Unfamiliar (Unfamiliar Series #1)

Chapter 39

The first thing I do when I get back to campus the next day is call up Officer Marshall.

"Officer Marshall, Salem PD, how can I help?" she inquires after she picks up the phone, her voice polite and neutral from its place on the other side of the line.

I can hear that there are other people in the background and I can guess that she's sitting at her desk at the police station. I choose my next words carefully in case her calls are being monitored as I sit in my dorm room alone, Tessa and Astrid having already gone to class.

"I think I might have some information that you'll want to hear," I tell her.

"Kara, I was hoping that you would call, can I meet you somewhere to talk?" she asks, her tone changing, but only slightly.

"Where would you like to meet?"

"There's a coffee house not too far away from the station, if you're interested, it's the Front Street Coffeehouse," she offers.

"I'll meet you there in twenty minutes," I promise.

"See you then, Kara," she replies without missing a beat as she hangs up the phone.

I navigate the quiet dorm building alone, as most everyone else is in class when I head out and take a taxi over to the coffee house. The roads narrow as the taxi takes me deeper downtown and brick-faced buildings line both sides of the street and press in close around me like watching eyes. The taxi eventually pulls up to a store where a few wrought-iron tables and chairs sit along the curb in front of the newer brick building. No one is sitting outside with it being this early in the morning, as the weather is particularly cold.

I draw my coat closer around myself and get out and pull my beanie down over my ears before I hustle up to the front door. Warm air billows over me when I open the door and step inside where low music is playing overhead. The interior is a quaint split level and has dark wood floors and brick walls while a couple of stairs lead up to the counter where coffee can be ordered.

People are sitting at many of the tables and the chatter mixed with the whine of coffee machines and blenders being used bombard me as the overpowering smell of food and coffee makes my mouth water. I glance around, searching the faces of the crowd as someone suddenly lifts a hand and I recognize them as being Officer Marshall.

I walk over to the table that she's claimed along the wall and sit down across from her as she shakes her head at me.

"There's a sitting area out back, I wanted to sit here until you showed up and then we could move out there where it's a bit quieter," she says as her eyes dart to a nearby table where a younger couple is sitting.

I get the hint immediately, 'quieter' as in, less listening ears to overhear us.

"Did you want to order anything to eat?" she inquires.

"I just want a small mocha latte," I tell her since I haven't eaten breakfast and I pass her a couple of dollar bills to cover the cost.

"Alright, wait here and then we'll head out," she says before she gets up and walks over to the counter to order.

I feel vulnerable as soon as she steps away from the table, like there is a near and present danger hovering nearby, waiting to strike. Though the only people I see around me are middle aged except for a small cluster of people around my age group. With the way that the younger crowd is hunched, I can guess that they're probably skipping school today.