Twinkle Little Star: A Marlow and Sage Mystery Thriller (A Nursery Rhyme Suspense Book 4)

by Lee Strauss

  We pulled up to the area of Sage’s accident and Jack parked his car approximately thirty feet from where I’d found Crystal Morrisette’s body. I shuddered at the memory, then hopped out before Jack could ask any more probing questions.

  “What are we looking for?”

  “An entry point for Crystal. I want to confirm that she really did ‘appear out of thin air’. If you find anything, let me know. Look for clothing snags, personal effects, footprints, stuff like that.”

  “Wouldn’t the police have gathered it up already?”

  Jack shrugged. “They might’ve missed something.”

  My eyes searched the landscape ahead of us. Things looked way different in the light of day. I locked onto the damaged tree that Sage hit and my mind immediately pulled up the file on that night. The truck had a hardy bumper, so unbelievably, the vehicle hadn’t suffered that much damage. The drivers’ seat had been drenched in Sage’s blood—I wondered if they’d get that cleaned—but Sage said the mechanic thought it could be ready to drive again in a week.

  My emotions immediately replayed the scenario too. My heart beat against my chest as the memory of my fear for her life reverberated through my bones. The most important thing going forward for me was to keep Sage out of harm’s way.

  “Marlow? Are you okay?”

  I snapped out of my revelry.

  “Uh, yeah. I’m fine.”

  Jack surveyed the scene, staring carefully at the ground, stooping low to examine something. Shook his head.

  He stopped at an indentation on the gravel. “Was this the spot?”

  I joined him. “Yeah. This was were we found her.”

  “Where did you find the device?”

  I looked around and frowned. “I’m not sure. It’s all kind of a blur.”

  “Wager a guess.”

  “Well, I was on this side of the body because I’d come from Sage’s truck.” Jack’s eyes moved to the damaged tree and back to me.

  “Janelle was standing about ten feet from Crystal Morrisette’s head, so I was about here.” I moved over a couple feet.

  “How did you spot the phone in the dark?”

  I scrubbed my forehead as I tried to remember the details of that night. “It flickered. First green then red. I didn’t think anything of it at the time. When I picked it up it no longer flashed. It felt like my phone, same size, shape and weight. I touched it to bring up the number pad so I could call 911.

  I looked up at Jack. “That was when I…”

  He finished for me. “Teleported.”

  “Yeah, teleported. Up until it happened, I didn’t even think it was possible? Did you?”

  “No.”

  “So how did it happen?”

  “That’s what we’re trying to figure out.”

  We continued our search giving up about an hour later when nothing turned up. No broken branches or clothing snags to indicate Crystal had somehow wondered onto the road from the forest. No personal effects such as lost jewelry or a scarf. Of course, if it was something that obvious, the police would already have it tagged in an evidence locker.

  No deep tire marks other than from Sage’s truck either.

  “If I… teleported out and back in…. Maybe the same was meant to happen to Crystal, only in reverse. In and then out.”

  Jack worked his lips. “Except the person behind the controls didn’t account for a random vehicle driving across his coordinates at the same time. Marlow, I believe we’re looking for someone who has developed teleportation technology.” He snorted. “Our killer is some kind of mega genius.”

  I huffed. Great. Just great.

  “Did you find out who rented the shed?”

  “Nope. Lambert took payment under the table. Said the guy didn’t leave a name. The old man gave a description, but he wasn’t big on noting details.”

  “Goes with running a pawn shop, I suppose.”

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Sage

  Jack had managed to get me released from custody on bail.

  The condition of my release was that I had to remain in Detroit, either at home or at DU. I’d lost so much already—a social life for instance. And Marlow—that I didn’t want to add my education to that. I bucked up and returned to my life as a student.

  Actually, I hadn’t lost Marlow. I just had to accept that I was a lower priority to him than he was to me. Fine. But neither of us could deny our connection. Marlow's teleportation experiences were exactly the kind of things that linked us together. I headed over to meet him at the library so that we could continue our own investigation. We had to figure out who the teleporter person was in order to clear my name. Marlow had his laptop opened up and was typing away when I arrived.

  “It’s possible that our culprit is an undergrad or an extraordinary genius,” Marlow said in a hushed voice, “but it's more likely that he is a senior or a grad student. I have all of the names of guys who are graduating or have recently graduated and have excelled in certain science fields.” The list was large, understandably. Marlow’s program ran through a bunch of faces and names.

  “Do you recognize any of these?” I said quietly. Though the book shelves helped to buffer the sound, the high ceilings would echo if you talked too loudly.

  “I only caught his profile for a split second.”

  “Could you tell if he was husky or skinny, short or tall?”

  “Average height, average weight, average, average, average.” Marlow blew a raspberry.

  “Narrow the field to electronics and physics.”

  “I’ll add juniors and sophomores.”

  “That’s not narrowing the field. Wait stop.” I pointed. “I know that guy. He hangs around Minji Park, Stella’s gofer.”

  Marlow took a closer look. “That’s Brandt Rheinhold. He’s my biology lab partner and a part of the nerd squad. I can’t imagine Brandt being our guy, but you just never know what kind of secrets people hold.”

  I checked the time on my phone. “I wish I could stay, Mars, but I have to get to the student building and lobby for my government seat.”

  His green-eyed gaze darted up at me. “You’re still doing that?”

  He knew my popularity had dropped like the New Years’ ball in Time Square. I was sure that most of the students thought I should or would drop out, but I didn’t like to quit something just because it was hard. “Yeah, I’m still doing it. Dakota is meeting me there so I gotta run.”

  Marlow’s eyes widened at my announcement. Had Dakota not told him she was helping me?

  Whatever. The dynamics of their relationship was none of my business.

  I shifted my book bag strap over my shoulder, wrapped my scarf around my neck and quickly moved through the library.

  Outside the wind was brisk and I pushed my scarf up over my mouth and nose. I welcomed the blast of warm air as I entered into the lobby of the student building. Stella was already there with Minji by her side, her table display ready with a new stack of promotional material. She spotted me and stared with narrow judgmental eyes. The room grew quiet as if she gave off a silent warning, like a dog whistle, signaling to everyone in the place that I had arrived. The frosty disapproval thickened as I continued toward the back of the room to claim my table. I sighed long and hard, highly tempted to turn around and run away.

  As had become my norm, I kept my chin down, letting my hair fall, partially hiding my face. A classic ostrich move. If I couldn’t see them, they couldn’t see me.

  It also made me peripherally blind, so I was completely unprepared when a set of hands pushed me from behind. I stumbled and crashed to the floor.

  My face heated with humiliation and indignation as I stared up at my attacker. My ribs were still tender and I held in a moan.

  Rudy Finch stood tall, legs spread, feet planted firmly and arms crossed. Deep lines etched a scowl on his face.

  You could’ve heard a pin drop. Despite what people thought of me, there were a lot of shocked faces, but nobody ste
pped in to interfere.

  “You killed Crystal Morrisette, bitch! You got no business running for student government.”

  “I’m not responsible for her death,” I said as I pulled myself to my feet.

  “It was your truck that hit her and you the one driving, so I’d say that makes you responsible.”

  I took a step back, my mind racing on how to diffuse this situation. “Let’s let the courts decide.”

  Rudy made a move to shove me again, and next thing I knew, I’d taken hold of his arm and Rudy was lying flat on his back. An audible gasp filled the room.

  He was up on his feet in an instant, spearing me with his glare. He took another step toward me and amazingly, an entire sequence of self-defense moves outlined themselves in my mind. I moved to a fighting position. I was ready.

  Then suddenly a small body appeared between us and a dainty hand stretched out in protest.

  “Stand down, Finch.”

  The appearance of Dakota and her authoritative stance shocked us all.

  Rudy found it funny and laughed. “Okay, I’ll stand down. No way your girl’s going to win anyway.”

  He locked his dark-eyed gaze on me in a way that gave me chills. “See you later, killer.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Marlow

  After my last class I headed to the dining hall, another brick building with long windows and high ceilings, my stomach urging me on. I scanned my student card at the door and the metal bar, which kept unregistered freeloaders out, opened to let me in. The place smelled amazing, and I hurried to get in line. Grilled pork chops with applesauce, buttered peas, and mashed potatoes and gravy. My stomach growled in anticipation.

  I searched for an empty seat and spotted Zed waving his arm. He was with Brandt and Harland, and I joined them.

  “Hey,” I said, then dove straight into my meal.

  Zed laughed, but I noticed that his and Brandt’s plates were licked clean. Tall, skinny guys like us were always hungry. Harland moved slowly through the last of the peas rolling around on his plate. They were discussing the results of the Multi-Variable Calculus midterm, but I was too busy with my pork chops to pay attention.

  After about ten minutes, though, my stomach signaled my brain that it would be okay to slow down.

  “What do you guys know about teleportation?” I said. Something had been bothering me for a while, and now that Sage was safe and on the mend, my brain had room to pick at it.

  Brandt leaned in. “You mean the hypothetical possibility of teleportation?”

  “Yeah, yeah,” I said, “the hypothetical possibility of teleportation.”

  “That would be an amazing science contest entry, huh?” Brandt said.

  Harland coughed, his face turning a deep shade of red, and he beat at his chest. “Wrong w-way.”

  Zed commiserated. “Hate when that happens.”

  “Anyway,” Brandt said, obviously a fan of the subject, “in theory, for teleportation to work, the object to be teleported would have to be completely disassembled, atom by atom, and then reassembled at alternate coordinates.”

  “Yeah, I know that,” I said. “I guess what I’m wondering is, say for example, a man transports. Every atom in his body is disassembled and reassembled. In essence he dies and comes back to life, right?”

  Brandt’s thin lips slowly pulled up into a smile. “Yeah, that’s what it would be like. Death and resurrection. Nothing short of playing God.”

  Harland started coughing again, and I pushed my glass of water his way. He took it without objection.

  “Okay, Brandt, since you brought up God,” my eyes darted to Zed then back to Brandt, “would that man’s soul leave his body when he ‘died’, or would it go with him when he was ‘resurrected’?”

  Brandt leaned back and sniffed. “Oh man, heady stuff. Can’t say I thought about that. I mean, I don’t even believe in the concept of souls. We’re just here until we’re not.”

  “I’m sure the soul moves along with the body,” Zed said. “If there is such a thing as a soul,” he added with a glance at Brandt.

  I stared back. “How can you be sure? You don’t have any evidence to back it up.”

  Zed pointed his fork at me. “You don’t have evidence to prove it doesn’t.”

  “There has to be a way to find out.”

  “What does it matter? It’s not like you believe in that anyway,” Zed said. “Do you?”

  Quite honestly, I wasn’t sure. I hadn’t been faced with the issue in such a personal way before. My mother came from a religious family. She was an intelligent person, yet I knew she believed.

  Brandt interjected. “This is all theoretical, right?”

  I’d forgotten momentarily that Zed and I weren’t alone at the table. Getting carried away like that, revealing my hand to someone who could very well be on the suspect list was a dumb novice move.

  “Yeah,” I said. “Of course. Totally.”

  “Then theoretically,” Brandt said, “I’d say if a man transports, and if he had a soul, the soul would …”

  Harland interjected, “Die.”

  “Hey, guys.”

  Our discussion was interrupted by the arrival of Dakota. She pulled out the chair beside me, and leaned in for a kiss.

  “What are you guys talking about so intensely?”

  “It’s nothing,” I said quickly. “Just a hypothetical science thing.”

  “My favorite kind,” she said, smiling. “What’s the hypothesis?”

  Brandt answered, “Marlow asked if a man were to teleport from one place to another, would he lose his soul, if he had a soul, in the process?”

  “Wow,” Dakota said. “You guys are the kings of small talk.” She cut a piece off her pork chop and took a bite. “So what’s the conclusion?”

  “No conclusion since it’s just hypoth…”

  Brandt cut me off. “Zed thinks the soul would go with the man and I think he’d lose it, if in fact a religious ‘soul’ even exists.” He pushed back from the table. “Anyway, dudes and dudette, I’m flying.”

  Harland took opportunity to leave at the same time, but said nothing. Not one for social graces, that guy.

  “What brought up this topic?” Dakota asked. I knew she was just trying to make conversation, but since I had actually teleported, I was kind of worried about the state of my soul. I couldn’t talk to her about that, though. She’d think me certifiably crazy.

  I shrugged lazily. “Ah, just nerds being nerds.”

  “That’s us,” Zed said. “Just nerds being nerds.”

  “You don’t have to repeat what I said.”

  “I was just trying to support you, dude.”

  “Hey!” Dakota said. “I don’t know what’s going on here, but can you cool your jets for just a moment? I have something to tell you.”

  “Both of us?” I asked.

  “Well, it involves Sage, and since you’re both friends of hers.”

  My head snapped up. “What happened?” I said sharply. “Is she okay?”

  Dakota blinked at my reaction. “Rudy Finch pushed her down in the student building and accused her of killing that media girl.”

  “Garvin’s TA pushed her down?” I could feel the veins in my neck throbbing.

  “Yeah, I saw everything. He came up from behind her and gave her a two-handed shove. When she stood up, he tried to shove her again, but the weirdest thing. She twisted his arm backward and he was on the floor.”

  “Then what happened?” Zed said.

  “He jumped to his feet and started toward her again. Then…”

  “Then what?” My knees were jumping under the table. “Is she okay?”

  “I stepped in between them and put a stop to it.”

  That was the absolute last thing I could’ve guessed she would say. “Seriously? Just like that?”

  “I think it was the shock factor,” Dakota said. “He didn’t expect someone like me to step up.”

  Zed laughed. “Whoa, our g
irl’s a badass!”

  Dakota smiled at Zed and blushed at his compliment.

  “I think they both just needed a way to stop things and neither was going to take the first step,” she said. “Rudy started laughing and then left. I helped Sage set up and we handed out flyers.”

  “And Sage’s okay?”

  “Yes. She’s okay. I’m not sure if her performance won the crowd’s respect or made them fear her, but she gave away a lot of flyers.”

  I was a bull, snorting short heavy breaths through my nose, head down and horns ready to spear the hot-headed TA. I jumped up from the table. “I’m going to kill him.”

  Zed scampered to my side. “Steady dude. Guys like us use our wits not our brawn. Guys like us don’t do well in prisons.”

  Dakota tugged on my arm and gave me a stern look. “I told you she’s okay, Marlow.” She was frowning at me again. Somehow I always managed to ruin the mood when I was with her.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  The pawn shop was locked up tight. Metal screens like prison issued grates covered the exterior side of the windows that flashed big neon signs: “We Buy Gold and Silver” and “Instant Cash”.

  He didn’t have to worry about locks. Once he’d established the co-ordinates of the interior, he mapped out the entrance so he wouldn’t accidentally land on deer horns or a glass table, and simply teleported inside.

  He wore an oversized hoodie with the hood pulled over his head, and made sure not to look up at the security cameras. He’d made note of them previously when he came to sign his lease.

  A nervous giggle escaped his lips as he took in all the pawned treasures, and it occurred to him he’d never have to buy a single thing again. The best cat burglar in history—he’d be unstoppable!

  He ran a gloved finger along the top of the jewelry cabinet filled with every kind of gold and silver trinket. It was locked, but he was certain he could find the key. Lambert wasn’t that creative.

  A gun cabinet hung behind the cash counter. This was why he’d come. He wanted a gun. Again, he just had to find the key to the cabinet, which was likely stored in Lambert’s office at the back. Best to get to it.