Life is But a Dream: A Marlow and Sage Mystery (A Nursery Rhyme Suspense Book 2)

by Lee Strauss

  47

  

  Marlow

  I wanted to throw my phone against the wall, but my common sense prevailed. I couldn’t afford to buy a new phone, nor could I afford to fix a dent in the drywall. If only Sage would text me! Then I could go back to being semi-miserable instead of going completely out of my mind.

  “Call Eliza again,” I said to Zed. We’d walked back to our dorm after his disclosure to me about his run-in with “Lizzy.” I wished we’d chosen another place. Our room was so small and we were both pacing the narrow passages around our beds like caged animals.

  “I did,” Zed said with exasperation. “Five times. She’s not picking up.”

  “It can’t be a coincidence. The both of them out of reach.”

  “You think they’re together?”

  I shot him a look. “I think Eliza, Lizzy, took her.” My stomach knot was growing tighter. “Your girlfriend is dangerous, Zed. We have to find them.”

  “You don’t know that they’re together. Eliza is currently busy cheating on me. Sage is probably busy with her own boyfriend. Have you thought of that?”

  I was so focused on Eliza, I hadn’t considered that Sage might be with Tristan and that she wasn’t answering her phone because they were busy.

  “I need to borrow your bike, man.” I held out my hand for the key to his bike lock. “Please.”

  Zed dug in his pocket and handed me the key. “Where are you going?”

  “To find Tristan. I can’t stand the guy, but I hope you’re right and they’re together.”

  I cycled as fast as I could. Warm wind whipped through my hair, a slow burn growing in my thighs. I was probably overreacting. Sage had a perfectly good reason for not answering her phone. It could be dead. She might be sleeping. Everyone was overtired with exams approaching.

  I decided to swing by her dorm, just to double-check. I took the necessary minute to lock the bike in one of the racks and raced inside. I rapped on the door with barely suppressed urgency. “Come on, Sage. Answer the door.”

  It cracked open, and my heart dropped at the sight of Nora’s red hair. “Is Sage here?”

  “Nope.” She ran fingers through her curls and pouted. “Sorry, can’t let you in. I’m not decent.”

  “Do you know where she is?”

  She shook her head. “No. We’ve been like ships in the night lately.”

  I raced back to Zed’s bike, and my hands shook as I worked the lock free. She was with Tristan. Or maybe she was with another friend. She knew a lot of people on campus. She could be at a party. My lungs deflated. I was on a wild goose chase. I could ride throughout the campus all night long, and still not find her. Just because she wasn’t answering her phone didn’t mean Eliza had her. Like Zed said, Eliza was out with another guy.

  I talked myself off an emotional cliff, but it didn’t stop me from calling her again. I let out a sharp breath of frustration when it immediately went to voice mail.

  Back on the bike I rode toward Tristan’s dorm. Deep in my gut, I knew she wouldn’t be there, but I had to check just to be sure.

  By the time I got there, sweat was dripping down my back and along my temples. I lifted the bottom of my shirt to wipe my face before ringing the bell to Tristan’s building. Tristan answered the door and stepped outside.

  “What do you want?”

  “Is Sage with you?”

  He crossed his arms and flashed a cocky grin. “If she was, I wouldn’t tell you.”

  “Please, if she’s with you, just say so and I’ll leave.”

  “You know, I’m getting tired of this love-sick puppy routine you’ve got going on here. She’s my girl. Just accept it.”

  “I’m not after your girl. I just want to make sure she’s all right.”

  “Why wouldn’t she be?”

  How could I phrase it in a way his pea brain would understand? “She might be in trouble.”

  “What kind of trouble?”

  “Does it matter? I’m worried about her! Just tell me if she’s safe and I’ll leave.”

  Tristan’s hands dropped to his side. “No, she’s not here. But I’m sure she’s fine. You just need to chill, man.”

  I didn’t waste another millisecond talking to Tristan. I pulled out my phone and dialed 911.

  I met the detectives at Sage’s dorm, thinking they’d want to start there. I was mildly shocked to find that I recognized them from the green universe. They had come to Sage’s dorm when Teagan went missing.

  Detective Kilroy was a sturdily built woman, with brown hair pulled back in a tight low ponytail. She scrutinized me with a no-nonsense expression on her face.

  “How long has Ms Farrell been missing?” she asked.

  I knew I’d hit a roadblock with this question because Sage hadn’t been missing for more than twenty-four hours, which is why I told the dispatcher I had information on the drowning cases. I was so worried about Sage, her disappearance was my opening line when I approached the detectives.

  “I’m not sure. No one has seen her for hours.”

  Detective Simpson’s dark eyes matched the color of his skin. He narrowed them at me and grunted. “We can’t do anything until she’s been missing for twenty-four.”

  “I realize that, except I think the drownings are murders and that the person responsible has Sage.”

  “Mr. Henry,” Detective Kilroy began, “start from the beginning.”

  “Her name is Eliza Gellar. Sage met her in her support group, one for people who are suffering from depression or working through grief.” I tried to explain everything: the dreams, the sleepwalking, rescuing Sage, and then Zed. The observer. The yellow eyes.

  The detectives listened with tilted heads, casting occasional sideways glances that could be interpreted as, here goes another nut job.

  “That’s quite the story,” Simpson said when I stopped for breath. “And why exactly do you suspect—” He glanced down at the notes he’d taken. “Ms Gellar?”

  “She’s my roommate’s girlfriend, and he believes she’s suffering from some kind of split personality. Her name’s Eliza, but there are times when she thinks she’s someone else. Lizzy.”

  “Lizzy?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Detective Kilroy received a call and turned her back to take it. Moments later, she explained. “I had the precinct run Eliza Gellar’s name and she’s on file.” She raised an eyebrow to her partner before continuing. “Turns out Eliza Gellar had an abusive mother. Eliza ended up in the hospital twenty-eight times by the time she was seven. Broken bones, bruises, burns—all “accidents.” Social services finally stepped in, but on the day they arrived to remove her from her mother’s custody, they found Eliza floating in the tub, and the mother dead in the bedroom from a pill overdose.”

  “Eliza miraculously survived and moved from foster home to foster home, but in every case, the foster parents reported they were unable to manage her moods. She apparently suffered from severe depression and anger.”

  Eliza’s story was sad and horrifying. Someone damaged that badly could be capable of terrible things.

  “What do we do now?” I asked.

  “We’ll take it from here, Mr. Henry,” Kilroy said. “We’ll call you when we have news.”

  They entered Sage’s building to ask Nora and whomever else would talk to tell them what they knew about Sage and Eliza. They’d eventually make it to Tristan and then who knew where.

  I knew one thing for sure. I wasn’t going to sit this out. I’d seen Eliza’s eyes. I had to find Sage, and I had to find her now.

  48

  

  Sage

  My eyes fluttered open at the pounding throb in my skull. I didn’t know where I was or how I’d gotten there, only that I had the worst freaking headache of my life.

  Slowly, I grew aware of my awkward position. I lay on my back on something hard—definitely not my bed, no pillow. I tried to reach for the pain source on the back of my head, but I couldn’t s
eparate my wrists. I tugged, and something rough pulled at my skin. I lifted my hands, and peered at them through narrow slits. The small space where I lay was dark, but cracks in the walls cast enough light that I could make out my situation.

  A cool wave of confusion turned to fear and near-frozen panic. My wrists were bound by rope. I was lying in an old rowboat, under repairs maybe, since the seats had been removed. Beyond me, I made out the wooden walls of a midsized shed. One dirty window and a door that hung crookedly on its hinges.

  I sensed movement and turned my head, wincing at the knife of pain that shot through my brain from the effort. A girl stood in silhouette. Flouncy skirt, curly hair set loose like a puff ball.

  I croaked out, “Eliza?”

  “Sage, I’m so sorry. I couldn’t stop her.”

  “Who?”

  Eliza manically pushed her hair off her face, struggling to put it back in a bun. “She won’t let me help you.”

  “Who, Eliza? Who did this?”

  Eliza’s chin dropped to her chest, her arms fell to her side and her hair once again sprung out wildly. She began to sob.

  “Eliza?” I began carefully. “Untie my hands.”

  Eliza’s face popped up. “I can’t.”

  “Sure you can. It’s going to be okay. I promise.”

  “It’s not going to be okay!” Eliza screeched. “It’s never going to be okay! She wants to kill you. Don’t you get it? She always gets what she wants!”

  “Okay,” I said. My pulse rate jumped through the roof at Eliza’s shocking outburst. “Where is she?” I asked as Eliza went back to fighting with her hair. It was obvious that Eliza didn’t want to say the person’s name. “Is she nearby?”

  Eliza stiffened. Stood straight, shoulders back. She flicked her head, allowing her curls to spring free. Her eyes darkened somehow and her lips curled into a villainous grin.

  “Hello, Sage,” she said smoothly.

  “Eliza?”

  “My name is Lizzy!” she spat. “Eliza is a quivering weakling and a thorn in my side. I wish I could be rid of her permanently. She’s a nuisance and always underfoot.”

  I blinked incredulously. Eliza had a second personality. She was like Jekyll and Hyde. My breath quickened as my terror of “Lizzy” grew. I’d seen what she was capable of. Murder was a hobby of hers, and there was no doubt in my mind that I was in deep trouble. I wrestled with my bonds, tried to move my feet, but discovered that they too were bound with rope at the ankles.

  I had to keep her talking, and hope desperately that someone was looking for me. That Marlow was looking for me. I needed to keep her distracted so she wouldn’t notice me picking at the rope around my wrists. I had to twist my hands into a painful and uncomfortable angle, but then I could work at the knots with my fingernails. I kept them low to the side, hoping the edge of the boat hid my activity.

  “What do you want?” I asked.

  “I want people to get out of my way,” she said. “Let me have my fun.”

  “You think drowning people is fun?”

  “I don’t drown them. I convince them to drown themselves. And I watch. That’s the fun part.”

  Eliza had been the observer all along. That explained why there was no observer the night Zed was drawn to the canal. She may have two personalities, but she was unable to be in two places at once.

  “How’d you do it, Lizzy?”

  She smiled and propped against a sawhorse. “Do what?”

  “Get people to walk themselves into the canal? I mean, that’s impressive.” I wanted to stroke her ego. I had the feeling she’d respond to that, and I was right. She laughed heartily, throwing her head back.

  “It’s so much easier than you’d think. I can’t believe it took me this long to figure it out.” Her smiled disappeared and she stared me in the eye. I tried not to show my fear.

  “Dear Dr. Parker was my first step. He gave me Valitasipam in exchange for certain favors.” She cocked a brow. “If you know what I mean.”

  “He gave Valitasipan samples to all of us,” I said. “It’s FDA approved.”

  “He gave me a lot of Valitasipan,” she said. “And I doctored it up with a little hallucinogenic concoction of my own. Then on a follow-up visit, I replaced his drugs with mine.”

  I felt sick to my stomach. Dr. Parker had unwittingly given us drugs that had been tampered with by Eliza/Lizzy. That didn’t explain the dreams I’d shared with Marlow, though, since he’d never taken the drugs.

  “Did it work with everyone?” I asked.

  “Of course.”

  “How?”

  “You do know that human beings only use ten percent of their brains, right? Well, most humans. There are a few of us capable of using more.” She eyed me pointedly. “Like you. And your annoying friend Marlow Henry.”

  My heart jumped at Marlow’s name.

  “It’s why you two became problematic and kept interfering.” She tilted her head. “You surprised me. Both of you. I don’t know what your connection is with each other, but… ”

  “But what?”

  “It doesn’t matter,” she snapped, “because neither of you will live long enough to find out!”

  I swallowed. My head throbbed and my heart raced. I had to keep her talking.

  “That doesn’t explain the others. Olivia and Lindsey, Joe and Rajib?”

  “Once the drugs were in their systems, it was just a matter of suggestion. A little hypnotic push in the right direction. Once they began walking, I raced to this shed.” She motioned to an old style boat on the other side of the room. “I took this sweet vessel out onto the canal. Then it was just a matter of waiting for my reward.”

  Olivia and Lindsey were in our support group, so I knew how they were drugged. “How did you get to Joe and Rajib?”

  “They used me for sex. Like all guys want to. They thought they were so great, but intellectually, I could run circles around them. Once I was in their bed, it was easy to convince them to take a pill to help them sleep. All the rowing team athletes, including your special someone,” she added with a sickly sweetness, “want me. Have had me. And one by one, I will watch them drown.”

  Tristan’s betrayal didn’t surprise me, but it hurt like hell. I didn’t know why I thought he could change. The joke was on me.

  “They know it’s you,” I said. I was bluffing. Marlow and I suspected something was off about Eliza, but I had no idea it was this crazy. “The police are on to you.”

  She laughed. “Nice try. No one knows about the drugs. And even if they did, they’d have no way to tie it to me.”

  I suddenly remembered how we pulled Eliza out of the canal. “What if we hadn’t rescued Eliza? Would you have died too?”

  “No, stupid! I knew you’d come to rescue me, at least, I knew based on your past performances that you and wonderboy would show up, so I waited until I heard you coming then stepped into the canal. Once you were close enough, I summoned her.”

  Eliza really was innocent in all of this. I had to wonder what had happened to the poor girl to have caused this kind of psychotic breach.

  “You can get help,” I said kindly.

  She walked to a work bench along the wall and pulled something out of a bag. “I’m not the one who needs help.”

  My eyes popped wide at the sight of a syringe. She pressed the air out of it and tapped until a drop erupted from the needle.

  I screamed for help.

  49

  

  Marlow

  My mind raced. Where was Eliza? Where had she taken Sage?

  I had to think like Eliza. Her MO was to lure her victims into the canal after dark—a technique she couldn’t do in broad daylight. But now her hand was forced, which meant she could’ve done anything.

  Sage, where are you?

  I stopped short and then ran all the way back to my dorm. I suddenly knew what to do.

  I was red-faced and out of breath by the time I blasted into my room.

  “Dude!
” Zed said, startling upright. “Did something happen? Did they find them?”

  “Nothing happened,” I wheezed. “Sage is still missing. But I know how to find her.”

  “How?”

  “I’m going to dream.” I washed down a gel pill and crawled into my bed. “Wake me in an hour.”

  Zed answered hesitantly. “Okay.”

  “I mean it, Zed! Sage is in danger. I feel it in my bones. Wake me in an hour!”

  “I will!” Zed withdrew his phone. “I’ll even set the timer.”

  I’m in Java Junkie, standing behind Sage who sits alone at a table next to the window. Eliza enters and Sage waves. I open my mouth, try to shout a warning—stay away from Eliza, Sage!—but nothing comes out. I work my mouth, my tongue and my lips, but nothing. I’m mute.

  I try to step forward, to intervene, but now I can’t move. My arms and legs are like weights. I’m immobile, paralyzed. All I can do is watch.

  Sage and Eliza chat with light, friendly tones. From my vantage point I look directly at Eliza. Her features are soft and her eyes smile along with her lips. Looking at her, it’s impossible to imagine that she could be the mastermind behind several murders. For a second, I doubt myself.

  Sage excuses herself to use the restroom, and that proves to be a mistake. The moment she disappears, Eliza transforms. She removes her hair ties and shakes out her curls. She sits tall with tense shoulders then reaches inside Sage’s bag for her phone.

  “No!” My mouth forms a silent “o.” No sound escapes my lips. No one hears me yell.

  Except her. Eliza’s head snaps up. She narrows her eyes, locking with mine. Then her lips curl up in a devious smirk.

  She quickly taps on Sage’s phone—adding info, or changing it, I can’t tell. Then she retrieves hers and works on it.

  Sage returns.

  Eliza’s shoulders turn in, and her expression changes. She swoops up her hair tie and tugs her hair back into the short bun she always wears.