Chapter 18 · Marcus Remembers Three

Charlotte slammed the photo face-down on the table between them. The corner bent. She didn't care.

"You held her hand."

Marcus didn't move. His jacket was still wet from the rain two loops ago—no, this loop. She kept forgetting which version of the night she was in. He sat across from her in the back room of the shuttered pharmacy, one hand resting on the table, the other out of sight. The overhead bulb buzzed. Somewhere outside a siren started and stopped.

"I did," he said.

She wanted to put her gun in his mouth. She wanted answers more. The math didn't work any other way.

"When."

"Nine years ago. October."

The month Lisa disappeared. Charlotte's fingers curled against the table edge. The laminate was cold and slightly sticky. She could smell old disinfectant and something else—copper. Blood, maybe. Something from a loop she hadn't lived yet.

"Why."

Marcus finally moved. He leaned back in the chair, and the metal legs scraped against tile. His face was hard to read in the flat light. She used to be able to tell when he was lying.