On Pins and Needles: Sierra Fox, Book 3 (11 page)

Quickening my steps, I rushed inside and found Constable Gareth Crewe standing in the middle of the room covering his eyes with one hand. His other hand was extended, as if trying to convey the universal stop signal.

“What’s going on?” I called.

“I don’t know. I was hoping
you
could tell me.” The police officer backed away from my sister, who stood in front of the windows with her hair whipping madly and the male and dog poltergeists spinning around her.

“Shit.” I took a step towards her, but the officer put a hand on my forearm.

“Don’t get any closer,” he warned, still trying to protect his eyes.

“It’s okay. I know what I’m doing.”
At least, I hope I do.

He dropped his hand and didn’t stop me from advancing towards the teenager who obviously needed help. Besides, there were enough things littering the floor already—I didn’t want everything to get messed up.

“Willow,” I said softly. “It’s Sierra. Listen to me, you need to calm down. Everything will be okay if you just relax.”

The answering machine tipped over the edge of the shelf and crashed to the floorboards. The red flashing number of messages disappeared, replaced with a tiny, black screen.

I needed to take the same approach as yesterday. “So, which
Nightmare on Elm Street
movie is your favorite?”

Her head tilted unnaturally to the side when she finally noticed me. Her eyes lost some of their sharpness as she stared at me before the poltergeist activity, lights, and movements ceased simultaneously. It was so freaky, how she could shut her reaction down so abruptly.

“Sierra!” She closed the distance between us, throwing her arms around my midsection so hard she almost sent us both crashing to the floor. Instead, I spun around a little and glared at the cop.

He stood stunned, and was rubbing his eyes.

I looked away, lowering my arms so I could rub a hand over my sister’s back.

“Willow, what happened?” I looked around. Ebony’s chair had toppled over and a mug was shattered on the floor. A bunch of pens, papers and folders were lying in different states of disarray around us. At least nothing seemed to be permanently damaged. Well, except for the answering machine. Yet, nothing explained why she was in my office. “And what are you doing here?”

“I…” She started to cry, and I decided not to push too hard. Strong emotional reactions were obviously something she couldn’t deal with and until I knew why, I would have to be careful around her.

“It’s okay,” I said. Not knowing if that was true or not. I held her while she sobbed, letting the tears dry out before leading her over to the visitor’s chair she’d occupied yesterday afternoon. That’s when I noticed her open backpack near my desk and a big jacket thrown over my chair.

“Willow, I need you to sit here for a bit, okay?” I patted her hair. “Do you want a cup of tea or something?”

“No,” she whispered.

“Okay, just wait for me here. I need to speak to the police officer for a moment.” I waited until she looked up and nodded. “Will you stay put and wait for me?”

“Yes.”

I left her there, looking a lot younger than her seventeen years and huddled on the chair like a little lost girl. In a way, I was starting to see that was exactly what she was.
 

The constable motioned for me to step out into the corridor with him, and I did. I stopped just outside the door but he insisted we move farther into the shadows. He pointed at the closed door of the solicitor beside mine.
 

“He was the one who called it in.” Constable Crewe looked at me, no longer blinking. His handsome face was poorly lit in the corridor. “He’s gone now, but he was concerned about your office.”

“We all know each other,” I said, as if that response explained everything. If I was honest, I didn’t particularly like Wyatt the sleazy solicitor and the feeling was mutual. He didn’t like my trade and I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d called the police because he was annoyed rather than concerned. “So, Willow was the one making the noises?” That made no sense. What was she doing in there—and more importantly—how the hell did she get in?

Gareth Crewe’s black curly hair, trimmed really close to his scalp the last time I saw him, had grown out a little. His brown skin was a lovely shade, those piercing hazel eyes looking intently at me underneath thick lashes. “You obviously know the girl.”

It wasn’t a question but I nodded anyway. I still found him both peculiar and comforting to be around. He had an easy sense of serenity about him. Something I’d noticed the first time we’d crossed paths but didn’t quite understand.

“How do you know her, and why might she have taken refuge inside your office?”

“Uh, I’m not sure why she was in there or how she got in,” I answered, looking away.

“From what she said, she’s been here since yesterday afternoon…”

“But that’s not possible.” I’d locked up after our meeting, hadn’t I?

“How do you know this girl?”

I sighed. “She’s my sister, Constable. Willow’s my half-sister.”

A frown darkened his features even further, and he toyed with a pocket on his utility vest.
 

“I met her yesterday,” I added. “I invited her to meet me in my office.”

“But you didn’t extend an invitation for her to sleep there?”

I shook my head. “Of course not. She told me she was staying with a friend.”

“How much do you know about her?”

“I hate to admit this, but not much.” I didn’t like spilling my personal business like this, but what choice did I have? Without intention, Willow had put me in a very sticky situation. I lowered my voice when I said, “Up until yesterday, all we’d exchanged was a phone call.”

“I guess you don’t know that she’s been reported as missing?”

I couldn’t believe this. “
What?
No. Of course I didn’t know that!”

“Ms. Fox—”

“Call me Sierra, Constable,” I corrected. I was pretty sure we’d already had this discussion.

“So long as you call me Gareth…”

I nodded and returned the vibrant smile he flashed me. I didn’t know what it was about this guy, but his ability to put people at ease probably helped him a lot with his job. How many people had revealed secrets or spilled things before they could stop themselves?

“So, you two met yesterday and then left together?” he asked.

“Yeah, that’s right.” I couldn’t remember seeing her actually walk out of the building because I’d been distracted. “Well, she left a few minutes before me.”

“Okay. And who initiated contact?” Gareth’s curious look made me wonder why he wasn’t taking any notes. Surely he’d have to report this incident.

“She did—called me out of the blue about a week ago.” I didn’t like where this was headed, and needed to ask the obvious question. “Her father reported her as missing, didn’t he?”

Gareth nodded. “Is he the parent you both share?”

“No, we had the same mother. But she died a while ago.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Don’t be, I wasn’t.” As soon as the words left my mouth, I regretted them. “I didn’t get along with my mother.”

“That’s fine, and bears no significance to what’s going on here.”

“Have you contacted her father yet?”

Gareth shook his head. “I wanted to talk to you first.”

That’s weird.
Why would a police officer who’d sworn to adhere by the law bother to wait for me? Maybe there was more to this. No, scratch that—there
was
certainly something deeper going on.
 

“Why did you want to talk to me?” I asked, swallowing the lump in my throat. I had a feeling that Willow wasn’t lost because of whatever otherworldly phenomena was going on in her life. She was running away from something, or someone.

He took a step closer, his voice just above a whisper. “Eli Moss contacted the police about a month ago, claiming his daughter was missing. At the time, he claimed she’d been gone for a few days. Turns out she’s been gone for about two months.”

“How do you know?”

Gareth sighed. “As soon as I found her here, I called up a friend of mine to search up her details. You don’t find kids sleeping inside offices because they like to get their kicks. Usually, it’s either because they’re in trouble, or have run away from home and are selling themselves for drugs. From what I can tell, she’s not high. Though I can’t explain that lightshow thing, but I suspect that’s more up your alley.” He paused. “Anyway, according to her school, she hasn’t attended for two months.”

I nodded, but didn’t add anything. He was on a roll and I wanted to find out as many details about this situation as I could before confronting Willow.

“I don’t understand the discrepancy in the time it took her father to report her as missing. Has she said anything about him?”

I shook my head, deciding to omit that her “lightshow” reaction was probably sparked when the cop mentioned Willow’s father.

He looked frustrated. “Sierra, if you know anything that could help with this situation, I would really appreciate it.”

“I don’t know much—”

“I’m going to hold off putting in a report because I’m hoping you can sort this out before then.” His hazel eyes were wide—those thick black lashes stood out around them. He really was a handsome guy. “I’ll give you a couple of days with her, see if you can get to the bottom of whatever’s going on before a formal investigation is launched.”

“Thank you, I’m grateful.” But why was he doing this?

“I don’t think I need to tell you how much trouble I can get in for even contemplating this. I trust you’ll keep it on the quiet and stay in touch with me frequently.” There was a hint of warning in his voice, but I couldn’t blame him. He was putting his professional reputation on the line to give me a little extra time to sort out my family business. “And one other thing—there’s something about Eli Moss that strikes me as odd.”

“Odd how?”

He shook his head. “I’m afraid I can’t give you any direct information, but if you look into it yourself, you’ll probably know exactly what I mean.”

“Okay, thanks.” I offered him a quick smile. “I’m not sure why you’re doing this, but I appreciate your discretion.”

“Actually…”

Uh-oh.
I knew this was too good to be true. For someone with such authority to give me this opportunity, he had to want something in return. “What is it? What do you need or want in exchange for this?” I probably sounded petty, but how could I not?
 

“I was hoping you could help me with something.” He looked anxious.
 

“What?”

“With you being some sort of supernatural cop and everything, I was hoping you’d consult on a case that’s got everyone stumped.”

“Aren’t detectives the ones who solve mysteries?” I probably seemed like a moron, but I couldn’t understand why he’d want my help with anything police-related.

He nodded. “Of course there are detectives assigned to this particular case, but I was the one who answered the call and found the body.”

A shiver raced down my spine. “Okay, what happened?” If he was willing to talk about this, there was obviously something he thought I would be able to help with.

“This is going to sound really stupid, and a few of the guys back at the station actually laughed at me when I brought it up, but the body we found had bite marks on the side of the neck—like a vampire bite.” He held up both hands, only a centimeter away from touching me. “I know how that sounds, but since you investigate strange phenomena I thought if you could take a look… Maybe there’s something supernatural about the murder that the rest of us can’t see.”

I thought about this for a moment. A certain division of the NSW Police Force usually dealt directly with the Council, but I wasn’t surprised to hear him ask for my help. The Spook Catcher Council was in disarray at the moment, still under investigation after the incident late last month. I wasn’t sure what had been discovered—if anything—but knew that the place was on shutdown and constantly being watched very closely. So anyone seeking their help would have to hold off.

“Well, will you help me?”

I really had no choice. “Sure.” If he was willing to help with Willow’s bizarre situation, looking at a dead body sounded reasonable. Besides, I was relieved this had nothing to do with the bloody letter opener.

“Good, let’s go.”

“Wait,
now?
I can’t go now.” I shook my head. “I need to deal with Willow, speak to her about what happened.” And I didn’t particularly feel like adding things to my to-do list right now. Papan was still waiting for me at home and Oren might have translated some of that strange text. “Can’t we do this on Monday?”

“I’m afraid not. The body was discovered a few hours ago. If we don’t get over there quickly, it’ll be moved. I’d prefer you to take a look before then. Maybe you’ll be able to do your mojo, or whatever it is you use to solve spook cases.”

“My mojo?” I couldn’t help but tease him.

“Mojo, magic, freaky-deaky moves…whatever it is you do.”