Fiona Frost: Order of the Black Moon (32 page)

Back in the pink palace
,
I
hurled my brain inside of
the case
for the remainder of the evening
. I posted notes
on my
corkboard
under each suspect
,
trying to keep
each piece of
evidence
—
separate and distinct.
I
was frustrated
,
I
couldn’t get my mind
pointed to
one
suspect
—
they all seemed to have strong and weak points
.

Wolfe called to check in on me,
and
that was the
last and final thing that I accomplished
, talking to him about nothing until
midnight.
I fell asleep
on the phone
,
and
my battery ran
out of juice
. My p
hone alarm never went off
the next morning
.
I
could have been
late to school
if
it weren’t for Janice waking me up
with
barely enough time to
pull myself together
.

I rushed
towards
Agent Bronson’s car
—h
e already had
it
running.
I
opened
the
car door
as
Haley
stormed
out onto the driveway with a hand on her hip and fury in her blue eyes.

“
S’
cuse me,” she grabbed the
car
door
, glaring
into my eyes
.
“
I
donno
who the hell you think you are
by
accusin’
me of bein’
with Carden Doyle
!
”

“Sorry, it was a misunderstanding
,
” I said coldly
, lowering into the
passenger’s seat.

“
Whaddya
not understand in your nerdy
little
skull?
I
set y
a
straight
,
so why
’d
you
c
all Carden and make up lies?”

I reached for the seatbelt and swiped it across my chest, arranging my backpack by my fe
et on the floorboard, trying to remain calm.

“
I talked to him before I talked to you.
I said I was sorry
, this conversation is over
.”

“Well, now
his brother
Duncan doesn’t want anything t’
do with me.
You’ve ruined everything.
I hate you so much,
payback’s gonna hurt
,”
she
screamed
, slamming the car door
, almost
catching my hand.

Shaking from anger,
I
roll
ed
the window down
.

“Why do you have to be so hateful
?
I said it was a misunderstanding
,
and that’s that.”

She
twisted around, face flushed with
ferocity.

“You don’t think about anything besides yourself
.
You told Carden I was tellin
’
people I was going out
with him
, he told Duncan, a
nd now Duncan thinks I was goin’
out with both of
‘em
.
Or at least
that I was
tryin
’
to
.
You made a mess
!
”
s
he
shouted
as loud as
her vocal cords could m
uster.

M
y blood boil
ed
as
I
instinctively clenched my fist,
my jaws tightening.
She
had
invaded my home, my school, and my family.
She
had done nothing but insult
us
and
cause harm to me personally.
This
demon seed
was angry with
me?
At that moment, I did everything I could
to
stay
buckled
in my seat and be the better person, but I couldn’t suppress the words that blurted out of my mouth.

“Why don’t you just go to New Zealand and get out of our lives forever
?
You are nothing but an ungratefu
l
menace
and a thief
,” I said coldly as I
rolled up the window
.

Agent Bronson, seeing this wasn’t a positive altercation and needed to end,
slowly pulled out of the driveway
.
I shook my head in disgust as
Haley
stared
me down as we pulled onto the street
.

“Wow, that was something,” Agent Bronson
said.

I raised a shoulder and tilted my head to the side as I held
up a bent wrist, palm in the air
, fingers spread in a gesture of indifference.

“Sorry.
She is from New Jersey, didn’t grow up with her or anything
,
and my aunt and uncle cast
the
demon
upon us
last summer.
Joy, huh
?
”
I scoffed, clearing my throat.

I was surprised to see
my black suit
wearing a
brown
ensemble with a pink tie—again, squashing my theory that black suits were government-issued.

Taking a deep breath to calm my nerves, my senses bathed in the aroma of
spicy
pine, relax
ing
me, allowing me to purge the
a
nxiety from my
soul as I became one with Beethoven sounding softly from the speakers.

After I had calmed down
, he
filled
me in on the
news of the
teen’s release from jail the previous evening
.
He detailed h
ow Melanie Newsted rallied
some
Southern Vampire Alliance
members
to greet her
daughter, Victoria
Newsted
,
a
nd cheer her on as she exited the jail
.
Following her release,
there was a welcome home party for Victoria at the
civic center
where over a hundred vampires gathered in support of her.
We assumed that Damien, being her boyfriend and fellow released prisoner, also attended the
soiree.
Agent Bronson said there were undercover agents working the event, looking for Gerald Smith
,
but he wasn’t spotted.

“Did you know Sydney Sergeant requested police protection from the cult upon release but was denied?
She claimed
b
y her giving information about the
others, her life was in danger
.
Th
e
police chief
didn’t feel as though there was any evidence of
imminent danger
,
since the
y hadn’t disclosed
to the other suspects
what her involvement was in the information they had about
their connection with the crime,” Agent Bronson reported as he turned the corner onto Rubium Way.

“Are you joking
?
They wouldn’t give her protection after she to
ld them the whole story?
Wow!”

Staring out the window at the few lonely clouds in the sky, I pressed the back of m
y hand to the window and
it was cold
—
probably in the fifties.

“
T
he teens were interviewed separately
,
and the protocol
i
s not to divulge what the other detainees disclose.
It was
the
divide and conquer
strategy of interrogation.
After her bail
had been
posted by Dimitri,
Sydney’s parents sent a taxi to pick her up
from jail
,
and
it’s assumed she made it home.”

“That’s crazy, so her parents didn’t even pick her up from jail.
So sad!
I would figure that
her
parents would be more cautious given that Dimitri LeMorte is such a nut job,” I said, gathering my backpack from the floorboard.

“I know, it’s kind of shocking.
Y
ou should know that
Gerald Smith
ha
s
been
missing since
the Silver Springs Marina spotting.
We are not taking it as a
sign he left Godley Grove, but rather
that
he
is
aware
he’s
been spotted
.
He’s probably
being
more cautious.
We know his
primary motive for the escape was to get even with
your
father
.
Not to alarm you, but you should know
h
e’s a dangerous man
, calculated
. The most effective way to harm a man is not to harm him directly, but to go for his family. Just because he says he’s after your dad doesn’t mean you’re safe.
”

“I know, Agent B.
You
’re d
oing your job and letting me know to take it seriously.
Wolfe
is the
best criminal profiler
in our group
, and he agrees with what you are saying, he said the same thing to me.
I’ll re
main diligent
and
stay
aware of
my surroundings at all times, no worries!”

We pulled up to
the front of the
school
;
I
jumped out of the car and sprinted
towards
the
school to
make it
to clas
s
.
I didn’t have special privileges on tardiness.
As I
approached the school’s entrance,
two police officers
exited
,
escorting
Camber Johnson
.
I reasoned she must have scored the police protection that Sydney
Sergeant
had
attempted
to get.
Money might have had something to do with it
,
and
her
parents
probably paid
off
-
duty police officers
to act as
her
bodyguards because
she
had been threatened by the vampire cult
.
For the first time, I felt sorry for
her
.
She seemed like a nice girl
, albeit a tad
rebellious with her appearance and a horrible decision maker.

The classes buzzed by, and I walked into calculus with a smile on my face, taking my seat.

“Wolfe,” I whispere
d loudly from across the aisle.

He grabbed his phone and thumbed on the screen for a moment before my phone vibrated in my pocket.
I grabbed it quickly
. He
had
texted me
.

I can’t look at you because I will be too distracted.
I’m here to learn math ;-) and you are far prettier than Mrs. Garcia and her crazy equations.

I sighed, stifling laughter.
I sent a text b
ack to him immediately.