by W. J. May
I pushed away my food, suddenly unable to eat. “You’re right. Why do you always have to be right?”
“I’m a doctor, it’s my job.” He winked at me. “Do you know where Kieran is staying right now?”
I nodded. “Unless he’s changed motels.”
“I think you should talk to him in the morning. Break it off with him the right way.”
Had Dad known this was going to happen? “I will.” I sighed, almost ready to cry. Everything sucked. Everything. “I don’t think I want to date anyone right now.”
“I think that’s the best idea you’ve had tonight.”
Figures my dad would say that.
#
The next morning, I drove up to Kieran’s motel alone. As I approached the motel, a police car raced by, its sirens blaring into my sensitive ears. I pulled to the side of the road, trying to calm the ringing inside them and also trying to hear what was going on. Kieran’s hotel!
I shoved the car into gear and took off, quickly pulling into the parking lot across the street. The motel was swarming with police cars. People were gathering around, gawking at the raid as residents were marched out of the motel in cuffs.
“What’s going on?” I asked a nearby woman.
“Someone tipped off the police about a prostitute ring and a drug organization being run there,” she said. “Apparently they found evidence.” She shook her head. “Serves them right.”
If the police looked into Kieran’s room and found the police files on his bed, they’d arrest him.
I watched as a line of prostitutes and junkies were led out struggling and yelling profanities at the cops, some walking out in sullen silence. There was a pause as what seemed to be the last of the criminals were led out. Unable to relax I tried to listen to all the conversations going on around me. The police, the people inside the hotel rooms, the owner of the motel. I could hear officers shouting but could not hear Kieran. Maybe he snuck out before they showed up.
Five officers came out, surrounding someone walking calmly to the car. The familiar heartbeat told me what I didn’t want to know. “No!!!!” I whispered, horrified.
Kieran turned and looked right at me as the police led him to a cop car. His expression turned pleading, but I knew it wasn’t for his freedom. He was silently telling me to get away from there and solve the murder. Then one of the cops pushed him gently into the car and shut the door and I didn’t see him again.
Breathing hard, I did my best to block out my panic and the chaos around me as I turned to my car. He was right. I did need to solve this murder.
I had come to break his heart and he was risking everything to save me. It should be me in the back seat of that cop car. Not him.
When I turned to see the street across from the motel, everything went silent. Or at least it felt like it. Parked across the street was a gray car. I wasn’t sure how, but somehow I knew that the driver was behind the anonymous tip to the police. They were watching me right now, knowing I was slowly piecing things together.
The gray car suddenly pulled out onto the street. I ran to the Beetle and quickly got in. I pulled into traffic right behind the gray car and watched as it sped up, pressing on the gas to try and keep up with them. I didn’t know what exactly I was going to do with a car chase, but there was no way in hell the driver was going to get away with this. Not now, not ever.
The car swerved and took a wide corner. I couldn’t get a view of the license plate or the driver, who was wearing a stupid cap. I followed it on a twisting, curving back road. All of the windows were tinted on the car, even the windshields, despite the law on that. Even so, I could barely make out the figure in the driver’s seat. All I could see was they weren’t that tall because the back of their head was only a little bit taller than the back of the seat.
I kept following it down the roads. The car took a sharp turn I couldn’t make and I kept going forward. I braked and back up, but when I looked down that street, the car was gone. “Damn it!” I shouted.
I covered my face with my hands, trying to calm down. I played the scene over and over again in my mind, trying to pick up sounds or anything I could remember that we could use. No heartbeat or engine or anything sounded familiar to me. I had nothing. Kieran was in jail, the police reports were gone, the key we’d found by the abandoned vehicle was gone. Everything!
I slowly drove back to the main road to head back to Elliot Lake. How were we going to catch Rylee’s killer before they caught us?
Chapter Twenty
Heidi
Zoe’s text message came through while I was browsing through the jewelry in a shop across the street from Pool Hall Parlour.
Kieran arrested?
My first thought was that Seth had found him and ratted him out. I dismissed the possibility. He was mad, but he wouldn’t do that.
I texted her back, asking her what happened next, and then tried to process everything that had happened in the last couple of days. It was still hard for me to picture Kieran back on our side after being angry at him for so long. Even though I wasn’t surprised he hadn’t killed Rylee, he still lied about having a power, as well as a lot of other things. Now, he was the closest and most capable of us to finding Rylee’s killer, and he was gone. I couldn’t even imagine what Zoe was feeling.
I picked up a designer necklace, admiring the design of it with a smile. It would be a long time before I could ever afford anything but junk jewelry from a thrift store, but I still liked shiny things. My phone vibrated and I put the necklace back to answer it. “Hello?”
“Heidi,” Seth said. “I want to apologize for yesterday. I was unnecessarily rude to you.”
I raised an eyebrow. I had no idea why he was apologizing. He avoided it as much as possible. “What did you do?”
“What do you mean? Isn’t that what people do? Apologize.”
“Seth, no offense, but you’re an asshole. To everyone. But me. Why?”
“Well, sorry, I’ll make a point to insult your hair next time I see you,” he grumbled.
“No, that’s not what I meant.” I sighed. “Did you have anything to do with Kieran getting arrested?”
“What? No!” A loud breath pushed through the phone. “I can’t say I’m not happy, or I wish I called the tip myself, but I didn’t.”
Well, at least he didn’t want to kill him right now. Or he wasn’t saying it. “Glad it wasn’t you.”
“Are you at work right now? I didn’t mean to interrupt anything.”
“Again with you being nice.” I shook my head. “It’s freaking me out. Stop it.” It actually was. I wasn’t sure if he had a personality shift or if he was hiding something from me. Hell, maybe he just really hated me and was polite to me because of that. I picked up a pair of earrings made of semi-precious stones. “You know—”
“Everybody down on the ground!” someone near the counter of the jewelry shop shouted. “This is a robbery!”
I dropped the earrings, terror filling me as I dropped down on my knees, the phone pressed tight against my ear.
“Heidi?” Seth’s voice came out panicked. “What’s going on? Where are you right now?”
“Jewelry shop across from PHP’s. Call the police!” I hung the phone up and set it to vibrate. I peered over the glass counter I was hiding behind and strained to get a look at the robber. It was a middle-aged man with a handgun. He looked ticked and ready to use it. He also had a bag and duct tape. “Everyone hand over your cell phones right now! Toss them over to me unless you want to get shot. While you’re at it, give me your wallets, your jewelry, your watches. That’s a pretty nice purse you have, miss. Toss that over here too.” He kicked a designer handbag belonging to a sniveling woman on the floor. There were only three people in the store shopping.
The store manager stood behind the counter with his hands up. While the robber was turned he reached to press the silent alarm but the man turned and pointed the gun at him. “Get out of there right now! If you make any sudde
n movements, you’re the first to go down, buddy.” He looked around the shop. “Everyone against that wall over there.” He gestured to the wall by me.
I couldn’t move though, crouching behind a display case. I was frozen, my heart pounding and my own breath deafening to my ears. He was going to kill me!
The gunman didn’t react. He hadn’t even noticed me. He was too focused on taking the cash out of the cash register and throwing it in the sack before moving to the display cases.
It was the only chance I had. The moment of surprise. I hesitated, trying to gather my wits. I’m insane. What the hell am I thinking? I haven’t done any real training in over a month.
When all of them were training, I had done some martial arts training and fake fights with the others. But I hadn’t been in a fake fight since before Rylee’s death and the last time I had really hit someone was when the group of college boys tried to rape a waitress at PHP. That was back when we had first gotten our powers.
The fear in the room left a bitter taste in my mouth, mixed with sweat from the store manager, and from the robber. I could see it glistening off his forehead and for some reason thought it was strange that he wasn’t wearing a mask. In the movies that meant he planned to kill all of them. Or maybe he was just stupid. Who robbed a jewelry store in broad daylight, and video cameras?
The man was moving through the display cases, quickly grabbing jewelry and dumping it into his bag, not caring if it tangled or broke. That didn’t seem normal. If it got damaged, he would get less money from it. That should matter to him… unless any money was good.
I assumed his shaking hands came from adrenaline, but now I wasn’t so sure. Quietly, I opened my mouth and breathed in before almost gagging. In addition to sweat and fear, there was something else on the robber. It was practically smothering me with its cloying taste. I had never smelled it before but I had a pretty good idea what it was.
I tried to remember what Health Class had taught about people going through drug withdrawals. Aside from their judgement going out the window and their desperation to do anything for drugs, I wasn’t sure what they were capable of. Bad withdrawals made the body physically ill and weak, which could give me the upper hand when it came down to a fight, but that desperation could make that man do things most humans wouldn’t ever do.
I would have to take my chances. He was quickly approaching the display case I was hiding behind and he would notice me for sure then.
Before I could stop myself, I somersaulted out from behind the display case and rushed the man, grabbing the gun out of his hand before he could react, and kneed him in the groin. The man groaned and doubled over. I pulled the bag out of his hand and tossed it aside before grabbing the back of his head and tossing him to the ground.
Not moving. I’d knocked him out in one blow! Adrenalin rushed through my veins as the other customers and owner stayed pressed against the wall. Why weren’t they helping?
I went to grab the duct tape he’d left by the cash box when someone suddenly grabbed my ankles.
I lost my balance and fell. I couldn’t get my hands in front of me fast enough as my head hit the corner of a case. Pain exploded in my head as warm liquid ran down my cheek.
The robber crawled on top of me, pressing another gun against my temple. “You think you’re a hero, bitch,” he spat. “Well, you might be tough, but…” His eyes widened when he saw the blood. He reached up with a dirty, shaking hand to touch my face.
It took everything inside of me to stay conscious. Blackness crept in my eyes and I blinked, trying to focus on the robber. I cringed from his touch.
He held the blood up to his bloodshot eyes, inspecting it. He smirked. “So it is real,” he whispered, excitement lighting in his eyes. “The radium halos.” He licked his finger. “Unbelievable.” He patted my head with strange tenderness. “You’re going to make me rich, sweetheart.”
The salty and drug-filled smell of his sweat, the copper smell of blood, everything landed on my palate and I swallowed, trying not to breathe or taste. Bile rose at the back of my throat and the room began to spin. Had he just licked my blood?
The glass door shattered and the robber suddenly flew off me. I knew it was Seth even as my eyes closed. He kicked the man and knocked him across the room. I tried to roll over and help but now the room spun with my eyes closed. I threw up, all over the floor.
The druggie fired his gun and the shot went wild. People screamed. I forced my eyes open and a blurry image of Seth punched the man in the face over and over until the man’s hand went limp and the gun fell to the floor.
Seth stopped and disappeared from view. Suddenly he was gathering me into his arms. “Are you okay?” He touched the bloody smear on my forehead. “I’m going to kill him before the cops even get here.”
“No, don’t!” I begged, so glad he had come. Slowly the room stopped spinning. I stared at the unconscious man, barely registering the sirens wailing in the distance. “Why did you come? I told you to call the police.”
“Well, you know me. I like to play hero.” He grinned and pulled a strand of hair from my face. “Besides, no one’s going to hurt any of my friends ever again. If I can stop it, I will.”
I nodded and then winced from the pain. I tried to smile. “So why do you pretend you’re not a good guy?”
“I’m always a good guy,” he said. “It’s just everyone else who’s an asshole.”
I smiled and then frowned. “That guy wasn’t just here for the jewelry.”
“What?”
“He knows about us.” The radium halos. You’re going to make me rich, sweetheart. I clung to Seth and rested my head against his shoulder. “I’m scared.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Seth’s dad and my parents came to the police station to pick us up after the questioning. My mother almost smothered me with her hug. “I’m so glad you’re all right, sweetie. That’s so scary.”
I nodded shakily. “I’m just glad it’s over.”
“That was very brave of you. Both of you.” My mom finally released her overwhelming-hold on me.
“It was stupid,” my father said as he pulled me into a hug, crushing me even more than my mother did. “Don’t you ever do anything like that again! I don’t want the next call to be from the coroner.”
“Goes for you too, Seth,” his dad said, still dressed in half of his fireman gear. “That was incredibly stupid. I don’t disapprove, but I don’t approve of it either.” The clap on Seth’s back had me thinking he was more proud, than worried.
Seth bear-hugged his father. “It won’t happen again.”
“With all of the misfortune you guys have been having lately, the last thing either of you need is more trouble,” my mother said. “Let’s go home. You need to rest. Especially with that bump on your head.”
I fingered the bandage near my temple. “I’m fine, Mom. Really.” Radium halo blood was already working and healing the bruised bump. I could feel it.
Seth reached for my hand and squeezed it. “I’ll talk to you later, okay?”
I nodded. “Thanks again for saving my butt.”
“Anytime.” He winked at me.
Seth’s dad put his arm around his son. “Let’s go,” he said. “We can—” Just then his pager went off. He swore when he looked at it. “There’s a fire across town. I’m still on active duty. Took the company SUV with me here.”
“Go, Dad. I’m fine.”
“Seth can come over to my house,” I said instantly. I looked at him, suddenly unsure. “Unless you want to be alone right now. Then we could take you home.”
“You should definitely come over,” my mom said. “I can make chicken wings and pizza for dinner.”
“You had me at chicken wings.” Seth laughed and my mother hugged him.
His dad patted him on the back again. “Thanks!” He practically ran out the door to go do his job.
Mom slipped her sunglasses on. “Let’s get you guys home. If this craziness keeps
happening in this small little town, I’m going to either have to take anti-anxiety pills, or start drinking vodka.”
Seth and I sat in the back of the car while my parents chatted to us from the front. While I appreciated the sense of normalcy, especially after the terror and chaos of earlier, I was still scared and I couldn’t shake the feeling that there was something bigger at play than any of us knew about. “I have to talk to you,” I whispered to Seth. “Later.”
He looked at me, his brow furrowed in concern. “Okay,” he mouthed. “Everything all right?”
I shook my head. “I honestly have no idea.”
At home, Seth and I took off for the family room, calling out that we were going to watch a movie. I knew they wouldn’t bug us.
I switched the TV on and told Seth in hushed tones what the robber had said about my blood.
“Seriously?” Seth said when I’d finished. “He really said radium halos?”
“Yeah. Then he licked his finger and said I was going to make him rich.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” He balled his hands into fists. “The guy was a crazy druggie. It means nothing.”
“No.” I shook my head, still able to sense everything from that moment. “It definitely means something. Don’t pull any of that crap on me. You know as well as I do someone is after us. Not just Rylee.”
He looked at me, fear evident in his eyes. “It could still be nothing.”
“But it’s not. Someone knows about us and it definitely isn’t Kieran.”
Seth shrugged. “Maybe there’s some kind of black market for our blood. I don’t know how, but people know about it and know how to harness it or something.”