«Reb? What are you doing here at this time?» Hanna asked as soon as I walked into the Moonlight.
«Take me some coffee. A lot of coffee», I told her with narrow eyes as I headed to the usual table.
She burst out laughing as she was working to serve me.
I sat down on the chair, turning my back to the entrance. I recovered my tools and began to view my notes.
When Hanna brought me a steaming cup full of coffee, my smartphone vibrated.
«Here you are. I am finishing in an hour, so you can tell me what is happening to you», she said winking at me.
I accepted and thanked her. I touched the phone screen and saw the chat I discovered Josh had sent me.
Josh:
Where the hell are you?
Reb:
At Hanna's. At Moonlight.
Josh:
I am coming.
And so, it was.
Only two minutes later, my best friend arrived at the club out of breath. He dropped into the chair on my left and took a deep breath.
«What's happening?» I asked him dumbfounded.
«Nothing. You said you were coming back to the office and I was worried», he admitted pausing after each word.
Josh was getting very apprehensive. Too much, I was glad that he cared about me, but I knew how to take care of myself, since ever.
«I am fine, I was having a break.»
«You said this morning that your head was spinning. I thought you were sick», he said in a low voice, motioning Hanna to bring him some water.
She handed him the necessary from above the counter.
He was not wrong; I had felt my head muffled since all day and a strange weakness deep into the bones. The stress was more and more evident, I was not used to it, but I would have survived.
«I had to clear up my mind. Summing up my morning, I could say it was a real disaster: I pissed off Father Dorian and Mary Weather told me I'm going to go crazy. I think I deserve a coffee», I answered ironically smiling to Josh.
He widened his eyes and raised both eyebrows.
«You'll never change, Reb. One day soon you'll get yourself into trouble if you keep harassing people» he said sternly.
I didn't torment people, I just chatted with them.
It was different.
A few minutes later, Greg arrived, exhausted and astonished, immediately took his place next to Josh.
«What is wrong with you?» I questioned him, amazed.
He took a deep breath and rummaged in his jacket's pocket impatiently. He pulled out a USB pen drive which he handed to me.
I grabbed it and looked at it: thin, metallic and completely anonymous.
«If my father finds out what I have done he is going to disinherit me», he said drinking the water from my best friend's glass.
Josh looked at him annoyed and, with a sudden gesture, took his glass back.
«What's in that pen drive?» he asked, pouring himself more water from the bottle that Hanna had given to him.
«I went into the police database and found some reports about disappearances that have occurred over the past twenty years. Plus, other documents that seemed suspicious to me», he explained with the voice so low to be barely audible.
My face lit up, Gregory Tanner had done something so rebellious and dangerous just to help me. Sure, he wanted as much as I did to find out the truth, but I was equally thrilled.
I hid those important data in my bag and thanked Greg fondly.
«I adore you. I know I can always count on you. You are my hero!» I acted like a little girl admiring her favorite star.
We all laughed together when, suddenly, Josh's gaze became alarmed.
«Holy crap!» he said, turning pale while staring at something beyond my back.
Greg, not least, seemed petrified, mute, motionless and with his eyes completely wide open.
Intrigued, I turned to understand what had caused their strange reaction and my heart suddenly stopped.
Sebastian was standing in front of Hanna at the bar counter and was asking her something.
My best friend looked at me out of the corner of her eye and I swallowed, staring back at the center of the table.
«What the hell is he doing here at the Moonlight?» Greg murmured dismay by the presence of that much feared character.
I turned to him.
Sebastian conversed with Ginger Tanner, then they shook hands and his eyes, in an instant, were locked on me.
As soon as he saw me, he flashed that smile that infuriated me, but that, at the same time, teased me from within.
He walked over to my table coming straight in my direction. It took him a few strides and I found him in front of me. He looked at me with that mocking grin, not caring about everything else.
At Moonlight everyone was speechless, only the background music was there to break that silence that, otherwise, would have been deafening.