Iasked Wally to meet me at a coffee shop on campus. A huge wave of relief washed over me when I spotted him seated at the back table, the one furthest from the front entrance near the glass display case full of cakes and cookies fresh from the bakery. It was our old spot, where we used to share late-night coffees and last-minute study sessions when we were still seeing one another.
We texted on and off since our breakup a couple weeks prior, but the was the first time seeing each other in person since then. I thought it would be awkward to see him again, but it wasn’t. He smiled wide when he saw me, standing as I approached. He hugged me tight, like two old friends reuniting after years apart.
I shouldn’t have expected anything less. Wally was always easy to be around. He as a good listener, a kind soul. He was a genuinely wonderful person.
I knew lots of people would probably take issue with usjust being friends. Exes who could maintain a platonic relationship and an above average level of decency were rare in this day and age. But nothing ever happened between us that warranted maliciousness.
The truth was, Wally and I broke up because we wanted different things. I wanted to stay in Chicago and build an investment firm from the ground up. He wanted to travel the world and immerse himself in other countries’ cultures, specifically interested in their foods. He wanted to cook, to one day run his own kitchen.
Our paths were heading in different directions, and we both knew it from the start. I couldn’t fault him for wanting to follow his dreams, just as he couldn’t fault me for following mine. When we broke up, we promised to support each other no matter what. It was the mature, adult thing to do.
“How’re you doing, Einstein?” he asked, a twinge of concern in his words. “You really freaked me out over the phone. Is everything alright?”
I glanced over my shoulder. I could have sworn someone was watching me. “Molly’s missing,” I whispered. “And I think… I think I’m next.”
Wally blinked, looking at me like I’d lost my mind. “Sit down. Tell me everything.”
I sat on the edge of my seat, knees bouncing, wringing my fingers together. “Friday at work, I noticed something. Money was missing from one of the client accounts. Lots of it. At first, I thought it was an error in the system. Molly volunteered to bring it up with our supervisor. She didn’t show up for drinks that night like we’d planned, and I couldn’t get ahold of her all weekend. Then, when I came in to work today, she was gone. They told me she was transferred to a different department.”
His brow furrowed. “You don’t believe it?”
“Fuck no,” I mumbled hurriedly. “That much money. Gone without a trace? And then Molly disappears without a word? She’d never not tell me something like that, and she’s not answering my texts. That’s not a coincidence. I think something terrible happened to her, and Blue Cloud Financial is covering their tracks.”
Wally paused, staring at me like I suddenly grew a second head. And then he started laughing. “Hilarious as always,” he said, wiping the moisture from his eyes. “Have you finally made the leap from genius to insanity?”
I gripped the edge of the table and leaned in close. “I’m not crazy, Wally. I wouldn’t lie about something like this. You know I wouldn’t.”
“Okay,” he said softly, patting me on the forearm. “Okay.”
“You believe me?”
He sighed. “I mean, I believeyoubelieve you’re in trouble.”
“Wally—”
“Do you have proof?”
I attempted to swallow, but my throat was squeezed tight. The encrypted files. All the proof I needed was there, but I couldn’t get to them without the password. I left in such a hurry that I didn’t even think to make a copy, but the thought of going back to work made my heart race. What if they caught me? What if they did to me what they did to Molly?
“No,” I mumbled through gritted teeth. “No, I don’t have any proof. Except that Molly ghosting me is not normal.”
He sighed, running a hand through his dark curls. “That’s not ideal.”
I slumped in my chair. “I know, but I—”
The soft chime of the bell just above the coffee shop’s door reached my ear. I looked over Wally’s shoulder and saw a man standing at the entrance. Any other day, any other time, I wouldn’t have batted an eye. But the alarm bells in the back of my mind went off, a deep-rooted impulse that told me there was nothing ordinary about him.
He was tall, intimidatingly wide with an oddly small head. He wore sunglasses despite the fact that it was an overcast day. He wore an all-black ensemble —black shirt, black pants, black shoes— as if that wasn’t the universal uniform for bad guys everywhere.
“Hi!” the barista behind the counter greeted with a chipper smile. “What can I get for you, sir?”
He didn’t answer. He scanned the inside of the coffee shop, his gaze stopping on me. The man took a single step toward me and I knew I was in trouble. I grabbed Wally by the hand and dragged him out of his seat, dashing toward the back exit.
“We have to go!” I exclaimed, heart pounding in my ear.
“Viv, what—”
There wasn’t time to explain. I pulled Wally through the narrow back exit and out into the alleyway around back. It was filthy, commercial garbage bins full and awaiting pickup and graffiti all over the place. We ran as fast as we could, reaching the main road and slipping into busy pedestrian traffic.