster, thinking hard. My mind keeps going back to Hugh’s papers. What are they? What’s hidden there? What is—
    I stop. I look around me. The crowds have gone. I’m alone at the entrance of a shabby alley.
    How did I get here? I look around. There are a few pedestrians still on the street. A car or two drives by. There is the Stonehart building in the distance, dominating the city skyline. But, by God, it’s far away. How lost must I have been in my own thoughts to come this far?
    I don’t like this place. I get eerie vibes similar to the time I found myself lost and alone in Jeremy’s mountain home.
    I turn around, wanting to get back amongst people, away from the shadows, into the sun.
    A white van screeches to a halt in front of me. The doors open. Three masked men jump out.
    Before I know what’s happening, they’ve grabbed me.
    I try to scream but a rag is shoved in my mouth. I struggle against my assailants but I can’t get free.
    A sack is thrown over my head. A harsh, chemical smell surrounds me. Chloroform?
    Immediately, I feel myself fading. The struggle stops. My limbs give out. I fall back, am caught, and carried inside. The last sound I hear is the vehicle door sliding shut.
     

     
    I come to with a gasp. I open my eyes, but cannot see. I am blindfolded.
    I try to move. My arms are locked behind my body. My legs are tethered to the floor. I’m sitting, upright, in a chair, bound in place.
    Panic rises up and threatens to consume me.
    I thrash about. I rip my head back and forth, trying to get the blindfold to slide off. It’s no use. Struggling is no use either. I’m bound tight.
    The instinct to fight claws through me like an angry cat. I keep