Amber winced here, overdoing it a bit for Francine’s benefit. “Well, you know how things are here in Edgehill … I heard you’re no longer working with the mayor’s office and thought you might like to join the committee to help prevent gaps in your resume until you find a new position. It’s not a job, per se, but it’s a highly respected event—I know you haven’t lived here that long, but it’s hard not to know how huge the Here and Meow is. And I figure if you were able stay on top of the finances for the mayor and his campaign, running the finances for the festival would be a breeze. We’ve needed the additional help since Whitney was arrested.”
“Oh … that’s right,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “I’m sorry about Melanie. I know enough about you to know you two were close.”
Amber nodded slightly. “Thanks.”
Francine rested her elbows on her knees, gaze focused on her fur-lined house slippers. “Don’t get me wrong,” she said after a long pause, raising her head to look at Amber, “I’m flattered you’ve even come here. Lord knows I could use something to help fill my time and get me out of the house, but I mean …” She sat straighter to motion at herself, and then at her living room. “I’m a disaster. There have to be better candidates than me.”
Amber shrugged. “We’ve all been between jobs before. Nothing a shower and a little tidying up can’t fix.”
“I was fired,” Francine said. “I was dumped. Day drinking and watching romantic comedies are my new hobbies. Because, as if I couldn’t be any more of a mess, I’m heartbroken on top of everything else.”
Unsure if she should even bring it up, Amber said, “My friends and I saw you at the Sippin’ Siamese on Thursday with a very hot cowboy.”
Francine snorted and waved her hand dismissively. “Oh, he was just a distraction.”
Chewing on her bottom lip, Amber told herself that she was here to talk about the financial position. Nothing else. Nothing else was any of her business. “Were you dumped by Frank?”
Francine let out such a sudden burst of uproarious laughter that her two cats zipped off the couch and darted away. “Oh my God. No, not him. I was seeing this guy for nearly a year and it turns out the little weasel was only dating me because of my connection to the mayor. When Frank fired me, he was no longer interested.” Francine stood long enough to fish another cupcake out of the box. After plopping back into her chair, she said, “I feel like I’m drowning. It’s like I’ve lost control of everything in my life.”
Amber frowned, struggling for something to say.
“Everything fell apart spectacularly in a matter of forty-eight hours and I don’t know how to get back on track.” She devoured the second cupcake, then glared at the wrapper she’d meticulously folded into a tiny square. “I don’t know how much help I’d be to the committee. Clearly I’m not the best at making decisions. I’ve made so many terrible ones lately. Especially lately. Men, career … eating habits.” She tossed the wrapper onto the coffee table. “It’s like I don’t even recognize myself anymore.”
Amber wasn’t sure if the woman was seconds from punching something or bursting into tears. “Just talking to Kimberly couldn’t hurt, right?” she asked.
“I suppose not.”
After a stint of awkward silence, Amber said, “If you were to get the position, as it gets closer to the Here and Meow, the mayor has a tendency to pop in on meetings. Our most recent one was at his house. Would things like that be a problem? Seeing him, I mean?”
Francine shrugged. “It would be fine. I’m mostly just … hurt he fired me after all the work I put into that job. During the campaign, we were practically glued at the hip. And then he fires me for snooping in his personal affairs?” She rolled her eyes. “It was my job to be in his personal affairs.”
“Did you stumble on something really risqué or something?” Amber asked, still unable to keep her curiosity in check.
Francine laughed. “Hardly. He has monthly payments that go out to someone like clockwork. They’ve been going out for years. So I asked him about it, since they were really starting to cut into his bottom line and I needed to know if we needed to cut back in other areas to help accommodate these payments, whatever they were. I made the mistake of asking what they were for and he flipped out. He’s usually a super relaxed guy, but geez, he’s got a temper on him. He started saying these really horrible things to me, so I snapped and said horrible things back, and within ten minutes of me asking about the payments, he’d fired me and practically kicked me out of his office.”
“Wow,” Amber said, reliving her own experience with Frank’s temper. “Can I ask you something?”
“You brought me cupcakes in my time of need. You can ask anything you want.”
“It’s about him and Chloe,” Amber said. “Did you ever see anything that would make you think he was, I don’t know, abusive to her?”
“No,” Francine said emphatically, shaking her head. “He’s a monster sometimes—a monster—but he and Chloe actually get along really well. They have their little arguments, but what parent and teenager don’t? He adores her. I know some people think he had something to do with Chloe’s disappearance, but there’s no way in this world or in the next that he would ever hurt a hair on that girl’s head.”
But would he pay someone else to hurt a hair on her head? Amber wanted to ask.
“Do you think those monthly payments were alimony?” Amber asked instead. If the “Chloe’s mother is still alive” theory was true, then maybe the monthly payments were going to her.
“Nope,” Francine said. “Shannon died when Chloe was a baby. Car accident. I have no idea who the payments could be to; he has the most boring social life I’ve ever seen. He doesn’t date. Doesn’t really have any close friends. I secretly hope I stumbled on payments from a slush fund to someone who he had an illegitimate kid with or something, but he’s honestly so boring and straightlaced, I can’t imagine it’s anything scandalous.”
“Then why fire you just for questioning what the payments were for?” Amber asked.
Francine groaned. “True.” Then, in a reluctant tone, she asked, “Have you talked to or seen him lately? I mean, since the disappearance? Any idea how he’s doing? Does he look like he’s been sleeping? He … he won’t return my calls. I just want to know if he’s okay. Chloe’s his whole world; he has to be a wreck.”
Something occurred to Amber then.
“What?” Francine asked, when Amber had done nothing but stare at her.
“How long ago did you fall for Frank?”
Squeezing her eyes shut, Francine dropped her face into her hands. Then she whimpered. “My God, am I really that obvious?” When she finally lowered her hands and shrugged helplessly in Amber’s direction, her eyes welled with tears. “Nothing ever happened between us, let me point that out right now. He never even flirted with me—at least I don’t think he ever did. That man isn’t the easiest to read.
“This guy I was seeing was … bad news. Manipulative. Good at gaslighting. But he could also be an amazing listener and was there for me whenever I needed it. Definitely a commitment-phobe though. I kept telling myself he was shy and just needed me to be patient until he was comfortable opening up to me, you know? But he just wasn’t that into me. I let myself get strung along like a lovesick idiot. I actually talked to Frank about it a couple times.
“A few months ago, we’d both gotten a little tipsy on wine while working at his office and I came onto him hard. He shut me down. I don’t even know why I’ve got it so bad for the stupid wet blanket.” Her bottom lip shook, and she worried at a cuticle. “We’d gotten so close over the last few years and I’d really gotten to know Chloe. We’ve had family dinners together and even went on a little weekend vacation once. I guess I hoped that whatever Frank was upset about would go on the backburner when Chloe vanished. If something like this won’t make him reach out to me, I don’t know what will. But it’s been radio silence. It’s like he’s written me out of his life. Like I
don’t matter to him anymore. Why do I keep falling for guys who don’t want me?”
Amber wished she had an answer for her. All she knew was that she’d grown uncomfortable now that the adrenaline of chasing down a lead had worn off.
“Good gracious,” Francine said, rubbing her face with both hands and smearing her old mascara even further. “I’m sorry I just dumped all that on you. I really need to stop day drinking.”
Amber managed a faint laugh. It was time to leave this poor woman alone. She stood, and her still-strapped-on messenger bag tapped lightly against her thigh. “It’s not a problem. Everyone needs to vent sometimes. Thanks for talking to me. If you’re interested in that position …”
Francine stood, too. “Yes, please tell Kimberly I’d love to meet with her to chat. Let me get you my card.”
Amber walked with Francine out of the living room. As Amber waited in the small entryway, Francine headed into the rightmost hallway, calling an “I’ll be right back!” over her shoulder. Glancing around the small space, Amber caught sight of her mess of a reflection again and turned her back on it, shuddering slightly. She needed to start carrying a brush in her bag when she rode her bike long distances. She looked like a woman who had come creeping out of the woods where all her friends were squirrels.
Francine was back in less than a minute and handed the card over.
Amber took it and said, “Thanks again for meeting with me. I’m sure Kim will be in touch soon.”
When Amber made it outside, she was relieved to find her bike’s basket still attached. Once she’d freed her lunch from its pink box and its wrapper, she walked her bike down the sidewalk as she ate her cupcake, thinking about her conversation with Francine.
“I feel like I’m drowning. It’s like I’ve lost control of my life,” she’d said.“I hoped that whatever Frank was upset about would go on the backburner when Chloe vanished. If something like this won’t make him reach out to me, I don’t know what will.”
It wasn’t possible that Francine had something to do with Chloe’s disappearance, was it? Would Francine threaten the safety of Chloe in a desperate attempt to get Frank back into her life? He’d turned down her advances, fired her, and shut her out. Heartbreak could make a rational person do wholly irrational things, but would it drive someone to stage the kidnapping of an innocent girl?
She desperately hoped Chloe, wherever she was, was okay. That she could hold on a little longer until they found her.
Amber needed to perfect this premonition tincture as soon as possible. Maybe it would provide a clue to where Chloe was being held, or by whom. The longer Chloe was missing, the closer she got to being a statistic.
Amber refused to let that happen.
Chapter 9
By 10:45 Tuesday morning, Amber and Ann Marie had set up their table for the Job and Career Fair, which was due to begin at 11. Ann Marie had brought a white tablecloth covered in frolicking kittens, which they’d laid over the table they’d been assigned to. They had the Edgehill Fire Department to their right, and Lil Whiskers Daycare on the other. Businesses from all over Edgehill were represented at the fair—some offering summer job opportunities, while others offered internships. Students looking to enter the medical profession could sign up for volunteer programs.
The Here and Meow table was decorated with a handful of Amber’s toys—both the animated ones and a few of the smaller non-charmed ones that would serve as table decorations during the Hair Ball. As Amber and Ann Marie sat in their seats side by side behind the table, Amber took in the scene around her.
The fair was being held in the Edgehill High gym, tables ringing the outside edge of the shiny wooden floor of the basketball court. The place was filled with adults laying down tablecloths, neatly stacking flyers and business cards, and setting up clipboards to sign up for one thing or another. The din was already loud and the kids hadn’t even joined them yet. The sound of voices echoed around Amber, bouncing off the walls where the bleachers had been stacked away.
“So we’re going to need volunteers both for the 5k—to pass out water and also people to direct runners where to go to make sure no one veers off course—and for the Hair Ball,” Ann Marie explained. The clipboard in front of Amber was for the Hair Ball. “For the gala, we basically need as many people as we can get to pass out samples to the guests and to clean up. Glorified waitresses and busboys. The gala is so much bigger this year—I didn’t realize how many people we would need to help out.”
“Got it,” Amber said with a nod. “Have you had luck at the fair before? Seems like a great place to do it.”
“First year,” she said. “Getting a table here was Melanie’s idea. So was convincing the teachers to offer extra credit in exchange for helping out.”
With a slight smile, Amber nodded. “Sounds like Melanie.”
Ann Marie tapped the screen on her phone, which was lying behind a standing flyer holder, the clear plastic box stuffed with maps of the 5k path, each volunteer location marked with an X. “Ten minutes until show time,” she said. “Thanks for doing this, by the way. I know Kim only asked you yesterday. I’m worried about her. Last minute isn’t how she does things. She’s got three of us to help and yet she keeps taking on more and more herself. I just have a feeling she’s going to crack soon.”
“We have to keep reminding her we’re here if she needs us. Maybe we can wear her down by being overly eager to help.”
“Speaking of! I heard we have a new finance chair,” said Ann Marie. “Kim said she got in contact with Francine Robins based on your recommendation and she said Francine is sharp as a tack. I wonder if she’s still seeing that hot cowboy …”
Amber laughed. “She’s not. She said he was just a distraction.”
“I couldn’t even get a guy like that to look at me, let alone allow me to use him as a plaything.”
“Same,” Amber agreed. “I guess Francine needed it; she’s been a bit of a wreck since the mayor fired her.”
“Yeah, sounds like Kim and Francine bonded over the whole unrequited love thing, too,” said Ann Marie. “They really hit it off.”
Amber cocked her head. “Kim has an unrequited love thing?”
Ann Marie quickly turned in her seat and rested her elbow on the back of it, then leaned toward Amber. “You’re kidding!”
“What?” Amber asked, leaning back a little.
“I thought she’d told everyone that story,” Ann Marie said. “Well, far be it from me to share that one. You’ll have to ask her yourself.”
Amber really needed to plan a girl’s night out with Kim and Ann Marie. She could have a social life here if she just tried a little harder.
Within a few minutes, kids started to pour into the gym. News must have gotten out about the extra credit, because by noon, they had over one hundred names spread across their two sign-up forms. Amber had even gotten an order for a custom animated toy from a young woman who wanted an elephant wearing a graduation cap. Amber was kicking herself for not thinking of a series of graduation-themed toys sooner.
When the flood of teens to their table had thinned out, Amber kept getting lost in the many ways she could animate the elephant. Could she charm it to use its trunk to take the cap off its head and wave it around before putting it back?
“Uh-oh,” Ann Marie muttered under her breath. “Incoming.”
Amber pulled herself out of her thoughts just as a very pretty young woman approached the table. She had dark brown hair, brown eyes, flawless skin, and a smile that looked completely staged.
“Hi, ladies,” she said cheerfully, holding out a hand to Amber.
Amber shot a curious look at Ann Marie as Amber shook the young woman’s hand. “Hi.”
“I already know Ann Marie, but I don’t think we’ve ever formally met,” she said. “I’m Dawn Newland.”
“As in Victor Newland’s daughter?” Amber asked.
Ann Marie muttered something else under her breath that Amber didn’t catch.
“Amber Blackwood.”
“Oh, right!” said Dawn. “You sell those little kitschy novelty toys, right?”
Amber decided not to dignify that with a response. Instead, she said, “Are you looking to volunteer? We’re nearly out of positions for the 5k, but we still have a few busser slots open for the gala.”
Dawn wrinkled her little button nose. “Actually, I wanted to find out if you’re the replacement for Ann Marie’s volunteer department assistant.”
“I’m just helping out today,” Amber said. “Keeping Chloe’s seat warm until she comes back.”
With a scoff, Dawn said, “Oh, c’mon, Amber. We both know Chloe isn’t coming back.”
Goose bumps rose on Amber’s arms, but she did her best to keep her voice neutral. “We do?”
“Uh … yeah,” Dawn said. “She ran off with that trashy older boyfriend of hers she was always talking to. I swear it’s a miracle she was passing any of her classes. All she ever did was talk to him on Scuttle. Johnny this and Johnny that. Sounds like her dad found out about it and Chloe decided she’d rather be with Johnny than deal with her psycho father, so she took off. She’ll show back up when the creep knocks her up and she needs money.”
Amber’s mouth dropped open.
Ann Marie gasped.
Dawn rolled her eyes. “Chloe Deidrick has been fooling everyone with her little wholesome act for ages. Just like her dad. You saw how he flipped out at the town hall meeting. Who wouldn’t want to get away from a guy with a temper like that? Even if it meant shacking up with a sleaze like Johnny.” She offered a dramatic shudder. “I’m the only one who can see through it. So if you want help, Ann Marie, from someone with actual work ethic who won’t be on her phone every ten seconds, know you have the perfect candidate right here. You’ll have the most efficiently run volunteer program the Here and Meow has ever had, and I’ll have something that looks great on my résumé. Win-win.” She reached into the small purse slung over her shoulder and pulled out a baby pink business card, placing it in the middle of one of the clipboards where dozens of her classmates had filled in their names. “Call me,” she said, tapping the card twice with a pointer finger, its nail painted a light pink that matched her card. “You won’t regret it.”
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