THREE DAYS BEFORE

CHAPTER TWO

THE MISSING HOURS

Mara woke to the sound of rain.

For several seconds, she didn't know where she was.

A white ceiling.

A faint antiseptic smell.

The steady hum of something nearby.

Then she remembered.

Elena.

Mara sat up too quickly.

The room tilted.

A hand immediately pressed against her shoulder.

"Easy."

She turned.

The police officer stood beside the bed.

Mara stared at him.

"Where am I?"

"At the hospital."

She looked down.

Her clothes were gone.

A thin hospital blanket covered her.

Her hands had been cleaned.

The blood was gone.

Except for the memory of it.

"What happened?"

"You collapsed."

Mara looked around the room.

"How long?"

"A couple of hours."

She swallowed.

"Elena."

The officer's expression changed.

Mara noticed.

"You said she was dead."

"I did."

Mara closed her eyes.

For a moment, she saw Elena sitting across from her in the restaurant.

Warm lights.

A glass of water.

That expression on her face.

Fear.

Mara opened her eyes.

"I saw her."

The officer pulled a chair closer.

"When?"

"Last night."

"You're sure?"

Mara frowned.

"I think so."

"You think so?"

"I remember being with her."

"Where?"

"A restaurant."

"Which one?"

Mara opened her mouth.

Nothing came.

She searched her memory.

The name should have been there.

It wasn't.

"What restaurant?"

"I don't remember."

The officer watched her carefully.

"What time did you meet Elena?"

Mara pressed her fingers against her forehead.

"I don't know."

"What did you talk about?"

"I don't remember."

"What happened after you left?"

Mara stared at him.

"I don't know."

Silence filled the room.

The officer leaned back.

"Mara, there's something you need to understand."

She looked at him.

"We found Elena several hours after you say you last saw her."

Mara's stomach tightened.

"Where?"

"Behind an old cinema."

She looked away.

"How did she die?"

"We're still investigating."

"Was she alone?"

He hesitated.

"Yes."

Mara looked back at him.

"Are you sure?"

"We haven't found anyone else."

Anyone else.

The words stayed in her mind.

Mara looked down at her hands.

"Then why was there blood on me?"

The officer didn't answer immediately.

"We don't know."

"But you think I had something to do with it."

"I didn't say that."

"You didn't have to."

He sighed.

"We're trying to establish a timeline."

"I don't have one."

"That's the problem."

Mara looked at him.

"What does that mean?"

"You remember being with Elena."

"Yes."

"But you can't remember where."

"Yes."

"You can't remember when you left."

"No."

"And you can't explain how you got home."

Mara said nothing.

The officer continued.

"There's a gap in your memory."

She looked away.

A gap.

That was exactly what it felt like.

As though someone had taken a pair of scissors to her life and cut out several hours.

"How long?" she asked.

"We don't know yet."

Mara's eyes moved toward the window.

Rain traced slow lines down the glass.

Then she remembered something.

"The messages."

The officer looked at her.

"What messages?"

"My phone."

She reached for it.

It wasn't there.

"Where's my phone?"

"We have it."

"Why?"

"For evidence."

Mara stared at him.

"What evidence?"

"We found several messages on it."

Her heart began beating faster.

"From who?"

"That's what we're trying to determine."

Mara remembered the words.

DON'T TURN ON THE LIGHT.

HE CAN SEE YOU.

DON'T LOOK UNDER THE BED.

She looked at the officer.

"Someone was in my room."

"Did you see anyone?"

"No."

"But you heard someone?"

Mara nodded.

"What did you hear?"

"Breathing."

The officer wrote something down.

"And scratching."

He stopped writing.

"Under the bed."

Mara nodded.

He looked at her for a long moment.

"Did you check?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because someone told me not to."

"Who?"

"I don't know."

"Then why did you listen?"

Mara stared at him.

She didn't have an answer.

The officer closed his notebook.

"Get some rest."

He stood.

"Wait."

He stopped.

"What about my house?"

"We're securing it."

"Can I go back?"

"Not yet."

"Why?"

He hesitated.

"We found something."

Mara's stomach dropped.

"What?"

"We'll talk about it later."

"Tell me now."

He shook his head.

"Mara, you've had a traumatic night."

"Tell me."

He looked at her.

"Your bedroom has been treated as a crime scene."

Mara went still.

"Why?"

"We found blood."

"I know."

"Not just on your clothes."

Her face tightened.

"Where?"

"On the floor."

She remembered the footprints.

"Mine?"

"We don't know yet."

The officer walked toward the door.

Before leaving, he turned.

"One more thing."

Mara waited.

"Don't contact anyone connected to Elena."

"Why?"

"Until we know what happened."

He left.

The door closed softly behind him.

Mara sat alone.

The room suddenly felt colder.

She stared at the rain outside.

Then her mind returned to the words on her wrist.

YOU WERE THERE, MARA.

She looked down.

The words were gone now.

The hospital had washed them away.

But she could still see them.

She closed her eyes.

And something happened.

A memory.

Brief.

Sharp.

A door opening.

Elena's voice.

"Mara, you have to listen to me."

Mara's eyes snapped open.

She could hear it.

Not clearly.

But enough.

She grabbed the edge of the bed.

"What were you trying to tell me?"

Nothing.

The memory vanished.

Mara sat frozen.

Then her phone appeared in her mind again.

The unknown number.

The messages.

Whoever had sent them knew about her.

Knew where she was.

Knew what she was doing.

And knew something about the missing hours.

A thought entered her mind.

One she didn't want to have.

Maybe the messages weren't meant to frighten her.

Maybe they were meant to protect her.

Mara looked toward the closed door.

And for the first time, another possibility occurred to her.

What if the person warning her...

was the same person who had been watching her?

She reached for the bedside table.

Her fingers touched something.

A small plastic evidence bag.

Inside was a single object.

Her phone.

Mara stared at it.

She hadn't noticed it before.

Slowly, she picked it up.

The screen was dark.

She pressed the power button.

Nothing.

Then it lit up.

One notification appeared.

UNKNOWN NUMBER

Mara's breath caught.

There was a new message.

She opened it.

Only four words.

YOU FORGOT THE BEGINNING.

Mara stared at the screen.

Then another message appeared.

REMEMBER ELENA.

Her hands began to shake.

Because beneath the messages was something she hadn't noticed before.

A photograph.

Timestamped from the previous night.

Mara opened it.

The image was dark and grainy.

But she recognized the place immediately.

The restaurant.

She zoomed in.

Elena was sitting at the table.

And across from her—

was Mara.

Mara stopped breathing.

She zoomed in again.

Elena wasn't looking at her.

She was looking at someone standing behind Mara.

Someone whose face had been deliberately blurred.

Mara stared at the photograph.

She couldn't remember that person.

She couldn't remember anyone standing behind her.

Then she noticed Elena's hand.

She was pointing toward something on the table.

A small object.

A key.

Mara's eyes widened.

She had seen that key before.

Not in the photograph.

Not in the restaurant.

Somewhere else.

She just couldn't remember where.

The phone vibrated in her hand.

One final message appeared.

THREE DAYS WAS ALL YOU HAD.

Mara stared at the words.

Then slowly looked toward the hospital window.

The rain had stopped.

But someone was standing across the street.

Watching her.

And this time—

Mara was certain she had seen him before.