Chapter 295: Resent Reject, Regret By Aqua Summers Chapter 296

Chapter 296 There’s No One Inside!

Brendan woke up with both a sore throat and a body as heavy as lead. Jolts of chill and heat cycled through his veins, cluing him in on the possibility that he had a fever. The last time he had been sick like this was about a year ago, and Brendan had a faint idea of where the medicine kit was.

Deirdre had placed it in the cabinet near the headboard.

He coughed and pulled the door to the cabinet open. Every medicine bottle had a post-it note with scribbles on the dosage and its expiration date. It was just who Deirdre was-she had always been very meticulous with whatever she undertook.

Brendan tore the note away and felt his chest somehow get torn open.

A few days had passed with no sign of his sickness availing. Still, he went to work, battling his coughing fits and general sickness as he thumbed through paperwork. More days passed, and he was beginning to think his memories were fading into white noise.

Then, suddenly, he received a call from Sam.

“Mr. Brighthall, we found the car!”

He cast everything aside and drove to the Southern Bridge. Sam was talking to a group of people as they undressed in the bitter cold. They were about to dive, apparently.

The wintry gale nipped at Brendan’s temples, and his headache worsened. Panting, he approached them. and asked, “How’s it going?”

“We’ve pinpointed the exact location of the vehicle, sir. This will be the second time these divers go down. They have their tools with them this time,” Sam explained. “The goal is to break the windows and…. pull Miss McKinnon out of it.”

Brendan felt the world blurring before his eyes for a second. “I… I see.”

He thought his heart had grown numb, but it suddenly tightened. Every part of his chest was filled with little needlepoints of stinging pain because… he was scared. He was terrified of seeing Deirdre’s corpse lying sprawled before him.

At the same time, part of him felt relieved. He was relieved to finally be able to bury Deirdre instead of leaving her spirit locked inside that sunken car at the bottom of the icy sea.

The team began to put on their diving gear. “The average body extraction agency has rejected our request, Mr. Brighthall,” Sam explained further. “These divers were the only ones who would accept the job, though even assembling this team took a long while. No one wanted to take this on. It’s cold this-

month, and people don’t want to get sick from the expedition. Also… Most people simply shun jobs that involve the dead, sir.”

Brendan understood their reasoning, so he replied, “Once they are back on shore, tell them they are.

getting $71,500 for their effort.”

Sam nodded, then frowned. He finally got to inspect Brendan’s face a little more closely and found his coloring alarming. “Mr. Brighthall, are you sick?”

Brendan did not seem to mind. “Been under the weather for a few days, but it’s fine.”

“It’s cold out here. Maybe you should wait in the car. I’ll inform you the moment they get back.”

“No,” Brendan said snippily, his refusal as instinctive as a knee-jerk movement. He pursed his lips and stared at the sea, as he could not bear to miss any image or moment. The location of the drowning vehicle was too far from the shoreline, though, and after so many weeks, it had sunk quite deeply to the seafloor.

Time crawled forward. The team did not return for hours. As the expedition went on, Brendan felt his heartbeat racing.

Anxiety and dread gnawed at those who waited by the shore. Then, finally, several silhouettes bobbed to the surface.

The team rose to the shore, and yet only their tools were with them. Sam stepped forward and asked, What’s wrong?”

One of the divers wiped seawater away from his face. Even as he put his clothes on, he shivered. “With all due respect, sir, is this a prank? There’s no one inside!”

“What the hell-”

“What?!”

Brendan had lurched forward, his hands clutching the man’s collar. He narrowed his eyes and demanded indignantly, “What do you mean?!”

The diver stiffened. Sam had to step forward and assuaged him. “That’s Mr. Brighthall. It’s okay.”

The man’s shoulders relaxed. “Oh. Okay, so I broke the window with my tool and we got inside. The thing is… that Miss McKinnon lady wasn’t the only one who wasn’t in there. Even the driver was missing!” ‘That Miss McKinnon lady wasn’t the only one who wasn’t in there. Even the driver was missing-”

It was as though someone had let loose a swarm of hornets inside his skull. A thought formed amidst the chaos and triggered the flames in his chest, as if itching to break out. His eyes were beet-red. “Are you Sure?”