Never Ever ✔️

Chapter 47

“That was Daze,” John muttered. “I don’t like Daze.”

“Daze?” Varun questioned.

“The guy with Klaus. Everyone’s afraid of him. He never opens his eyes all the way. Looks like he’s half-asleep.People call him Daze.”

“Why would he be with Klaus?”

“Drugs,” John answered.

“Klaus Tate has a drug problem?”

“Lots of drug problems,” John muttered. “His biggest drug problem is Daze.”

A few minutes later the front door opened and the man—Daze—exited Niyasa pushing three Rubbermaid containers, one stacked on top of the other, on a dolly. He didn’t look around, didn’t slow, but continued at a leisurely pace to the truck parked in front of the boutique. Varun watched as he hoisted the bins into the back of the vehicle and then returned to the salon, leaving the dolly sitting on the sidewalk.

“Do you think I could have that dolly?” John asked after they’d waited several more minutes. “I would like that.”

“Are you sure you saw Reet go inside?” pressed. The thought of Reet being inside Niyasa with Klaus and Daze wasn’t sitting well with him.

“I think so,” John hedged, worrying his lip.

A few minutes later Daze was back, jangling a set of keys. He opened the driver’s side door of the truck and climbed in. Varun expected to see Klaus exit Niyasa as well, but Daze wasn’t waiting. He started Klaus’s truck, and without a second look, pulled away from the curb and headed south down the street.

“That’s Klaus’s truck. Where’s Klaus?” John said. “And why didn’t Daze put that dolly back?”

Varun waited a few minutes more, his eyes glued to the front door. No lights. No Klaus. No Ri. Maybe she wasn’t inside. Poor John wasn’t giving him much confidence with his talk of towels and his innocent coveting of the abandoned dolly.

“If you call the police . . . will they take me away?” Johnsaid abruptly.

“Why—” he stopped, sniffing the air.

“Do you smell smoke?” Varun hissed.

John sniffed the air too, and then sniffed at his clothes. “I always smell like smoke.”

Varun was out of the his Car and running across the street before John even managed to entangle himself from the front seat. Varun wrenched on the door of the salon, but it was locked. He pushed his face to the glass, peering into the gloom, trying to see what was happening inside.

John was suddenly there beside him, his face pressed to the window, hands framing his eyes.

“What the hell?” Varun hissed. His instincts were screaming, and a red glow had begun to glimmer from deep in the store. It was on fire, and Klaus Tate had gone inside and he had not come out. That much Varun knew.

"We need rocks. "John muttered and started searching for it, in his backpack.

Varun eyed the enormous rock John pulled from the depths. “I’ve been feeling extra floaty lately,” he explained, self-conscious. Without warning, he heaved it through the glass.

“Was that wrong, John? It didn’t feel wrong,” John worried.

Varun picked up John’s backpack, still brimming with an assortment of rocks, and zipped it closed. He swung it at the window, clearing away the shards. Smoke billowed out around them. Handing John the backpack, he grabbed the man by his shoulders.