“It certainly isn’t,” Riley answered. “But that’s not the most interesting part.”
“I’m listening,” I said as we neared the door.
“Well, the calls usually happened at different points throughout the day. There was no pattern to them, aside from one,” Riley said.
“One?” I asked.
“One call,” Riley clarified. “For the last ten days, Crystal has received a call at 1:35 PM on the dot.”
I looked down at my phone. “It’s almost 1:35 PM now,” I answered.
“That’s right,” Riley said, a satisfied grin breaking across his face. “And once again, that’s not the most interesting part.”
“You’re really selling this,” I stated flatly. “I mean, I’ve seen Star Wars films that didn’t have the lead-up this reveal seems to have.”
Riley chuckled hard, looking over at me. “I just want to make sure you’re amazed at how competent I am.”
“Color me insanely impressed,” I answered. “Does that make you feel better?”
“Infinitely,” he answered. “So, the most interesting thing I found is when my friend at the department went into the metadata of the calls.”
“Would you mind keeping the conversation in English?” I asked, shaking my head. “If you’re going to start with all that ‘tech’ speak, I don’t think I’ll be able to follow you.”
“It just means that he can get information about the calls, including where they came from,” Riley said.
“I thought you had the number,” I answered, narrowing my eyes. “You said they came from some woman named Bella.”
“I mean where they came from geographically,” Riley said. “I know where Bella was when she called Crystal every day at 1:35PM.”
My heart skipped a beat. “Would I be correct if I guessed we’re walking up to that spot now?”
“You wouldn’t be incorrect,” he said. “Every call came from inside this store. So, I’m figuring that if the person who called Crystal did so from inside this place every day, it was because she works here. Maybe her lunch break falls at the same time every day and she uses that time to call Crystal.”
“But if Bella is responsible for what happened to Crystal, then maybe she’s not here,” I said, trying to fit the pieces together in my head.
“Maybe not,” Riley answered. “But I figure it’s worth a shot.”
“It’s the best lead we have. I’ll give you that,” I answered. “So, what do we do now?”
“I have the number. I’ll give Bella a call,” Riley said as the automatic doors swung open, inviting us into the store.
“And what if she doesn’t answer?” I asked, darting my eyes at him.
“She doesn’t have to answer,” Riley said. “All she has to do is be here. I know that at 1:35PM, Bella has her phone on her. All it has to do is ring.” He winked at me. “Are you more than infinitely impressed with me now?”
“There’s nothing more than ‘infinite’,” I answered. “Just definitely speaking. So, that’s not possible. Still, you did good, Officer Davis.”
“That’s what I like to hear, Witch Lockheart.”
“Oh, no,” I said, waving a finger in front of him. “Don’t call me that. I mean, I see what you’re going for, but just no.”
“Noted.” He nodded at me. Then, he dialed Bella’s number on his phone. Instantly, we heard a ring. Following it, we darted toward the produce section. There, leaned against the cabbages with a sweet tea pressed to his lips was a man whose face hit me like a ton of bricks. He grabbed at the ringing phone and then silenced it, going right back to his tea.
“Oh, no,” I muttered.
“What?” Riley asked, obviously confused.
“The name on the phone number, it was Bella, right?” I asked, swallowing hard.
“Right,” Riley said. “But this is a guy.”
“It’s a joke,” I answered. “It’s a fake name. Let me guess, Bella’s last name is Lugosi.”
“How did you know that?” Riley asked, his mouth dropping open.
“Because it’s Bela Lugosi,” I responded. “The actor who played Dracula in all those old black and white movies.” I gritted my teeth. “His name isn’t Bela,” I said. “It’s Wes, and he always does this.”
“Always does what?” Riley asked. “Do you know him?”
“I do,” I answered. “He’s a vampire, hence the corny inside joke.” I steadied myself and took a deep breath before revealing the next part. “He also happens to be my ex-boyfriend.”
9
“He’s your what?” Riley asked, his eyes widening as he looked Wes over. To be fair, the vampire in the Buy-N-Save vest with his elbows planted in the produce didn’t look like my type straight off. With dark hair that ran to the nape of his neck and a peach-fuzz mustache over his lip, he wasn’t the clean type I usually went for. Still, the past was the past and it couldn’t be changed. Besides, what was Riley so surprised about, anyway?
“He’s my ex-boyfriend,” I repeated, putting my hands on my hips and looking at Riley accusingly. “Is it so hard to believe that I’d have an ex-boyfriend?”
“Yes,” Riley said quickly. Then with even wider eyes, he added, “I mean, no. Of course, it’s not hard to believe that somebody would go for you. You were engaged, after all.”
“Ugh, don’t remind me,” I said, turning my mouth down in disgust as an image of my ex-fiancé and the woman he left me for (who was also my best friend) flashed through my head. Now, those were two people I wouldn’t mind seeing vanish.
“I’m just not sure why you’d go for a guy like him,” Riley said, watching as Wes spilled a full quarter of his sweet tea onto his vest and muttered a curse word under his vest. “I swear, if he tries to lick it off, I’m going to arrest him for Public Disgustingness.”
“Is that an actual crime?” I asked, also looking at the vampire.
“No, but it should be,” he answered.
“Look, I was going through a phase,” I said, shrugging. “I was a teenager. Dallas had already gotten married, and Charlotte was swimming in so many dates, she was practically making laps.” I shook my head. “She was going out with a vampire at the time, and he set me up with his friend. That’s who Wes is.”
“But isn’t he old?” Riley asked, narrowing his eyes. “Like, really old?”
“You never ask a vampire their age. Everyone knows that,” I quipped.
“Everyone definitely does not know that,” Riley said. “I’m starting to think The Order isn’t as learned about the supernatural community as they like to advertise.” He sighed. “Is it some sort of ancient supernatural law?”
“No. It’s just rude,” I explained. “But it’s not like it sounds. Wes was turned when he was seventeen. That makes him seventeen forever. It’s not like you see it in the movies. He doesn’t get darker, and he certainly doesn’t get any more mature. He’s just a teenage boy for the rest of eternity.” I rolled my eyes. “Trust me. I should know.”
“I can’t decide whether that sounds amazing or awful,” Riley admitted, looking the vampire over from a distance. “On one hand, all you’d have to worry about are video games and earning pizza money for the rest of eternity. Then again, who wants to spend forever with pizza and video games?”
A loud belch escaped Wes’s mouth before he turned back to his phone.
“Never mind,” Riley stammered. “I–I know what kind of person would want that.”
“So do I,” I answered. “That’s why he’s my ex-boyfriend.”
“I’m still a little surprised by all of that,” Riley said, smiling as he looked over at me.
“I know,” I said, nodding firmly. “What can I say? I was going through a phase.”
“It’s not that,” Riley said, nudging me with his elbow. “It’s just I thought your heart was otherwise occupied during those years.”
“Excuse me?” I asked, glaring at him. As soon as I saw the goofy grin splaying across his face, I knew exactly w
hat he meant. “Seriously?’ I balked. “You’re talking about yourself?”
Riley bit his lower lip, which was super-hot, not that I’d ever tell him that.
“It’s not secret you had a huge crush on me back then, Izzy,” he said. “You told me yourself.”
I shuddered on the inside. Why on earth would I ever tell Riley that?
“The operative word in that sentence is ‘had’,” I answered, folding my arms over my chest. “But to answer your question, my relationship with Wes did overlap with what I was feeling for you.” I shook my head. “What was I supposed to do? You weren’t making any move to take our friendship to the next level, and as far as I knew, you had no idea I was a witch. I thought that if I could be honest with someone about what I was, then that might make the difference. I figured that someone who had his own secret would understand that, but in the end, it turned out that I needed a lot more than that to make something work.”
“Like you had with your fiancé?” Riley asked. As he did, I watched his entire body steel up. Maybe he regretted asking the question. I certainly wasn’t looking forward to having to answer it. “The one back in Chicago, I mean.”
“I know which one you meant, Riley,” I said, sighing loudly. “I’ve only had the one fiancé, after all.” I blinked hard, my eyes still on Wes. “He didn’t know what I was, my fiancé. He knew a lot about me, but I never found the right time to tell him that particular aspect of myself.”
“Seems like a pretty important aspect,” Riley answered, which was a fair point, even if it aggravated me more than a little.
“Maybe, but I didn’t do it,” I said. “Look. Can we keep our focus on the case? I don’t really see how dissecting my failed engagement is going to help stop the person I care about the most in the world from disappearing.”
“Right,” Riley said. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“It’s all right. Really, it is,” I answered. “Let’s just get moving on this. Time is definitely an issue here, and I want to make sure we don’t get any more surprises. We can’t afford them.”
My phone rang. I looked down at it and my heart nearly popped out of my chest when I read the name across its screen—Crystal Mangrove.
“Wow,” Riley said, looking at my phone from over my shoulder. “What was it you said about more surprises?”
“That we couldn’t afford them,” I said, my mouth dry as I looked down at the still ringing phone.
Riley murmured, “Guess we’d better take out a loan.”
10
My heart pounded hard in my chest as I looked at the phone in my hand. Crystal was calling me. There, on the other end of the line, was the answer to the question that had been plaguing me since Eloise showed up on my doorstep and threatened my family. All I had to do was answer. So, why was I hesitating?
“What’s going on?” Riley asked, looking at me and realizing I wasn’t moving. “Why aren’t you answering it?”
In truth, I didn’t know the answer to that question. I should have been moving by now. I should have been Johnny-on-the-spot when the phone rang. It didn’t feel right though. Something about this, something I couldn’t quite put my finger on, was rubbing me the wrong way.
“Just answer it,” Riley said, tapping me on the shoulder. “Hurry up, or she’ll hang up.”
I swallowed hard, pushing the inexplicable fog out of my head and steadying myself. Riley was right. Weird feelings aside, this was as close to a gift falling into my lap as I was going to get. I took a deep breath, pressed the Answer button, and brought the phone to my ear.
“Izzy,” Crystal’s voice sounded in my ear. I sighed, my chest tightening. It was her. It was actually Crystal. The missing woman was calling me and that meant she wasn’t missing at all, or at least, not in the way I feared. She had just left. She had run away or something, which meant this could be fixed.
“Crystal,” I said breathlessly. “Where are you? I need you to come home right now!” I turned away from Wes, cupping the mouthpiece with my hand and realizing I was talking way too loudly. I couldn’t help it, though. My entire family and the idea of a full-blown war of the witches was at stake here. I was understandably excited.
“I can’t do that,” she said, her voice unsteady and her cadence quicker than I ever remembered it being.
“What?” I balked. “You listen to me, Crystal Mangrove. You have no idea how much trouble you’ve made for both of our families. Needless to say, we’re a strong gust of wind away from our entire lives falling down like a house of cards. Now I don’t know what sort of flight of fancy you’re on, and I’m not sure what it has to do with vampires, but whatever is going on needs to stop right this minute!”
“Vampires?” she asked. The panic in her voice was as loud as it was clear. “Where are you right now?”
“I’m standing in front of Wes,” I said, turning around and looking at my ex-boyfriend, who was still as unobservant as he’d ever been when we were dating. I had been standing here, a hundred feet away from him, for close to five minutes now, and he still hadn’t laid undead eyes on me. “You know,” I added. “The guy you’ve been talking to every single day for the last two weeks. What’s that about anyway, Crystal? Are you really desperate enough for a date that you have to resort to digging through my leftovers?”
Okay. That was harsh. I had gone out with Wes on maybe three dates. We were certainly not a great love story, and that definitely didn’t mean I held any ownership on him. He was a person, after all. Well, a vampire person, but still a person. And you can’t own a person. Just because I went out with a guy didn’t mean he was off limits for everyone I’d ever met. Still, there was something weird about the person who disliked me most in the world going out with someone who had once bought me dinner.
As it turned out, Crystal didn’t take offense to it. In fact, she didn’t seem to even register it as she spoke.
“You need to listen to me very carefully, Izzy,” she said. “I didn’t call you to fight. I didn’t even call you to let you know that I was still alive, and I certainly didn’t call you to talk about your family.”
“My family is the only reason I’m doing any of this,” I answered, anger rising in me. “Your grandmother put a spell on my doorstep. If she doesn’t take it off, my grandmother is going to react, and we both know what could happen if those two stubborn old ladies decide to butt heads. The whole of Spell Creek Mountain could pay the price. Heck, for all we know, the entire Smokies could be at risk.” I shook my head, even though she couldn’t see that. “I get that you might be going through something, and maybe you feel like you had no other choice but to leave. Believe me, I understand that more than you know, but you can’t do it like this. I understand that it might be hard to leave your family. Maybe they’re putting pressure on you to stay, but you have to face them, Crystal. Not only do you owe them that, but you’re making my life a lot harder by not doing so, and I won’t have that.”
“This isn’t about that, you moron!” Crystal yelled, shutting me up. “Do you really think you and I are that much alike? I’d take a long walk off a short pier if that were the case. I’m not you, Izzy. I don’t need to run away from my problems. I’m not the kind of person who deserts her family when they need her.”
“That’s funny,” I muttered, “Given that it looks like that’s exactly what you’re doing right now.”
“You don’t understand what’s going on here, Izzy,” she answered. “I told you I couldn’t come back, and I meant exactly that. Now, you need to turn around and walk away from this. You need to leave this alone.”
“But your grandmother—”
“I get that my grandmother reacted badly, but there’s nothing I can do about that now,” she interrupted. “And you don’t understand how much worse all of this could get.”
“Worse?” I balked. “Are you insane? If you’re not back in three days, the person I love the most in the world is going to disappear forever.”
“Then I’m afraid you’re going to have to kiss them goodbye,” she said. “I can’t come back, Izzy. I don’t know how else to say it.”
The feeling I had pushed back before crashed into me again. Something wasn’t right here. I couldn’t tell what it was, but it was definitely happening, and it was telling me that I needed to get to the bottom of it.
“But if you will, maybe you can do me a favor,” Crystal said.
I gasped. Was she serious? Did she actually expect me to do her a solid?
“Tell my grandmother I’m sorry,” she said. “I really wanted to make her proud. I really wanted to finish all of this.”
“Tell her yourself,” I said, tightening my grip on the phone. “I’m coming to find you, and Wes is going to tell me where to look.”
“You’re forgetting one thing, Izzy,” Crystal said from the other end of the phone.
“What’s that?” I asked, my jaw tight.
“How good a vampire’s hearing is,” she answered. I looked up to see Wes staring at me. He was listening to every word. “Run, Wes!” Crystal screamed into my ear. “Run!”
With that, Wes darted off, his vampire speed making him a blur in front of us.
I heard a click on the other end of the line. Crystal had hung up. I took a deep breath, looking at the vacant space where Wes had once stood. Vampires were quick, much quicker than humans or even witches. I knew that once he was gone, I wouldn’t be able to catch him. Trying to do that would only be a waste of time, and as if I hadn’t already mentioned it, I didn’t have much time to waste.
Valleys, Vittles, and Vanishings Page 4