Word traveled fast around the Saw Household.

Adam didn't slam his hand on the table, it would draw attention to him. But he sure as hell wanted to, biting his tongue until the taste of iron filled his mouth was only getting him so far.

He was at a different coffee shop, one even closer to home than the one with Lawrence. Right outside of town, hell, he could see the city limits sign from his spot on the booth. He was waiting for Lark — who was late, because of course he was — and couldn't force himself to stop shaking. A few customers were glancing over at him, but he'd shoot them an annoyed glance and then look away.

He really wished Lawrence would have just waited until after this little meeting to tell Adam the news.

There was another game. Another death, a murder even if Lawrence himself refused to call it that.

The informant, Allison Kerry. Her ribcage was ripped off, that was the only way the freaking doctor could explain it. In what they called the 'Angel Trap,' because it wasn't enough to put people in these things, Operation Jigsaw had to come up with quirky little names for them too.

And what pissed Adam off the most was that she passed her game.

But she died anyway. Murder.

Amanda.

Lawrence knew about it before the cops showed up. Adam wasn't sure if they had gotten over there to discover her body yet, Lawrence wasn't sure how long she'd stay hanging there and Adam didn't necessarily want to keep asking questions to let him find out. All he knew was Hoffman was going to work the case.

How the hell Jigsaw ended up being the one Adam was the least pissed about — save for Lawrence, of course — was beyond him. But the man was off somewhere, writhing in a hospital bed, waiting for what would probably be his final game. And Lawrence was finishing up with staking out the hospital for one of the 'players' in that 'game.' She was a doctor, apparently. Lynn. One more time, Lawrence had offered to tell him why Jigsaw felt she had fucked up so bad that she deserved to be put in a death trap, but Adam had shot down story time real quick. Then Lawrence said something about how a different person would actually be going through the main traps, and Adam had changed the conversation well before the doctor could elaborate on that.

Adam shifted in his seat when a familiar car pulled up. It was beat-up, red even if the paint was faded you might have trouble telling. It was covered in mud and dirt, rusted beyond repair. Stacy was the car's name, after Lark's ex who he was dating at the time. Then after they broke up, Lark didn't have the heart to change her name.

It wasn't long before Lark marched into the shop, an annoyed scowl already etched across his face. He walked over and sat down across from Adam.

"Hey, Lark," Adam said after a moment. "Thanks for showing up. Yanno, I wanted to go to that bar like we did with 'Wrath of the Gods,' but I didn't wanna show my face and—"

"However much of a fuck you think I give, divide it by three. Why'd you ask me to come here?"

Adam bit his lip. He wasn't one for small talk either, never really was. But a part of him had hoped that Lark would want to talk about something else, even if for a moment. Most talks with Lawrence made it back to talking about Jigsaw. Even Pamela asked him how he was dealing or about Hoffman more than he would care to admit. He just wanted something to be about life outside of Jigsaw.

He'd have to catch back up with Matt later. Matt rambled all the damn time. And at least Matt didn't wanna punch Adam's lights out. Lark looked like he was seconds away from it.

After a moment, Adam said, "It's about something that happened a while ago. Dr. Tuck, you remember her?"

"Who that hell is Dr. Tuck?"

"Jill?"

"Oh! Yeah, I remember her, from the clinic." Lark furrowed his brow. "Why, what about her?"

It was weird to talk about her so openly, like she was an old friend. Even if Lark knew her, Adam sure didn't. He saw her in passing here and there when he got close enough to the clinic and she seemed nice enough. But he never knew her, never gotten addicted to something enough to need treatments.

Hell, even the cigarettes were something that Adam had quit. He'd tried to smoke a couple of times here and there, but one puff made him gag. It made him feel like he was back in the bathroom, and that sure as hell wasn't worth it. So Adam wasn't doing it anymore. Missed it, sure, but he didn't do it.

So, treatments like what Jill offered weren't things he went after, not even back then.

"You remember when she lost her baby?" Adam asked.

"Yeah, Gideon."

"Right." Adam nodded, feeling extra weird because now they were talking about a woman and her dead kid like they knew anything about either of them. "Did you see what happened?"

"Well, yeah, but why do you care?"

Adam's eyes widened. Lark said it so casually, like he was so okay with the fact he apparently knew what happened with Gideon. Like he had told the story over and over again, which honestly wouldn't even surprise Adam. Mentions of that day had come up in late-night conversations with the band, but then they would start asking questions and Lark would back off. He'd never said enough to make Adam know he was there, but more hope so he could get something on that day.

He asked quietly, "What did you see?"

Maybe he'd get lucky. Maybe Lark wouldn't pry about why he wanted to know what happened. He now was grateful for Lark's insistence on getting this conversation over with so he could disappear and never see Adam again.

Lark hesitated, and then he let out a long breath. A sigh, like he was deep in thought. And the anger in his eyes went away, the seemingly ever-present scowl melted off and was replaced with the look his friend would give him when Scott made too many jabs at Adam.

"It was fuckin' horrible, man," Lark said after a moment. "My buddy — well not 'buddy,' he was a friend of a friend — Cecil, ran into the building with this chick, Amanda and—"

"Amanda?"

"Yeah, dude. He was dating her at the time. He tried to rob Jill or something, I couldn't see too well. Then Cecil ran out, without Amanda, and Jill's husband John saw him. He ran in and carried Jill out." Lark shook his head and ran his thumb over the table, making idle little circles. "They took her to the hospital, but I think everyone knew what happened before they even made it."

Adam sat there in stunned silence, no clue what to say to Lark. The whole story made him want to race over and take Cecil down right there — whoever the hell he was. But Amanda…

"Amanda, I-I think I might know her."

Wasn't a lie, at least. There was just no way Lark would guess how he would know her.

Lark shook his head. "Doubt it."

"Amanda Young? Dark brown hair, real short?"

"Well, it was long usually. But yeah I saw her in passing with shorter hair. Got her name right."

"So it was her?"

"I dunno what the hell she did there, but yeah, it was Amanda Young."

Good news, somehow this conversation brought him some damn good news. There were three people who needed he and Lawrence needed to 'get rid of' — Amanda, Hoffman, and Jigsaw himself — and this would help. With one of them, at least. Maybe even Jigsaw too.

Poke the bear, just like Matt said. And maybe this could be a two-for-one kind of thing.

Lark was quiet. Usually he spoke with such a fire that it felt like Adam needed to fight to get a word in. But now, he was still running his thumb along the table like it would uncover the solution to all his problems. And he wouldn't look away, wouldn't look at Adam.

Feeble, that was the best word to describe it.

"Thanks for your help, man," Adam whispered. "I know we don't see eye to eye, but I really do—"

"I was just trying to pick Cecil up from his appointment. Was gonna take him to our buddy's party to celebrate a week of sobriety. Never thought I'd see…"

His friend's voice cut out, and Lark looked away. Looked out the window, focusing on one random tree or something outside that didn't matter to either of them.

And he was blinking rapidly, trying but failing to make the tears go away. Adam could see it as the vision flashed in Lark's mind over and over, a mental movie that he had shoved so far down but now was resurfacing no matter what he tried.

Adam shook his head. "I'm sorry."

"He hurt a woman," Lark said quickly. "He robbed her, held a fucking knife up to her. And he hurt her and he killed her baby. And I knew him. Was trying to take him out to get a damn burger, man."

"It wasn't your fault."

"Dude, I know that. It's not a pity party, it…" Lark tailed off and finally looked at Adam. His face was stone cold. "I just wish I could've done something."

Regrets. Adam was so familiar with them by that point. Even when nothing could have been done, Adam understood having regrets more than he ever wanted to admit. He wanted to tell his friend that it was ridiculous to ever find any kind of blame there, but he knew better than anyone how useless of an attempt that would be.

Lark knew it wasn't his fault, that there wasn't anything he could've done. But that wasn't the point, was it?

"I understand," Adam said after a moment.

Not much else was said. Adam took idle sips of his coffee, now room temperature after being left out for too long. Lark looked around, he tried to say things every now and then but cut himself off. Adam was too lost in his own thoughts to think much of it.

Amanda got away with whatever she did to Jill and Gideon. Got away with what she did to Adam and to Kerry. But maybe her luck was about to run out.

Adam took out his phone and brought Lawrence's number up.

Got something on Rockstar. What do you need from me?

He stared at his text and bit his lip. Lawrence had mentioned something about writing a note, but Adam didn't know much else. The doctor would tell him in time, but apparently, they could really screw every member of Operation Jigsaw with this. Adam took a deep breath and clicked send.

Then he turned his phone off and looked at Lark. He knew the friendship was all but over, something that he could try to salvage but would probably never succeed at. And he wasn't it was something he wanted anymore, anyway.

Last time. Adam didn't see any reason why it wouldn't be.

"Take care of yourself." Adam stood up. "I really do hope you get through this."

He started to walk off. Right there, he was ready to put it all behind him, ready to leave the last person connected to past him in the dust. Like he should've done long ago.

But first, one last time, Lark put his hand on Adam's shoulder. And Adam turned to face him.

Lark said, "What happened to Scott, it wasn't your fault."

Adam smiled at him, and Lark returned it. And just for a moment, it felt like old times. Because they gave each other the same looks from when they were in their crappy band, ready to take on whatever shit was thrown at them.

Like they still were, even if separate now.

And Adam could only think to say one last thing before walking away from him forever.

"Thank you, man."