“School, I’m in school, and I need to work as few hours as I can.” I could handle working on the weekends, but if I didn’t have to, I wouldn’t.
Mia mentally weighed my answer. “School, huh? I thought you were going to be replacing Anna, but I guess not, cause she worked full-time and always on the weekend. That chick was always broke. I guess Brett and I are going to have to rotate weekends again.”
I could tell that annoyed her, but it was only every other weekend. She’d survive it.
Mia pointed at the clock and looked at me. “Your break is over.”
Chapter 15
* * *
Fear: [feer] (noun) A distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined; the feeling or condition of being afraid.
* * *
Mia and I continued to work in silence until her cell phone vibrated. We were almost done, and my work day was over in an hour. Mia whispered fiercely into the phone, and I couldn't help but wonder who she was talking to.
“What? Oh my God!” Mia shrieked, scaring the crap out of me.
The look on her face was of utter and complete shock. I was about to ask what was wrong when she ran out of the backroom calling for Mr. Knope. I finished stocking the last of the shipment and started to clean up the boxes to take them to the recycle bin when Mr. Knope walked back into the room with Mia. Her eyes were red, and her cheeks were stained black from her eyeliner. My expression must have given away my confusion because Mia said through tears and sniffles to Mr. Knope that she hadn’t told me anything. Mr. Knope patted Mia’s back and told her she should get her coat and get ready to leave. I went back to cleaning because I had no clue what had happened.
“That’s okay, Ella. Don’t worry about it. We are closing early today,” he said with a frown.
Still confused, I looked at Mia, then at Mr. Knope. “What’s going on?”
Mia’s frown turned into a grimace.
“Anna is dead! That is what’s going on! They found her body in the Elmwoods!”
I understood her anger, especially if she and Anna had been close, but I couldn’t really imagine her being that close with any other female. The shock of the news rendered me speechless, and I stood there looking at Mr. Knope for advice for comfort.
He patted Mia’s back again before she ran off into his office, slamming the door. “I’m sorry she acted that way, Ella. I didn’t even know that she and Anna were that good of friends. I don’t know the details, but Mia’s friend sent her a text message that Anna’s body was found. I called my wife to confirm it just as she was about to call me.” He sighed and pulled up one of the milk cartons that Mia and I had just emptied and sat down.
I did the same and waited for him to speak. I didn’t know what to say. Whenever someone tried to make me feel better about my parents by saying something nice, it just pissed me off. People would say things like, “They are in a better place,” or “Things will get better soon.” It was all a load of crap. The thought of my parents brought the all too familiar sting of fresh tears to my eyes.
Mr. Knope mistook the tears for sadness about the news and cleared his throat nervously. “Umm… Ella, I know this is hard for you, and if you don’t want to work here anymore, I will understand.”
“No, it’s fine. I want to work here. Since we are closing early, do you think you could give me a ride home now?” I wanted to get out of the store before Mia came back out or before Mr. Knope felt the need to pat my back again.
“Let me see if Mia can do it.” He groaned as he stood up from the low milk crate. “I still have some things to do here, and she should be okay to drive.” He walked over to the office door and entered. I could hear him asking Mia to take me home, and I could hear her exasperated “whatever.” She flew out of the door looking over her shoulder.
“Well, get your coat. I don’t have all day,” she spat, swishing out of the double doors leading to the floor.
Mr. Knope shrugged his shoulders and disappeared into the office, closing the door. I grabbed my coat, suited up, and headed outside. The parking lot was empty save for a little white bug and two green pickup trucks. I guess everyone had heard the news and closed up shop. Mia’s loud horn pulled me from my trance, and I shuffled over to her car and got in the passenger seat. It smelled like flowers and candy inside. If it wasn’t so cold outside, I would have rolled down the window so that I could breathed in air that wasn’t artificially sweetened. I gave Mia the directions and she pulled onto the main road like a bat out of hell. She pulled out her cell and started to dial. Once she noticed that driving and dialing took more skill than she possessed, she slowed down put the call on speaker, and handed me the phone.
“I need you told hold this so I can drive.” It started to ring before I could protest, and on the second ring, a male voice answered.
“Yo,” said a deep, husky voice. He sounded my age or maybe a few years older.
“What the hell, Brett?” Mia shrieked.
I almost put my hands to my ears to keep from going deaf.
Brett wasn’t bothered by her high-pitched squeal, apparently. “My dad just came home from the office and told me that they found the body of a teenage girl in Elmwood behind the cemetery,” he said.
My brain popped into gear as soon as he said Elmwood Cemetery. I wondered if Kale was still squatting in the mausoleum. I was past thinking that he wasn’t real, but I still believed that he was a bit loony. Could he have had something to do with Anna’s death? Either my silence to the news or the look on my face prompted Mia to get my attention, cutting Brett off before he could start a new sentence.
“You look white as a ghost, girl. Are you okay?” Her grey blue eyes were still red, and the charcoal eyeliner had streaked farther down her face as she looked at me with concern.
I was sure that her sympathy wasn’t staged. Maybe she wasn’t such a bitch after all.
“Whoa, whoa, you got another chick in the car with you?” Brett asked, sounding oddly excited. “Is she hot?” He added a sexy drawl to his voice.
Mia rolled her eyes. “She may be a little silly in the head, but I don’t think that she is dumb enough to fall for your fake charm, Romeo.” She looked at me appraisingly and then back to the road.
I was so nervous that I had a hard time holding the phone up, so I placed it on the center console and held it in place with my hand.
Brett, unfazed by Mia’s insult, delved back into the information he had received from his dad. “He said that it was bad! He said that it looked like a wild animal had torn her to pieces.”
We pulled into my empty driveway and stopped. Mia made no move to take the phone. She continued with the conversation while I sat there worried that I may have let a murderer into my bedroom.
“That’s disgusting, Brett! I wonder if they are going to interrogate Cam.” She said her voice turning somewhat pensive at the mention of Cam’s name.
“Please, he’s been out of town for a week now. He and his family moved to Pittsburgh. Hey, where are you and the new hottie at? You two want to come over?” He sounded excited at the prospect of company.
I was still wondering about Kale when Mia looked over at me and smiled. “Do you want to?” she asked. This girl hadn’t been very nice to me and now she wanted to hang out? I looked at the empty house and decided that it would be better to hang out with Mia and this Brett guy than in the house alone.
“Let me change first?” Her patience wasn’t something I felt like testing, but I needed to change out of my work clothes. I peeked at the shed and wondered if Kale was there. “Do you want to come in?” I asked.
Mia looked at the house and frowned. I didn’t think her home was as modest as the Carltons’ Colonial Revival home. Most of the houses in this part of Cedar were like the Carltons’: symmetrical façades, rectangular shapes, brick or wood siding, and simple yet classical detailing. It was when you got to Elmwood City where you saw where the money was.
“Sure, I guess. It looks quaint on the outside. Hey, Brett, we’ll be there in thirty.” She hung up, but not before Brett shouted, “Cools.”
We got out of the car and made it to the door at the same time. I felt foolish for fearing Kale. I knew that he hadn’t killed that girl, but the proximity of her body to his hideout made me tense. Why had she been out there? Was she alone? Did Kale see what happened? Was he involved in some way? As we entered the house, Max barreled past us, earning a nasty glare from Mia.
She made herself comfortable on the sofa in the living room. “That dog better not be out there long. We have to go soon. Hurry up. Brett lives in Elmwood City, so it’s a thirty minute drive.” She found the remote and turned on the TV.
The TV was on MSNBC, although I remembered leaving it on the Disney Channel before I left in the morning. I ran upstairs and peeked through my closet; all I had were jeans, hoodies, and college tees. I changed into a long-sleeved navy blue ODU shirt and shrugged out of my tight khakis and into the jeans. After I redid my ponytail, I threw on some mascara and headed downstairs where Mia was on her cell, sweet talking some unfortunate soul.
“You ready?” I asked.
She quickly finished up her conversation and walked toward the door. “Geez, calm down. It’s only a thirty minute drive.” She walked outside and called over her shoulder, “Don’t forget the mutt!”
It was probably a mistake going off with Mia and her annoying, bipolar attitude, but a sudden movement in the bushes reminded me of why I was leaving with her. I called for Max, who amazingly came running, and I ushered him inside. Before I left, I put a note on the counter telling Eric and Sarah that I was out with a coworker and that I had my cell on me if they needed anything.
With Mia’s driving, Elmwood was only twenty minutes away, but I never wanted to get in the car with her again. Elmwood was larger than Cedar Grove. It had a mall that I’d been to a few times before. When my family and I used to visit, we would go to Tevisburg, a college town forty-five minutes south of Cedar Grove. There were plenty of things to do there, and it was larger, but Elmwood was closer. Elmwood was a nice sized town that had been built by loggers. Most families earned their living making paper and construction wood in the town’s mills and factories. Either you owned a factory and had a lot of money, or you worked at one and had some money. From the looks of Mia’s car and designer khakis, I’d say her father probably owned a small factory.
We passed the mall and one of the three movie theaters in Elmwood and headed into one of the smaller neighborhoods.” Mia skidded to a halt in front of a two-story brick house. It was smaller than the Carltons’ house and had a lot less yard space. The closest neighbor was ten steps away, and the modest home reminded me of my old neighbor in Virginia Beach. Our ranch-style house didn't stick out back home because in my neighborhood there were only three different styles: ranch, colonial, and a modified colonial.
“Come on,” Mia said, not unkindly.
I followed her to the steps and waited for her to knock, but she walked right in. Mia greeted a tall dark haired woman wearing an apron and white dress as she came from the kitchen.
“Hey, Mrs. Dauwde, this is Ella. Ella, this is Brett’s mom, Sharin.” She walked up the stairs, not looking back to see if I was following. I was pissed at her for leaving me after walking into someone’s house without knocking. It seemed like she didn't have an ounce of home training.
Mrs. Dauwde smiled at me. “Don’t mind her, honey. You’ll learn to get used to her brazenness,” she said in the softest voice I’d ever heard
“Somehow I doubt it. I guess not everyone has proper home training.” I reached out my hand to shake hers.
She quickly and assertively shook mine and smiled again, her bright teeth nearly blinding me. She was the epitome of a housewife, with the apron, sweet motherly smile, round shape, and fresh baked cookie scent floating around the house. I wondered if she was a stay-at-home mom, or if she moonlighted at one of the factories.
“I think I like you already, sweetie.”
Mia yelled down the steps to me. “Are you coming or what?” she demanded with slightly less harshness than I was used to hearing from her.
Mrs. Dauwde smile and winked at me. “I think she likes you.” She moved with me to the steps.
Mia had again disappeared really pissing me off again.
“Mia Shea Atelier!” Mrs. Dauwde whispered fiercely. “If you wake that baby from his nap, I’m sending you home with a red hide, you hear me? It’s the last door on the left, sweetie. You go on up, and send Brett down to get you something to eat or drink if you want.”
When I reached the room and went inside, it smelled of boy and cologne—an oddly sweet scent that I was sure was from Brett gussying up before we came over his house. Brett faced away from me on his laptop while Mia sat on the La-Z-Boy in the corner facing the door, a scowl on her face. At least I knew her nasty attitude wasn’t saved for me. She was a brat to everyone.
“We were waiting for you so Brett could finish telling us what his father said,” Mia said, rolling her eyes and facing Brett. She waved her hand, gesturing for Brett to continue.
I could tell Brett was tall even though he was sitting down. His knees looked uncomfortably bunched under his laptop table. His hair was chestnut brown with hints of gold, and when he turned around, his eyes were emeralds sparkling in his smooth, tanned face. He would have been really handsome had his mouth not opened when he saw me, spilling weirdness.
“Hot! Brett always attracts hotties.” He sounded like a big, goofy idiot referring to himself in the third person.
I smiled and took a seat on the edge of the bed, waiting for more information. Brett’s father worked at the sheriff’s office, so I assumed he knew more than the average person about Anna’s murder, like if they had a suspect with pale skin, dark eyes, and sable hair.
Mia sighed, seemingly annoyed with Brett’s inability to stop acting like an idiot for more than two minutes. “Whenever you’re ready to tell us what else you learned, Brett.”
Brett turned toward her and put his hands up in surrender.
I hoped the information we got from Brett would prove Kale had nothing to do with Anna’s murder, or else it meant that there was a possibility that I’d let a murderer into my home.
“Okay. Dang, calm down, girl. My dad said that they don’t know why she was out there by herself. They didn’t find any other tracks besides hers. The weird thing is, my dad said that there wasn’t enough blood where they found the body, so he thinks the crime was committed somewhere else.”
We were both on the edge of our seats edging closer to Brett. Though Mia tried to hide it, I could see the fear on her face. I was sure that they could see it on mine, but our fears were completely different because I felt connected to this murder. .
“How is that weird?” Mia asked. “That happens all the time.” She finished sitting back in the chair holding her stomach as if she were going to be ill.
“You didn’t let me finish. She didn’t have any blood in her at all and her neck was severed.” Brett’s face was white as a sheet.
I hadn’t said a word, and the ever mouthy Mia was just as quiet. Too nervous and weirded out to make small talk, we sat there until a knock at the door made us jump out of our skins.
“Shit!” Brett exclaimed.
His mother came in with a plate and three sodas. She looked at our faces and frowned as she placed the food and drink on the dresser. Mrs. Dauwde placed her hands on her hips. “Brett, I know that you’re not in here telling these girls about Anna. It’s scary news and not something that you need to worry them with.” She chided, causing him to clam up.
Mia sighed, ran her hands through her blonde ponytail hair, then placed them in her lap.
“Mrs. D, do we have a killer on the loose? Because if that’s the case, I may seriously freak out!” Nervousness seemed to replace her earlier anger.
Brett’s mother frowned and turned to me as she answered Mia. “
I think everything will be okay, but you girls need to be extra careful—no talking to strangers and no going into the woods alone for anything whatsoever.”
I felt a pang of guilt because I had done all of the things she’d advised us not to do. I could have been the body in the woods. The battle between my heart and my head waged onward as.
“Especially you, Ella,” Sharin continued.
I looked up at her, surprised and scared. “Me?” I squeaked, worried she could somehow use her powers as a mother to see when I had done something wrong and/or stupid like my mother used to do.
“Elmwood City is such a small town that no new face goes unrecognized. Thankfully, you have Brett and Mia who have grown up here, so they can help you out.” She made her way back to the bedroom door to leave. “I would invite you girls to dinner, but I think it’s best if you get home before dark. I’m sure your families will be worried about you being out after dark,” she said before she disappeared out of the door. Brett sighed and sat back in the laptop chair, frowning.
“This is some crazy shit. They are probably going to impose a curfew for all the teens and kids in town.” He frowned, looking from Mia to me. “You live in Elmwood, too?”
“Cedar Grove,” I answered.
Brett scratched his head. “Yeah, you might still get a curfew because Cedar Grove runs right along the Elmwoods.” He sounded disappointed.
“True, but they haven’t done it yet, so I think we are all okay—for now,” Mia said, then stood up and grabbed a cookie and a soda that Mrs. Dauwde had brought in.
I looked at my cell for the time and any missed messages, but there weren’t any. It was almost six, and the sun was already dropping. I didn't think Mia was going to follow Mrs. Dauwde’s advice about leaving before dark.
“I think that we should call Cam,” Mia murmured, and Brett looked appalled at the idea. “What? Just to see if he is ok, jeez.”
Few Are Angels Page 11