by D V Wolfe
11
“Sorry,” June said, turning to me. “I didn’t catch your name.”
“Bane,” Noah said before I could answer her.
“Oh, nice to meet you,” June said. I nodded and I was about to comment, but Noah jumped back in.
“So when did you move back?” Noah asked June.
“About a month ago,” June said, “right after I graduated. I’m staying with my Aunt. I just missed the town.” She smiled at Noah. “How was graduation?”
There was an awkward pause and I cleared my throat. “June, are you interested in grabbing a bite to eat with us? We haven’t stopped for dinner yet.”
June shrugged. “Sure. We should go to Paper Street. They have the best burgers. I swear I’ve eaten there three times a week since I got back.”
“You know all the time I lived here, I never ate there,” Noah said, shaking his head.
“You’re kidding me,” June said. “I thought it would be where all the high school kids hung out.”
Noah just let that comment go and I followed suit. June had ridden her skateboard downtown so she piled into Lucy with us and she and Noah gave directions to Paper Street. It was a pub-style restaurant with mostly outdoor seating. We stood in line behind two guys who kept turning around and looking at June. She was ignoring them though, to her credit, and completely focused on catching up with Noah. I listened to their conversation and how skillfully Noah seemed to dodge her questions about what he’d been up to over the last few years.
We were seated at a table in the middle of the dining area. Our waiter took drink orders and then left. I didn’t want to interrupt the catch up between the two of them, so I was letting my eyes wander. Noah’s mom was still missing and so was his house, so something was going on. June remembering him had removed some of the doubt that I’d been feeling about Noah, but still, something was going on in this town. At first glance, it seemed normal. Suburban and very white collar. The diners around us looked mostly like families, some teenagers on awkward dates, and empty-nest moms out for a night on the wild and crazy streets of Bellum. In the back corner, there was a booth full of men in suits who looked out of place. They were deep in conversation, drinking scotch, and picking at a plate of fries.
“Bane?” June said. I sucked my attention away from the suits and turned to focus on her.
“Sorry, what?” I asked.
“Oh, I was just asking how you and Noah met.”
“Oh,” I said. I looked at Noah, hoping that he’d pipe in with whatever version of events he wanted June to know. Noah looked as panicked as I felt.
“He’s my cousin,” I said. Noah’s face seemed to relax a little.
“Really?” June said, her eyebrows raising in surprise. She turned to look at Noah. “I don’t remember you mentioning a cousin. I thought it was just you and your mom.”
“Oh, I’m kind of the black sheep of the family,” I said, doing my best to try to save Noah. “I was...out of the country for a lot of years.”
“Oh my gosh,” June said. “Where? I love traveling.”
“Oh,” I said, trying to think of something, “uh, down south.”
“Oh, South America? What was it like? Why did you come back?” June said, firing off questions. I hoped she didn’t want answers to all of them.
“Oh the climate,” I said. “Just...too hot.”
June nodded. “I’ve heard it takes some getting used to. Man, I dreamed of traveling when I was in Minnesota. Especially in the winter. Dear God, the snow.”
“Where would you want to go?” Noah asked June. I could see the tell-tale symptoms of smitten attention in his eyes.
June shrugged. “Honestly, I’ve always wanted to see Europe. Especially eastern Europe. There’s just so much history there.”
The waitress set our drinks in front of us and took our orders.
“So how’s your mom?” June asked Noah.
Noah hesitated and looked at me. I gave him a small shrug. If June was going to hang out with us, he was going to have to level with her sooner or later.
Noah shook his head. “Honestly June, I don’t know.”
June frowned. “What do you mean?”
Noah lowered his voice and leaned forward over the table. “She’s gone. Our house is gone. That pet store? My mom used to have a shop there…”
“Wait,” June said, sitting up straight. “Annie told me she’d always been in that shop. I hadn’t noticed her before when we lived here. I mean, you remember, my mom was allergic to, like, all animals, so we never got to have pets.”
“I remember your mom being allergic,” Noah said. “But no, Annie’s lying. For the last four years, my mom has had a palmistry shop right there in that space.”
June wrinkled her brow. “What do you mean? You’re not making any sense.”
“Yes,” Noah said loudly. A man at the next table glanced over at us and Noah quickly lowered his voice again. “That’s just it, none of this makes sense. We went by where my old house was. It’s gone.”
“Was there a fire?” June asked.
Noah shook his head. “No, it’s an empty lot. There’s no foundation, no wreckage. There’s just dirt and weeds as if it was never there. The neighbors don’t remember me. Nothing is the way I left it two months ago.”
“Are you feeling ok?” June asked, reaching a hand out and putting it on top of Noah’s. Instead of blushing like I expected, Noah ignored her hand and sat up straighter.
“I feel fine,” Noah said, a harsh edge on his voice. June gave a little yelp of pain and lifted her hand away from Noah. There was a small puff of smoke rising above the table. I shoved my untouched water glass at him and he dunked his fingertips in it. He looked slightly embarrassed now and I looked around to see if anyone else had noticed. Luckily, the guy next to us had just gotten his food and was preoccupied. No one else in our immediate area seemed the least bit interested in what was happening at our table. I looked back at the booth full of suits and saw the guy on the end watching us. He had dark hair and light brown skin. He looked younger and a little more lively than his companions. He met my gaze and then turned back to the other guys at his table.
“What the hell was that?” June asked, looking at her hand. I couldn’t see a burn mark from where I sat, so it must not have been too bad.
“I’ve got burn cream in the truck,” I said to June.
June ignored me. She was looking at Noah with a mixture of curiosity and fear.
“There’s a lot of stuff about me,” Noah said quietly, “that I might need to explain.”
Warning bells were going off in my head. Noah was about to explain his abilities to an innocent. Normally speaking, that wasn’t a good idea. June might tell others or freak out and scream or faint. And in front of all these people?
“Maybe we should get our food to go,” I said. The other two didn’t argue and I left the table to find the waitress. On my way by the booth full of suits, I could feel the eyes of the man sitting at the end of the booth watching me. Now, the Empty House I was wearing wasn’t completely unattractive. She’d been a pretty cute woman. I, however, had dressed the Empty House in a dirty a-shirt, torn and dirty jeans, and filthy sneakers. That made me think that this suit guy was watching me for a different reason.
Twenty minutes later, we had our to-go boxes. I’d paid the check and we were hustling back out to the truck. It was only six-thirty and the sun hadn’t begun to set.
“Where’s a good, cheap motel in this town?” I asked June and Noah.
We ended up driving to the far edge of Bellum and getting a room at the Rosewood Motor Inn. I decided to hold off on the hex bags and everything until after we’d taken June home. For the moment, the Motor Inn would give us a private place to break the news of Noah’s mad skills to her.
June sat down on one of the beds and Noah on the other. I opted for the chair next to the little table. We ate with equal helpings of silence and small talk, but as soon as June was done, she to
ssed her to-go box in the trash can and sat back down, her eyes focused on Noah.
“So,” June said, “how did you burn me?”
“I didn’t graduate,” Noah started, looking June in the eye.
“What?” June said. “Why?”
Noah held up his hands. “Because of these.” June looked confused again, and Noah pressed on. “I can set things on fire with my hands.” I waited for him to add “and my mind”, but it seemed Noah was still processing that information himself because he didn’t share it.
“What?” June said. “That’s impossible.”
Noah reached over to the nightstand between the two beds and ripped off a sheet of generic motel stationary. He held it between his fingers and I cleared my throat. Noah looked over at me and I looked up at the smoke detector right above him.
“Right,” Noah said. He jumped up on the bed and detached the detector. He dropped it onto the bed beside him. Then, he held the paper up again in front of June. It started to smoke and then flames licked up the edges.
June cried out in surprise and skittered backward on the bed, away from him. Noah jumped up, dropped the paper in the sink, and turned the faucet on.
“How the...what the…,” June said, trying to form a complete sentence.
Noah shook his head. “I don’t know how or why. It just happened one night.”
June paused. “Wait, what does this have to do with you not graduating?”
Noah gave June a very tasteful and summarized version of what he’d told me about his girlfriend Amy and the fateful parking incident on the way to homecoming.
“And the whole town turned on me,” Noah said. “I mean, parents and the cops were looking for me.” Noah sat up straight and turned to me. “Oh crap, Bane. What if they have a bounty on me or something?”
I shrugged. “We’ll figure it out.” I didn’t know if it would make him feel better or worse if I picked that moment to tell him my theory about the demon screwing with everyone in town’s reality to make them forget Noah. Especially since I’d probably have to also tell him my theory that the demon had done something horrible to his mom while he was at it. Now was not the time for that bomb to be dropped. Not while he was acting happier than I’d seen him in the two months I’d known him, and definitely not in front of June.
“So you’re a ‘wanted man’?” June asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
Noah blushed pink and he looked down at his feet. “I guess.”
June shook her head. “I’m sorry about Amy. I remember her. She was always really nice to me.”
Noah nodded. The pair were quiet for a few moments and I decided to take advantage of the awkward silence and see if there was any intel June could give us.
“Hey June, we’re looking into some random things happening around here,” a light bulb blinked on in my head and the perfect excuse came to me, “that we think might be tied to Noah’s mom’s disappearance.”
June looked up at me and then at Noah who was still looking down at the floor. She moved to sit next to him and after hesitating half a second, put a hand on his forearm in comfort.
“I’m sorry,” June said to Noah. She looked at me and shook her head. “I thought Noah and his mom had moved away. I haven’t seen her.”
I nodded. “That’s ok. Have you noticed anything strange going on in town? I mean, anything that just hit you as kind of odd?” I thought I’d try broad strokes first. I was afraid if I was too specific, she might think something random wasn’t relevant and to be honest, it was hard to predict exactly what form of horrific and bizarre we were looking for.
“I mean, I’ve only been back for a month.” She thought for a moment and shrugged. “I guess it’s kind of odd.”
“What is?” I asked. I knew I was sounding more eager than was wise but June didn’t react.
“All the black Fed cars in town,” June said. “And the police force has doubled in size in the last month.”
My heart stopped beating for a moment. “Black Fed cars?”
June nodded. “You know, like big gangster cars. It can’t be a gang though. Bellum is far too lame for anything like that.”
Sister Smile’s crew? Were they tied up with demons again?
“And more cops?” I asked. June nodded.
The cops in Prosper that had been possessed. Was it happening here now? Did we have cannibals, armed demons in police meat suits, and a big daddy demon in town having a convention or something?
“What about new buildings?” Noah asked. I dragged my thoughts away from Sister Smile and her demonic partnerships to hear June’s answer.
“Just the new plant that opened up across town. Uh,” she closed her eyes, trying to recall something, “Copia. Copia Industries. I think it’s some kind of technology or drug manufacturing business.”
“Huh,” Noah said. “I didn’t hear anything about it before I left.”
June shrugged. “I don’t know.” She straightened up. “There’s a newspaper article about the guy in charge. I saw it this morning when I got the paper for my aunt. She said the plant is bringing in a bunch of new jobs and it’s going to drive the property values up.” June paused. “You know, I skated by there yesterday and there were a lot of cop and Fed cars in the parking lot. I just thought they were checking out the new building or checking out security or something.”
“Can you show us?” I asked.
June nodded. “I’m free tomorrow morning.”
I nodded. “Perfect.” It was past the end of the workday, so it didn’t make a lot of sense to try tonight. I remembered the guy in the suit watching me at the restaurant. Had he been a demon? Or maybe a cannibal, cleaned up and looking for prey?
June bumped her shoulder against Noah’s and she gave him a shy smile. “It’s good to see you again.”
I got to my feet. “I’m going to see if I can get a copy of the paper.” I headed out the door to give them some privacy.
“I’ve got to head out too,” June said, getting to her feet. “My aunt will be pissed if I’m out too late. I keep reminding her I’m eighteen, but it doesn’t seem to help. I’ve figured out it’s just easier to be home on time and skip the ass-chewing session.” She hugged Noah and followed me outside.
“Do you need a ride?” I asked.
June shook her head. “Nah, I don’t live far from here. See you in the morning. What time?”
I shrugged. “Nine?” She nodded and took off.
The front office did in fact have today’s paper. I took the copy back to the room and found Noah had already gotten our bags out of the truck and put the salted tape across the doorway and under the windows. He was laying on his back on the other bed with a hand across his eyes.
“You alright there?” I asked him.
Noah didn’t move, but after a moment he spoke. “Honestly? I don’t know. I don’t know what the hell to think. Nothing makes sense. Thank god we ran into Junie. I thought I was going crazy.”
“Well, I have a theory on that,” I said.
12
“Wow,” June said beside me, “this guy must squeak when he walks.” She was rereading the article about Bill Griffith the owner and CEO of Copia Industries. We were sitting in the back row of the lot, looking up at the huge plant and office building. It was mid-morning and everything seemed normal at the plant except for a small herd of black Crown Vics, two plainclothes detective cars, and one squad car, parked in the front lot. It did seem a little excessive.
“Geez,” Noah muttered. “Is this Bill Griffith a member of the mob or something?”
June shook her head. “I don’t think so. If you believe what the paper says about him, he practically walks on water. It says here that he’s sponsoring this fall’s class of kindergarteners. He says that he’s making a promise to them to stay in Bellum through their senior years and beyond. And to prove it, he’s going to pay for their college if they graduate.”
“Wow,” Noah said. “That’s generous.”
June n
odded. “I talked to my aunt last night.” I saw Noah jerk his head around to look at her. June shook her head. “I didn’t tell her anything about you. I just kind of asked her what she thought of Copia and this Griffith guy. She of course is annoyed by the property taxes that will come with more people finding Bellum a ‘desirable’ place to live, but then she told me she thought that the police and the state agencies were giving him a hard time. Just coming down hard with regulations and trying to block some of the things the plant is working on.”
“Like what?” Noah asked.
June shrugged. “I don’t know. My aunt thought it was something to do with pharmaceuticals, but in here,” June nodded down at the paper, “there’s mention of government contracts, too.”
I was only half-listening to the two of them, scanning the parking lot and the front of the building with binoculars. I had felt a mild sense of relief when the “black Fed cars” turned out to be Crown Vics instead of Lincoln Town Cars. They looked pretty similar, but if I knew one thing, it was that Sister Smile didn’t divert from what worked and there was an arrogance about her and her crew. These Crown Vics were older and worn around the wheel wells. Definitely government-issued. I was guessing FBI or Homeland Security members, most likely worn by demons. I was both relieved and a little let down to scratch Sister Smile off the “possible sources of bullshit in Bellum” list. Joel was still out there if he was still alive, and Sister Smile was on the loose, probably recruiting more tribe members.
“So, you think Bill Griffith might know what happened to your mom?” June asked Noah.
Noah shrugged. “Probably not. We’re just checking out strange things in town. Maybe one of them will give us a lead.”