by Ranae Glass
Tucking the journals tightly under his arm, he rushed back to the front door in a blur of vampire speed. Now he just had to figure out how to best use the information. As Shane climbed back onto his bike, he imagined what Isabel would say when she found out what Xavier had been up to. A satisfied smirk pulled up the corners of his mouth as he pulled away the camouflaging shrubbery. Stuffing the old notebooks into the front of his jeans, Shane brought the bike roaring to life and turned back onto the main road. He took off in a spray of gravel, still unsure of his next stop.
Joanne was a slip of a girl. A scant inch shorter than me but with the small, delicate features and pale coloring to pull it off. Her white-blonde hair was tucked neatly behind a thick headband that was almost the same shade of blue as her eyes. She smiled hesitantly as she invited me in and brought me the obligatory glass of sweet tea. I murmured my thanks and took a sip just to make her comfortable. To my surprise, it was very refreshing. I could tell by the texture it had been prepared the right way—in a glass jar sitting in the sunshine rather than by boiling it. Something about sun tea was more delicate, softer than other methods. It was how my mother always made hers, and it tasted like home and the warm summer days of my youth.
“So, what can you tell me about Katy?” I asked, cradling my glass as the ice clinked together in the thin glass.
She perched on the edge of her tan futon couch, the only other piece of real furniture in the room besides the old rocking chair in which I was now sitting. They had an old wire spool doubling as a coffee table and a threadbare denim beanbag in the corner. The only nice thing in the room was the glass cabinet that boasted a collection of booze that would make a functioning alcoholic weep with joy.
Is all that alcohol hers?
I shrugged. It was a pretty typical college pad.
Sue made a noise that was part disappointed, part indignant.
“Well, she was a political science major at Charleston University. We moved in together last spring. We lived in the same dorm before that, and we were in a few classes together.” She paused, her face pulling into a deep frown, as if debating her next words. “We weren’t… close anymore. I was doing my thing, and she was doing hers.”
I nodded and tried to look sympathetic. “That’s not uncommon. What exactly was herthing?”
Now she stood, still ringing her hands as she paced, avoiding my gaze. “Like I said, we weren’t close.”
Okay, the nice approach wasn’t working. Time to try something else.
Be gentle. She’s just a girl.
I shook my head. She was no younger than I was when my life fell apart, and no one was there to coddle me. Why should I hold her hand?
Because you are kindhearted, Sue said softly.
“Wow, you don’t know me at all.” I sat my glass on the wooden spool. “Look, I’m not the cops. But I’ve been doing this a long time and I know when someone isn’t being honest with me. So, on the level, what can you tell me about the father of her baby?”
Now she was staring at me, her face losing its pallor. I stared her down until she began to crack around the edges. Finally, she flopped back onto the sofa, her head in her hands. “She said to never tell anyone. Her parents didn’t even know.”
I stood, moving deliberately so I was looming over her, and folded my arms across my chest. Maybe this girl was young enough that the disapproving parent act would get me further than anything else. “A name. I need a name.”
She shook her head, hugging herself around the middle. “If she finds out I said anything, she’ll kill me.”
She doesn’t know her friend is dead.
I squatted down so she could see my face without having to look up. “Look, I hate to be the one to break this to you, but she’s not going to find out, because she’s not coming back. Katy’s dead.” I paused, letting the words sink in. “I wish I had the time to do all this more gently but right now, I have to catch the person who did this, you understand? Every day that passes, the trail gets colder. All we can do for her now is find the person who took her life away and make them pay for it.”
The shock was clear. Joanne’s body went slack, her arms falling to her sides. “I can’t be sure who the father was—she never told me—but she was crazy about Colton Harris. She was an intern working on his Senate campaign. She talked about himall the time.” Her last words were barely more than a whisper. I could see the girl slipping into the early stages of shock. I shook my head. Had I ever been so innocent? I pulled the red chenille blanket off the back of the futon and wrapped it around her shoulders.
Probably not.
“I’m going to go look around her room.” I waited for her to respond and when she didn’t, I snapped my fingers in her face. I didn’t have time for her breakdown. The world was a cold, hard place, better she learn that now.
She blinked and looked up at me. “Yeah, okay. First door on the left.” She pointed to the hallway before tucking the edges of the blanket under her arms. I patted her on the knee and went to have a look.
Compared to the rest of the apartment, Katy’s room was a pigsty. Clothes littered the floor next to the overflowing wicker hamper, and there were papers, empty soda cans, and fast food wrappers covering the small desk by the window. Even the twin bed covers were thrown back haphazardly, pillows rumpled. There was a beer can cut in half being used as a makeshift ashtray full of old butts. The walls were covered with flyers and photos. Pictures of Katy at various concerts, rallies, and events. She looked so different from the girl I saw being killed.
The girl in the photos was smiling, not a care in the world. She practically beamed with the glow of youth and the endless possibilities of the future. I pulled one of the flyers off the wall. It was an announcement for a political rally on campus back in March. Colton was the key speaker. I tossed the flyer onto the pile in the desk and picked up a crumpled sheet of paper, smoothing it out against my leg. Huh. The draft of a speech maybe? It read something like a career politician might say to whip up frenzy in a crowd. There were red ink lines throughout. Whoever wrote it was given the red pen of death by someone. I balled it up and tossed it in a tiny trashcan near the desk when something caught my eye. The corner of a photograph peeked out from the bin. I plucked it out. It was a smiling Katy standing arm in arm with the senator. She was looking up at the older man as if he personally hung the moon. The roommate was right. He might not be the father, but she was obviously head over heels for the guy.
You think this man was the father of her child?
“It would be my guess. It’s a pretty good motive for murder, as far as those things go.”
He would kill his own child?
“Maybe not,” I said, looking closer at the photo.
Also in the photo was the senator’s wife, who from the very corner of the image, was glaring at Katy. If looks could kill, the girl would have burst into flames right then. I tucked the picture into my back pocket. “But somebody wanted her and that baby gone in a bad way.”
I moved to the small, attached bathroom. Above the porcelain pedestal sink was an oval medicine cabinet just a few inches deep. I pulled it open. There were a few normal things, toothpaste, floss, and deodorant, but there was also something else. Two orange prescription bottles. Pulling my phone from my pocket, I snapped a photo of each bottle. Both were issued by the same doctor.
I poked around a while longer but came up empty. There was no laptop, no notebooks, and no backpack. Nothing you’d expect to find in the bedroom of a college student. The only book was an antique copy of poetry by William Blake.
When I closed the door behind me, I saw the roommate was up and walking around in the kitchen. That was a good sign. She was moving. That alone would keep the shock at bay. Maybe she was a little tougher than I gave her credit for.
“Thank you,” I hollered down the hall.
“Hold on, there’s one more thing,” she called back.
I waited, not sure what else she might need.
W
hen she returned, she held out a small rectangle of plastic. I took it, finally realizing what it was. A USB drive.
“Katy was adamant about backing up everything. Her laptop crashed a few months ago, and she lost everything. Ever since then, she’d been backing up every week. The police didn’t find her laptop. But there might be something on this.”
I tucked it into my pocket. “Thanks.”
Handing her my card, I added, “If you think of anything else, give me a call.”
She nodded, taking the card. I left her at the door, the blanket still draped over her shoulders.
Do you think there is anything on that device? Sue asked in my head.
I could feel her in there, draped across the curtain of my thoughts. “Dollars to doughnuts.”
I don’t understand that phrase.
“It means, chances are good. Whoever killed her went through the trouble to take her laptop, so they must have been afraid there was some kind of evidence on it. Evidence that just might be on this. Even if there’s nothing, it could be leverage.”
How so?
“Well, they don’t know what’s on it either, right? But if you wave around something that might be dangerous, people tend to assume the worst. Especially when it comes to senators and sex-scandals.”
What do we do now?
I reached for my car door and pulled it open, slipping inside before answering. “Now we develop an interest in politics.”
Sitting in the office of Colton Harris’ campaign headquarters reminded me uncomfortably of sitting in the principal’s office in high school. I hadn’t been much of a troublemaker as a kid, but I also never backed down from a fight, a quality that landed me on the wrong end of a suspension more than once. I sat in the hardback plastic chair and tried not to feel small. Pulling out my phone, I punched in a quick email to Shane, asking him to check out the meds I’d found in Katy’s bathroom, attaching the photos and sending it off. I barely had time to tuck my phone back into my pocket before Colton Harris walked in and offered me his hand.
“Mr. Harris,” I said, shaking his outstretched hand.
He motioned for me to sit. “Miss Stone. What can I help you with today?”
Crossing my legs, I rested my clasped hands on my knee. I was trying to look friendly. If he thought I was accusing him of something, he’d close ranks even if he did nothing wrong. In the game of politics, sometimes the idea of wrongdoing was worse than an actual transgression.
“I’m here about your intern, Katy Fonte. Were you aware that she’s missing?”
He took a seat at his desk, smoothing down his tie. “Yes, the police came by a few days ago. As I told them, Miss Fonte left my staff months ago. I haven’t seen or heard from her since then.”
“Do you know why she left the campaign?” I prodded as gently as possible.
He shook his head. If Colton Harris made good on his Senate run, he’d be one of the youngest senators in state history, and one of the best looking. He was tall, but not enough to be intimidating, his face thin but kind. His ash-blonde hair made his green eyes almost startlingly brilliant and gave him a look of maturity. I could see why Katy was so taken with him.
“Miss Stone, what exactly is your interest in this matter?” he asked, laying his hands on the desk just as the door opened behind me.
“Colton, I’m going to suggest you not say anything at this time,” the man said hurriedly, crossing around me to stand at Harris’ side.
That’s him, Sue hissed inside my head.
But I’d already recognized him. It was the voice more than anything, but the build was right and instantly, a parade of goose bumps marched up my back.
“Miss Stone, this is Theodore Long, my friend and chief of staff. Teddy, this is Isabel Stone. She’s a private investigator looking into Katy’s disappearance.”
He held his hand out, and I found myself gagging as I shook it.
“Please, call me Teddy,” he said with a sly smile. “But I’m afraid we have a speech to prepare. Colton has already given a statement to the police.”
I nodded. “I’m aware of that, and I know how busy the future senator is.” I stood, leaning forward and lowering my voice as I continued, “But new evidence has come to light. Someone came into my office yesterday. She says she witnessed someone killing Katy Fonte.”
“That’s not possible,” Harris said, his face going pale.
“Has this witness identified or implicated the person responsible? Have the police found the body?” Theodore asked sternly.
I took a deep breath, trying to decide how to continue. If I played my cards right, maybe Teddy would give me something I could use.
“The witness in under my protection for now. She claims she saw a man meeting with Katy at St. Paul’s Cemetery last Sunday night. She also claims to have seen the man strangle her, and then leave with the body.”
He shifted his weight, glaring at Teddy, whose face remained stoic, almost amused as he listened.
“Also, we found this in her belongings.” I held up the thumb drive.
“What’s that?” Harris asked, his tone demanding.
“It’s the backup of Katy’s laptop. Very interesting stuff on here, Mr. Harris.”
He paled, and I knew I had him.
“Mr. Harris, I know you didn’t kill that girl. While she didn’t get a great look at the murderer, my witness isvery certain it wasn’t you. But someone wanted her and that baby gone. Someone who had a lot to lose if the story leaked out.”
“What do you want from me?” Harris demanded.
I stepped toward the door. “To be honest, I don’t think there’s anything I want from you. Either you or someone very close to you ordered this girl murdered. I might not have the proof yet, but you can bet your ass I’m going to get it. I’m going to find her body and once I do, I’m going to make it my personal mission to see that everyone who had a hand in her death is brought to justice.”
“You can’t prove anything. Colton was at a rally surrounded by witnesses the night she disappeared,” Theodore said as I grasped the doorknob.
I dropped it and turned. “No, Teddy. Harris isn’t the one who choked the life out of her, but I’m beginning to think I know who did.” I turned and walked out, holding my breath all the way to my car. My hands were still shaking as I slipped into the driver’s seat and clutched the wheel, releasing a heavy breath. I hadn’t expected to be shot in the back in broad daylight, but Teddy was a desperate man. I could tell by the expensive cut of his suit combined with the wild look in his grey eyes. He was a man with a lot to lose. Maybe even more than Harris.
Theodore Long was my killer. And I’d just painted a huge target on my back for him.
You’re playing a dangerous game, Isabel.
“Tell me something I don’t know.”
i
When the shaking finally stopped, I managed to drive over to Heather’s shop. She’d already gone so I left her a note and the photo I’d taken from Katy’s room, stuffing them in her mail slot. She could work her mojo in the morning and hopefully, she could get me a location on the body.
It was dusk when I got back to the office, and Shane still wasn’t home. I flicked on the lights and tossed my leather jacket on the kitchen counter.
Shane will be here to get you soon, Sue reminded me.
Of course. Our dinner. I sighed and leaned against the fridge. What was I going to do about Shane?
Go change into something pretty, Sue suggested.
“Shut up, Sue. This is your fault.”
Not so. I gave you the choice, and you made it. Now stop whining and get moving. He’ll be here soon.
“I don’t wanna,” I whined, stomping my feet like a child.
Yes, you do. Now get moving, missy.
“Fine,” I grumbled, amazed at how much a hundred-year-old dead woman could sound just like my mother. As I passed my office on the way up to my room, I noticed the blinking red light of the answering machine so I veered off to che
ck it.
Beep.
It’s your mother. Don’t forget about your fitting tomorrow. Noon. Jaxon Fabrics. Don’t be late.
Beep
Isabel, it’s Heather. Listen, I got a bad feeling today. I’m gonna go back to the office tonight to work on that stuff you’re going to leave for me. Whatever happens tonight, remember that I love you. Shane loves you. Be safe.
Beep.
“That doesn’t sound good, does it?”
Inside my head, Sue frowned.
SHANE
The drive back to the Conclave gave him a chance to think. Initially, he was going to burst in and confront Xavier with the notebooks. But, while the fantasy was nice, it was also a good way to get his head ripped off. No, if he was going to risk severing his ties with the Conclave, he needed to know exactly what was in those notebooks. He blasted past the compound and turned onto the desolate stretch of road that led to an abandoned airfield near the swamp. He hadn’t even turned off his bike when the mechanical sound of motion sensor video cameras came to life all around him. Somewhere in a dank cellar, a half a mile beneath the ground he was now standing on, his vampire brother, Richard Clark, was watching him.