Painful sunshine forced its way through the blinds, and the scent of a stale pillowcase was becoming too much to bear. Jack pushed himself up, wincing at the pounding headache that only got worse with the movement. One drink to unwind turned into three, which turned into the whole bottle to just not care.

He pulled out his phone and frowned at the conversation sitting open. Ice filled his veins as he recalled texting Kieran in his drunken stupor. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Kieran had the patience of a saint, and it only served to make Jack more suspicious.

heeey kiki

kikikikiki

Kiki? Either you're feeling better or you've messaged me by mistake.

even better

vodka was cheepcheep

wuts that nose mask thing?

Could you be more specific?

$$$ big wood?

its got a long nose

real $$$$$

Possibly an African tribal mask of some sort. I'm not able to send pictures at the moment, but I may be able to narrow it down if you remember where you saw it. Do you recall if it had any other materials besides wood? Perhaps some other defining features?

u rite lots

brwn behind reg

wants 2 eat my soul has teeth?

Real or false teeth?

they look real

mask w dentures lol

A Ziba mask. I believe it was carved in the late nineteenth century.

dosnt look 80 r 90s 2me

Late 1800s, my sweet.

ya u gotta subtract! i kne that

Might I ask what brought on this sudden interest?

its cool i liek it u got cool stuf

Jack would have felt relieved that his drunk texting was just him obsessing over the weird mask, but then insecure and drunken him had to go and obsess over his coming out. Next time, he was going to be locking up his phone. This was embarrassing.

sry i dnt wanna sleep w u

ur hot, its me, not u

Yes, I came to that conclusion when you told me.

wut u want from me?

not sex, so wut?

i can make u website

look nicr n wut u got it sux

unlike me lol

thats mean sry

I'm finding companionship to be a desirable thing at this point in my life.

Jack frowned at the timestamp. Kieran had taken longer to reply than what his relatively short answer should have called for. And considering how quickly Kieran responded with his longer texts, the five minutes between Jack's last message and Kieran's eventual answer had him wondering what the truth might be.

wutev sap i sleep

Sleep well, my sweet siren. ❤️

Part of him wanted to apologize. The other part wanted to ignore everything and pretend it never happened. He thought for a moment before tapping out a quick apology.

sry 4 drunk texting

ur not a sap ur nice

That should do. Nice, simple, and ignoring everything else. He growled in annoyance when his phone pinged with a reply. Attentive bastard.

Think nothing of it, my sweet. You had a trying day and needed to relax.

Is this the mask you were enquiring about?

Jack saved the image and sent it on to Sam with a request for a printout. If he couldn't have the actual mask, then at least he'd have something to put on his wall or fridge.

thx hungover 2day n hangn w candy 2mrw

mayb cu fri?

I would love to get together on Friday. I'll pick you up at 7:00.

Now that he was somewhat committed to their date, he wanted to bail. He deleted the conversation and glared at the empty screen. His phone rang and displayed the image of a pig.

"Elster," he greeted, forcing a bit of gruffness into his voice.

"What the hell did you just send me?" Sam demanded over the wind in the background.

"A picture of a mask. Cool, huh?"

"This thing might actually give me nightmares. It looks like…" Sam's voice trailed off as the wind picked up.

"Like?" Jack prompted. Apprehension gripped his lungs, and his breaths became short and shallow.

"A case," Sam replied in resignation. "Please don't look into it. It's gruesome."

"Right…" Jack swallowed and forced a deep breath. People died, and corpses decayed. Most likely, it was just some transient who got stuck out in the elements.

"Hey. Where's a good bar? Since some asshole decided shutting down my go-to bar was a good idea," he said pointedly. He didn't blame Sam. Not exactly.

"I didn't shut down your bar," Sam said, his voice raised against the wind in the background.

"I walked by it the other day. That police tape sure looks like you guys did it."

"You actually want to go back there?"

"I mean…" Jack sighed as he slowly moved to lay his head at the foot of his bed, away from the stale pillowcase. Did he want to go to a bar where the owner had been brutally murdered? If he avoided every single place where someone died, he'd have nowhere to go.

"I dunno," he said. He closed his eyes and listened to the muffled voices on Sam's end that drifted in and out with the wind. "I was used to it. I knew the regulars."

"I'm thinking you should avoid going out for a while," Sam said in a slow and careful tone.

"Why? What happened? Why am I banned from bars?" Jack asked. He braced himself to hear about barflies being hunted down. He'd feel a lot better about being forced away if Sam was hanging out at a crime scene involving another bar.

"Aside from picking up a couple blackout drunks with no alcohol or drugs in their system? Nothing with bars."

"Weird. New drug just dropped?" It sounded like something that would be right up Jack's alley. Maybe he could get in on it while it was cheap.

"I hope not. But if it is something new, it seems fairly harmless. People were right as rain a couple hours after being picked up."

"If it's the same effects as drinking without the hangover, I would not mind being hooked up," Jack said, pouring in every bit of hopeful hinting he could.

"Yeah, right," Sam replied with a laughing huff. "Either way, I want you off the streets at night. If you forget and get stuck at the library or something, then call me. I'll get you home."

Jack rolled onto his back and glared at the ceiling. "All because of some new drug? I don't need a babysitter."

"This isn't about the drunks," Sam said in a tired tone.

"Then why can't I go out? Things stay open past sundown. I can't change my life because you—"

"Jack. It looks like Farragut is pulling strings to implicate another man and push up his parole," Sam said, his voice harsh and clipped. "Your testimony was so full of holes and contradictions, we're lucky everything you said wasn't thrown out."

Jack turned to his side and curled up. "I wasn't that bad."

"Remind me how long you spent at Hillsbrook."

"Eight months," he quietly replied.

"Stay off the streets."

"Okay. What if I'm with Tara? Or, uh, Kieran?"

"Don't push it, Jack."

"Instead of me sabotaging date night, it's you. That's new," Jack said, hoping to change the subject and forget the reminder of being institutionalized.

"I take it that means things are going good with the boyfriend?"

"I guess? We had an interesting conversation, and things are working in my favor. I'm still waiting for the other shoe to drop." Waiting or hoping, he wasn't sure. But the sooner it happened, the sooner Jack could relax to some degree and fret about something else.

"I know it's a strange concept, but good things do happen," Sam said kindly. The wind rose along with shouts requesting a tarp.

"Fine. Hey, where are you?"

"The beach."

"Real beach or tide pool beach?"

"Morris Bay. Couple news crews are here, so I'm sure you'll hear all about it tonight," Sam said bitterly.

"Who's got the better view? Wix or Wax?" Jack hoped it was WAHX. His antenna caught the signal better.

"If Joe did his job right, neither. Gruesome, Jack. Don't spy."

"But if it's—"

"Rent for the guest room is the litter box. All three."