Fiona Frost: Order of the Black Moon (45 page)

We stifled laughter as she made strange
faces into the mirror
.
Detective Chase and Maddie enter
ed
the room
, catching sight of
her
making faces in the mirror
. The detective
smirked and Maddie
gave
an expression of pure mortification
.
Emily startled
, spinning
around to face them.

Wolfe leaned over and whispered in my ear, “That’s your sister.”

I
gazed
at him with a grin
, slapping h
im gently on the
thigh
, trying not to laugh.
He gently squeezed my knee.

“Hello
,
Ms. Vance
.
How are you today?
Can you please take your seat over there,” Detective Chase
’s voice
bellowed
from
the speaker
s
above
the mirrors
.

Maddie turned around to the two-way mirror and gave us a wide
-
eye
d
expression as
the detective
whispered something inaudible into her ear
.
She
turned abruptly around
.
I supposed he instructed her not to face the mirror
.

“Hello
,
Detective,” Emily Vance crooned
, feeling her face with
stocky
fingers.

Detective Chase and Maddie paused for a moment, watching
her
odd behavi
or
. He
cleared his throat and swiped the hair of his receding hairline.

“Emily, what happened to your teeth?”

“Donno, they f
ell out,” she responded bluntly
.

“
D
id you know Jody James
personally
?”

“Yes, no, I don’t know
.
I’m not sure,” she said in an erratic tone
, slapping her own chee
k a couple of times
.

“
W
e need to know your story so we can piece together the night of
Jody James
’
murder in Arles Cave
.
Do you remember that night?”

“Yes, I’ve already told you all of the details
.
Why did you ask me back,
Detective?
Are you attracted to me
?
Do you want to date me?”
s
he said coyly, framing her spid
er-veined face with her sausage
fingers.

She
stood up,
fluffed
her frizzy hair and blew a tooth
less kiss
towards the
Detective.

Wolfe shot a look of disgust
towards me
as
Lauren and Willow hugged each other tightly, obviously
smothering a fit of laughter.

“I
’m
so glad I’m not in there, don’t know how Maddie is not freaking out,” I whispered into Wolfe’s ear as softly as I could muster.

“I’m glad you’re not in there so you could sit with me,”
he
whispered into my ear,
lightly kissing me on the cheek.
He pulled back,
his eyes
were
sincere.

I blushed uncontrollably, turning
to view
the room of chaos where my best friend was undoubtedly cursing me inside of her head for suggesting she go
in there
to interview
this crazy
loon
.

Wolfe had stolen a kiss on my che
ek, unprovoked, without reason,
without a standing deal.
It
was
wondrous
;
happiness overcame me
.
I forced
my
focus on what was being said in the interrogation room, so I cocked my head sideways,
to hear
the speakers better.

“No, Emily.
There’s new evidence
. We heard about the
altercation at the Stop-Go on Biscane Street with Jody James.
This was on the
day prior to her murder.
Do you recall the details of this altercation?”

“No, maybe
?
Not sure,” she responded, plopping her plump body back into her seat and heaving an exaggerated
sigh.

The kiss.
His perfect, soft lips had caressed my cheek
.
I
mentally begged him to
do it again
, longing for my
lips to meet his
.

This wasn’t appropriate.
I
bickered
inside of my head
, compelling myself
to concentrate on the Emily Vance interview
, forcing
my eyes on
the two-way mirror
.
The reason why Detective Chase didn’t want me involved with a club member, a colleague,
became crystal clear
—
emotions were nearly impossible to control.

“Your teeth were found in a truck stop
.
The
DNA from the teeth
is
a match.
We know you pulled your teeth out after the
news
reported
there was a bite mark on the victim.
But
we know
the
bite
happened well
in advance of the murder.”

“So, what does this have to do with me
?
”
she
scoffed
, moving her head like a
bobble head
doll
.

“We have a witness
who
saw you engage
in a fight with Jody James in the parking lot
. She
saw you
bit
e
her on the shoulder
.
Did this happen?”

“No, it did not.
And no, I did not pull my teeth out.
They fell out
,
and I don’t remember where they fell out
,
but last I knew it wasn’t illegal for your teeth to fall out,”
she
shouted before
dashing
o
ut of the room
.

She burst in
to the hallway
, slamming the door. As she scurried by us like a crazy penguin, I
ducked on the other side of Wolfe
.
Seconds later,
a uniformed officer
sprinted after her and escorted her
out of the station.

On Monday,
Janice dropped me off at school in her Town Car, license plate
Frost 3.
To my surprise, Agent Bronson was home sick, and
the
agent assigned to Janice followed
us
closely behind.

M
y mind
spun
in a whirlwind
for most of the day
for
I
had
spent half
of
the night before
studying
my evidence board and the other half talking on the phone to Wolfe
, the stolen kiss weighing heavily on my mind.
At least
we
mostly discussed
the case
,
so Detective Chase would
have
be
en
happy.
English,
h
istory and
computer class
breezed by
,
c
alculus was a little slow
but amusing to exchange glances with Wolfe.
I soon found myself in the cafeteria line with Maddie.

“Hey, I got the updated report from Detect
ive Chase this morning,” I said cheerfully
as
we
trekked
forward in
the
line.

“Anything interesting?
I keep waiting for him to
use
our
report of
my water and sediment samples
,”
she
said in a hard voice.

“In due time, Maddie
.
When he
need
s
to place anybody in the cave
who
denies being t
here
,
he’ll use it along with the crime lab’s report,
” I snickered
in a low voice
, pointing to the
usual
pizza and French fry
entrée
.
“
He
went to the Stop-Go on Biscane Street last night
,
interviewed
the clerk
,
and watched the video surveillance cameras.”

“Really
?
And?”

Accepting
our
orange
plastic
trays
of
cafeteria delights,
we h
eaded to our
usual
seats.

“
W
e have a potential loony
c
ase
on our hands.
That
Vance
lady is ten times m
ore nuts than you ever imagined,” I reported, sliding down into my seat and
sliding
my tray in front of me.

“Uh, no, Fiona.
I know how nuts she is, remember?
I was in the interrogation room with
her
!”
she
scoffed with a smile, taking her seat across the table from me.

“No doubt, Maddie.
Okay, so s
he
bit
the victim
during a
huge fight in the parking lot.
The clerk broke it up, just as Sydney
reported.
Sydney
was seen
on the surveillance camera walk
ing
into the store, watching the fight
as she walked
.
After she made her purchase, she stood in the store window as
the clerk b
roke
it up
, sending the two women on their way
.
”

“So what?
Sydney watched the fight.
Does that prove she wasn’t involved?
We never really thought she was
?
”
Maddie said, her voice
skeptical.

The cafeteria ambiance
was noisy.
Maybe it was that my nerves were on fire from
Jody James
, Gerald Smith, or the fact I couldn’t get Wolfe off my mind.
I was subconsciously a
nnoyed—whatever the reason might have been.

“It l
ends Sydney credibility,
is all.
She said she saw it and reported the events exactly as they happened.
She’ll need
the credibility.
Especially if her loving cult members decide to turn
everything
on her.”

We took a
break from the conversation to eat
our lunches
until
Maddie
broke the silence,
dropp
ing
a
half-eaten pizza onto
her
tray.

“That’s crazy
t
he bag lady bit
her
.
Who bites
another person
?
Isn’t it obvious that she
is the murderer
?
I mean, she’s nuts, she has a history of violence
towards the
victim, duh!”

I shook my head, taking a long drink o
f
chocolate milk.

“Well, the owner of the Jade Palace didn’t say anything about a fight
,
and two enemies don’t
go out to eat
together.
Plus,
Emily
had chloroform in her system,” I
reported in a level voice, “so as crazy as she is, her story simply fits.”

Maddie’s eyes widened in fear
as
she noticed something behind me
.
I swiveled around to share the sight and noticed
Camber Johnson rushing
towards me
.
She flew into the adjacent seat
at our table
in a panic.

“Fiona, Maddie
.
Can I talk to
y’all
for a minute?”

My mind responded with a
no
until my conscious caught up with my reason.

“Sure,” I said softly.

Camber surveyed around the cafeteria with her
un
-
matching
blue and hazel
eyes
.

“Well, I got into a big fight with Dimitri last night at our meeting in the cave.
I’m really scare
d
and don’t know what to do,”
she
said, flinging her st
raight locks onto her back, most of the
blue curls
didn’t comply
,
popping
down in front of her shoulder.

“What was the fight about
?
”
Maddie inquired, leaning in to the conversation from across the table.

“Well, I was there with Damien and Vic the night of the murder, but we found the body already dead
.
They
were
being idiots
, taking pictures
and
Sydney walked in, freaked out
, and everybody panicked,” Camber whispered
.

She twisted around, scanning the cafeteria.

“And, so what is the problem now?
Damien and Victoria have already admitted they were there that night.
They didn’t admit to any picture taking
,
so if you have evidence of this, we
’ll be glad to take it,” I said, my voice unemotional.

“No, Victoria has
them;
she was the one who took them,”
she
corrected,
hesitating for a long moment.
“Dimitri said he’s going to cut out my tongue if I quit the House of the Nightmare Army
.
I don’t know what to do!
”

“Why do you want to quit?
Isn’t this something you chose to do in the first place
?
”
Maddie inquired
cynically
.

“These people are not stable.
I
had
fun at first.
I love vampires, love the movies, the parties, all of the culture
.
But when you get down to it, these people think it is real.
T
hey take it dead serious,”
she
whispered loudly in an icy voice, her eyebrows crinkled in trepidation.

“Do they believe they are immortal
?
”
I asked casually, taking a quick
bite of my pizza
as
I knew the lunch period was waning.

“Somewhat, I mean, in ways.
They don’t think they will live forever
,
but they believe a life force gives them added power
.
And they believe they can
transcend
dimensi
ons in a sense.
It’s all wacky,
and I want out.
I’m in love with a boy from Hartford
now
,
and I just want out, want to be normal.
I met Damien and Vic in English class, got put on a project with them, and we became friends.
Biggest mistake of my life.
”

For the first time, I felt sorry for
he
r
.
I
saw
what Wolfe had seen in her as a friend.
I saw what Willow had protected so
vigilantly
at first when
Detective Chase
listed
her
as a suspect.
Just
like
Sydney, she didn’t belong with this group
and
was crying out for help.

“Camber, all I can do is report this via my
connections with
the crime lab
.
What I suggest you do is get restraining orders against Damien, Victoria and Dimitri
,
and that way
,
if they cross their boundary
with you
, they will go to jail.
If you are successful, you should probably give Sydney your advice on how you did it,” I said
vigilantly
, shoving a few fries in my mouth.

“Good advice.
Thanks, Fiona.
Oh, and Wolfe really loves you, by the way.
You’re a lucky
girl;
he is probably the most handsome boy at this school.
If I didn’t have a thing for older guys
,
well,
”
she
paused.
“
B
ut he’s so head over heels for you, I’m sure nobody else has a chance
.
”

She smiled before scurrying
out of the cafeteria
, and sprinting
down the hallway.
I
hadn’t
notice
d
it before, but she
still
had two off-duty police officers trailing her.

I was afraid to look at Maddie
.
I knew
she was going to launch into another lecture about Wolfe.
I was cautious, easing
my eyes to look in her direction, breathing slowly in and out through my mouth.

“Fiona, you should go for it
.
I mean, who cares what Detective Chase says, anyway.
I get we are a training lab, but this is
a
high school
,
and we can’t help the way we feel.
I mean, if you told me
I had to stay away from Carden, I would consider quitting the club over it.
I feel that strongly for him already,”
she
said boldly
, her tone was matter-of-fact
.

It was a rollercoaster when I spoke to Maddie about Wolfe.
It seemed her opinions wavered by the day.
I’m sure she was confused herself, wanting to date Carden, and knowing she was technically forbidden to do so.
I supposed she believed if I were in a relationship with a club member, it would make her feel better about her
doing the same.

“Really, you’d quit over him
?
”
I grinned.