“It’s funny seeing you and your dog together,” said Annette. “You interact differently than Anika and Chip. How long have you had her?”
“I barely remember a time when I didn’t,” said Miles.
I could think of all sorts of questions that could come next, and be very difficult to answer. Such as, how old is she? Oh, she’s four… that would mean you got her while you were in boarding school. Is that right? Well when did you get her, then? Because she was born while you were in school, since she’s four. So you either got her then, or when you were in a coma. That sure doesn’t make sense. Where was she all those years that you were in school, and then in a coma, and by the way, when did you even have time and opportunity to get to know your own dog?
But no one said anything. They were busy eating. Yay for food. We should always, always have food around. Which, come to think of it, we pretty much always do.
“So where do you want us to set up during class?” Xander asked Miles.
Miles had just taken a bite of pizza, so it gave him time to think about that as he chewed.
“I don’t like the idea of Anika being on the front row… no, you know what, the front row is good. She’s got to be close, or she won’t be able to use her ability. So Xander, if you’ll sit one row behind and to one side, that’ll work.”
Miles was remembering, that last night, he practiced using his abilities remotely at the estate. We used the video function on our phones and as we both suspected, he had no trouble as long as he could see. If he couldn’t see, he could still use his abilities… but with pretty much the same result that a blind, deaf bull in a china shop who’s lost all sense of feeling would have. He’d have no idea what effect he was having.
“You’ll want to choose your seats before too many other students arrive, and you aren’t left with a choice,” said Miles.
“With the class filled, that could happen,” I said. “But I don’t really want to get there early… or maybe that would be a good time to get the Professor to lie himself into a corner.”
“Maybe,” considered Miles.
“So let’s make a list,” said Xander, reaching over to pick up the pad of paper and pen that lay on one of the end tables. “What are we going to ask this guy?”
“Have you ever killed anyone?” asked John, and we all laughed.
“Yes, because that wouldn’t tip him off to her suspicions,” said Annette.
“I wasn’t serious,” he grinned. “Wouldn’t that be great though, if you could get him to answer.”
“Just remember, Xander, don’t ask him anything unless he’s near my desk. Otherwise, I won’t know if he’s telling the truth or not… and we probably aren’t going to get away with asking the same question more than once, without alerting him to be on guard. He might quit answering.”
“Duly noted,” said Xander.
We finished eating, and had a lot of fun playing “truth or fiction,” Anika-style. If Miles and I are ever tricked into a game night, this is the game I’m going to insist on! Because I’m really good at it!
Fortunately our friends had fun, too. They never doubted what Miles and I said about me sensing that darkness, and knowing the truth, but they were still fascinated every time I caught them saying something that wasn’t true, and then informed them of the truth.
It was getting late though, and we had church in the morning. So our friends said goodnight, and Miles and I threw away empty pizza boxes, straightened sofa pillows, and tidied up the apartment in general before going to bed. As we were doing so, I remembered something.
“So what was Trixie trying to tell me earlier?” I asked. “I told her she’d need to talk to you, I didn’t understand.”
“Oh, right,” said Miles. “Hey Trix, our company’s gone, so I can listen now. What did you want to tell Anika?”
Trixie got up and stretched, then sat in front of Miles and the two looked at each other. After several seconds, Miles turned to me.
“She says you have abilities and I have abilities, and together we can do what we’re meant to. We need each other, neither of us can do it alone.” Miles looked back at her again, as she continued staring at him intently. “She says that’s why she wanted us to meet.”
“What?” I exclaimed. Miles looked as surprised as I was.
“She says she lured Chip away from you during the storm so you’d go upstairs, and into the estate.”
“I didn’t meet you that day, though,” I said.
“I had no idea she was trying to get us to meet,” Miles said. “When I saw she lured him away from you and got after her, she went off and sulked.”
Trixie huffed, and Miles looked at her again.
“Well, that’s exactly what you did!”
I stared at her, astonished.
“So you knew I’d be able to prove Miles was innocent?” I asked her. She looked at Miles and evidently answered, in spite of the offended look on her face.
“She said we had to meet, we were supposed to. We need each other. I was waiting for you.”
Trixie stood and walked back to Chip, and lay down. Miles and I looked at each other.
“Are you… able to elaborate on that any?” I asked.
“No,” said Miles. “She just blew my mind as much as she did yours…”
“A common occurrence lately, when speaking with the dog,” I pointed out.
Miles laughed, and hugged me.
“Too true,” he said, as I hugged him back and we tried to absorb this latest revelation.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if she knows absolutely everything about us and our abilities, and what we’re supposed to do,” I said. “If only we could understand.”
“Maybe we’re supposed to figure some of it out together, though,” Miles said. “How would you have felt if you were told ‘you’re supposed to free this guy, then marry him, then use your superpowers together to fight crime…’”
I started to laugh.
“I see what you mean! Everything happened the way it should. If I was told that, I would have resented the insinuation that I had no choice. I would have felt really awkward around you too, instead of naturally becoming best friends. Once I got over the whole semi-transparent thing, I felt completely comfortable around you, partly because I knew all we could be was friends. If I’d met you and you weren’t semi-transparent, I would have been too hung up on your good looks and having a major crush on you, to think of anything else.”
Miles laughed.
“I don’t think you give yourself enough credit. You aren’t that shallow.”
“Yes, but you are that good looking!” I said, which made Miles laugh again.
“And so are you, dear,” said Miles as he kissed me. “Everything worked out perfectly. So whatever we don’t know… we can take comfort in realizing that figuring it out for ourselves is for our own good, somehow.”
“We can take comfort in figuring it out together, too,” I said.
“Definitely,” Miles smiled. “Most definitely.”
~***~
The overcast sky allowed only dim light to filter through the windows, and rain softly pattered against the glass. Taking a nap was the ideal pastime on this Sunday afternoon.
Miles had his arms around me, of course, and Night and Pandora were curled up asleep on each side of us. Both dogs were asleep in their beds, and I was almost there myself.
Miles’ cell phone vibrated, the jarring sound it made as it bounced against the hard surface of the nightstand, jolting all of us awake. I groaned, as the dogs looked up sleepily, and the cats tried to decide whether to fight, flight, or go back to napping again. Miles picked up his phone and looked at the screen, then suddenly sat up.
“It’s our PI,” he said. He didn’t sound sleepy anymore, and I wasn’t, either.
“Hi, Jackson,” said Miles. “What’ve you got?”
Miles was silent for what felt like a long time, as the PI talked. I hoped that meant he found a lot of useful informati
on.
“Anika, can you grab me something to write with?” asked Miles, then turned back to his call.
I had to disturb Night again, much to his displeasure, as I retrieved the notepad and pen from my own nightstand.
“Thank you,” Miles said, then turned back to the phone conversation. “Go ahead, I’m ready.”
Miles wrote a name on the notepad, along with a phone number and the name of a city.
“Well… maybe she’ll be willing to talk to another woman,” said Miles.
I waited very patiently for this conversation to be over, so I could learn what all this was about!
“Okay. Great. Yes, I’d appreciate that. Sounds good. Talk to you later, then.”
“So?” I wanted to know.
“That was the PI,” said Miles, smiling as I swatted at his arm for stating the obvious and making me wait. He easily caught my hand before I could make contact. “Okay fine, no more teasing. The grandmother appears to have died of natural causes, so no need to focus time and energy on that. There were some missing persons and an unsolved murder, in and around where Mead has lived in the past. In most instances, the detectives working the cases have suspects and are in the process of closing in. He couldn’t determine any link between the victims and Mead. That doesn’t mean there isn’t one, but if there is, he couldn’t find it. So none of that helps us, however, as Jackson dug into this guy’s past he did get the details on the college scandal.”
“Okay, so tell me,” I said, as Miles looked at the name written on the notepad in his hand.
“This is the name of the girl who was at the center of the scandal Xander’s cousin heard about.”
“And she wouldn’t talk to Jackson about it?” I asked, remembering Miles’ side of the conversation.
“Right. So here’s what the PI learned from other sources. As a freshman, she was a student in one of his classes. They had a relationship, I’m not sure you’d call it dating, though. He had the same relationship with several other girls in his classes.”
“That’s hard to imagine,” I said. “I find the guy alarming, rather than charming.”
“Well, he’s charismatic, and I can imagine there are people who would be drawn to that. This girl though, decided to end their association. The PI made the educated assumption that Mead is used to being the one to decide when a relationship is over, and became obsessed with her. There was some stalking involved. He was waiting when she got back to her apartment one night, and forced his way inside before she could shut the door. Nothing too terrible happened,” Miles said quickly, probably hoping I’d loosen the death grip on his arm, which I did. “She had pepper spray, and gave him a dose of it.”
“Sounds like my kind of girl,” I said, and Miles smiled.
“That part, anyway. So she pressed charges since he forced his way in, and threatened her physically. She had some bruising, but what she also had was the rest of the female population in the guy’s classes defending him. They didn’t paint a very pretty picture of her to the police when questioned, and one of the girls claimed Mead was with her when the alleged incident took place.”
“How sad,” I said. “I think that girl is lying, though. The one who said he was with her, instead.”
“So does the PI,” said Miles. “The girl who was assaulted dropped the charges, though. Her life was made difficult by the other students, who banded together in support of Mead. She dropped out of college, and moved away. The PI had to work to find her, and when he did, she refused to speak to him.”
“But you think maybe I might have better luck?” I asked.
“Maybe. You’re a girl. You’ve pepper sprayed a guy who wouldn’t take no for an answer. You want to take down Mead… and you don’t need her to testify, to do it. All you want, is to know if there’s anything she can tell you that will help in our investigation.”
“I don’t understand this darkness, though. If he hasn’t killed anyone, then what is it an indicator of?”
“We don’t know for sure that he hasn’t,” said Miles. “We only know that it doesn’t appear as though he was responsible for the missing persons and unsolved murder that Jackson looked into.”
“That’s true…”
“So what do you think? Do you want to try talking to this girl, see if she knows anything that might help to figure out what this guy’s done?”
“Yeah, I’ll see what I can do,” I said. “I wish we could meet face to face, though.”
“Well… do what you can,” said Miles. “You’ve got this gift for a reason. Do the best to do your part, and trust that you aren’t doing it alone.”
“That’s right, and I’ve got you, too.”
“Always,” said Miles.
“Okay, so… here goes nothing,” I said, stretching to reach my phone.
“Here, let me,” said Miles, as my phone lifted and placed itself in my hand with no visible effort on his part.
“My powers are cool, but you, Mr. Superhero husband… so are you.” I smiled and kissed him, then referred to the phone number he wrote next to Cecilia Tayler’s name. I entered it into my phone, took a deep breath, and waited for her to answer.
“Hi, Cecilia?” I said.
“Yes…” said a cautious voice.
“Hi, my name is Anika Bannerman,” I said, talking fast, hoping she wouldn’t hang up before hearing me out. “I’m a student at North Glen Haven University. There’s this guy, a visiting professor, Ryan Mead. My husband and I are concerned because he’s showing an unwelcome interest in me, and won’t accept that I want nothing to do with him. We learned from a friend that Mead has a bad reputation at former colleges. We want to know exactly what we’re dealing with, and we have the resources, so we hired a PI.”
“Wait, was that the PI who called wanting information?” she asked.
“Probably so, unless you’ve heard from more than one.”
“And why… did you get a PI involved?” she sounded perplexed, and guarded.
“I’m sure to most people this sounds extreme, but do a search on Miles and Anika Bannerman, and you’ll see that two weeks before our wedding, someone tried to murder us and make it look like a murder/suicide. We’ve had trouble with psychotic people before, and I can’t even tell you how strongly my instincts are warning me that Mead is just as dangerous as those we’ve encountered in the past.”
“Okay, well, so… why are you calling me?”
“We believe he’s guilty of an unsolved murder. You may not know anything that can help us, but I wish you’d talk to me about what you do know… because you might. And if you do, my husband and I might be able to find proof to support what we’re certain is true. Classes start tomorrow, and the only reason I haven’t dropped the class with this guy is because I hope to gain information there, and not about the class’ actual subject matter. I’m determined to find proof to convict this guy before he hurts anyone again.”
There was silence as Cecilia considered what I said.
“I need to think about this,” she said.
“I completely understand. You can verify a lot of what I’ve told you. Just search on Miles and Anika Bannerman.”
“Okay… well I’ve got your number. So… I’ll think about it. If I decide to talk to you, I’ll call you back.”
“Okay, thank you,” I said. My phone emitted a tone, alerting me that the call had been disconnected. I turned to Miles, and told him what she said.
“It’s a positive sign that she didn’t hang up or say no right away,” Miles pointed out encouragingly.
“Yeah. So I guess we wait, then. I wonder how long it’ll be before we hear back. If we do.”
“I wonder,” said Miles, as we lay back down to resume our attempt at a Sunday afternoon nap.
It was still overcast, the rain still pattered at the window, the light filtered in softly, and the cats rejoined us. Their purring was as hypnotic as the rain, but it wasn’t enough.
Everyone else was sound asleep, but I lay aw
ake, my mind full of everything we learned over the past couple of days, and with thoughts of tomorrow.
Eventually, the dogs began to stir. Chip stood up and shook, the tags on his collar jingling together. It must be nearly their dinner and walk time. Amazing how reliable their internal clocks are. Trixie and Chip both began to mill about, no doubt hoping to wake up Miles and remind him what time it was.
“It’s times like these I really wish we had a yard,” said Miles, rubbing my arm and then getting up.
“Yes, but they’d still want fed,” I reminded him.
“True,” he said, as he put on his shoes. I got up too, and followed him and our two excited dogs to the kitchen.
As Miles poured food into their bowls, my phone rang.
“It’s Cecilia!” I said excitedly, and answered.
“Anika?”
“Yes, hi,” I said, covering my other ear with my hand to block out the sound of the dogs enthusiastically crunching their dinners.
“I’ll talk to you. Not over the phone though, and not just anywhere.”
“Okay, what did you have in mind?” I asked, moving all the way out of the kitchen.
“Do you know where I live?” she asked.
“No,” I said.
“Okay. Well, I live near Cedar Oaks. I did look you up and read about you, so I know about the estate. I’ll talk to you there.”
“Okay,” I said, a little puzzled.
“Here’s the thing, if you meet me there then I’ll know you are who you say you are. Otherwise, I might be talking to someone I really don’t want to be talking to. So… that’s where I want to meet.”
“I’m fine with that,” I said. “We’re in Glen Haven right now though, since college starts this week.
“Yeah, I know, you said you’re a student there. So how about next Saturday?
“Sure,” I said. “Absolutely. Morning, or afternoon?”
“Morning,” said Cecilia. “Nine o’clock.”
“Great, I will see you then,” I said, and she ended the call.
“So we’re definitely going back to the estate next weekend,” said Miles.
“Yes. She said she’d know I’m really Anika Bannerman if we meet there.”
Darkness Falls Page 14