Dawn got out her phone. A call to the actress would keep her from freaking out at the sight of Dawn scrounging around the driveway: just a quick stop, she’d say, no need to come out and talk to her.
But Jac wasn’t even home, or at least she wasn’t answering her house number.
Dawn tried calling Jac’s cell.
“Hi!” said the voice mail. “It’s August fifteenth, bright and early, and I’ve shut off my phone while I take a meeting with my producer and director.” She’d said “take a meeting” with a wink in her tone. “I’ll get to your message later…don’t want to be that rude cell-phone person who takes calls and ignores the people she’s with. Thanks!”
Dawn left a brief one. She needed that damned card for more than just juice, and she’d be in and out of there anyway.
As she realized that she was stressing out over such a boring, everyday problem, Dawn chuffed. She just wished her life were full of missing ATM cards and that was all.
Her phone rang. She checked the screen, not really wanting to get into a conversation with Jac if she was calling back. She didn’t want to deal with Matt, either; he’d left a ton of voice mails that she hadn’t answered because she still wasn’t in the mood for his apologies.
Luckily, it was Breisi. “Glad I caught you before you fell asleep.”
Dawn didn’t even have time to explain the ATM card annoyance before the woman launched into the latest. Knowing this might take a while, Dawn grabbed an earpiece from her passenger seat, put it on, and plugged it into the phone. Then she started the car and got moving to Bedford Drive.
“I just talked to Kiko’s doctor,” Breisi said. “Right now they’re together, and Dr. Walter’s seeing if there’s a physical reason for all the pain. He’ll also be assessing if Kiko’s hydrocodone intake is a case of physical dependence or if it’s psychological.”
“I wish Dr. Walter could just take Kik off the things.”
“The boss thinks we should be ready for an intervention if the situation doesn’t improve.”
At the mention of The Voice, Dawn zipped her lip.
“And then there’s more.” Breisi sighed. “We still haven’t heard from the Friend who was protecting you last night.”
In spite of all the other Friend problems, Dawn knew her defensive buddy for today was still around. She’d smelled the jasmine before getting into the car.
The team had theorized about how last night’s spirit could’ve disappeared from the party. At their lack of answers, The Voice had told them he’d be alerting all the Friends, and then planning on how to keep this from happening again.
“I hope we find her,” Dawn said, pulling up to a red light.
“Likewise.” Breisi didn’t even stop for a breath. “I’ve also got a murder update, something interesting the police have already uncovered about Jessica Reese and Annie Foxworth. This might not be much, but they both patronized the same drugstore—ValuShoppe. It could be that the killer hung around the aisles to choose their victims, then followed the women from there to ascertain their schedules.”
At the green light, Dawn took off with more speed than necessary. How about that—even something as insignificant as shopping could be dangerous. “So someone’s checking out the ValuShoppe employees and frequent customers, then interviewing to see if there’ve been any weirdos hanging around—?”
“And scanning security videos. You’ve got it.”
Breisi sounded sort of happy that Dawn was actually detecting. Dawn smiled, fine with the approval. It could end up being the highlight of her day.
“I deserve a prize,” Dawn said, unable to resist. “How about you give me your bladed crossbow?” It was the coolest Breisi weapon ever, and Dawn had admired it since night one.
“Over my dead body.”
“I had to ask.”
“Hold up,” Breisi said. “Dr. Walter just came out.”
“Grill him good.”
“You know it. And, Dawn?”
“Yeah?”
“After you sleep, please see the boss. He’s concerned about what happened last night. Very concerned.”
Only to appease Breisi, Dawn gave a noncommittal grunt, then shut down the line.
Keeping the earpiece in, just in case Breisi called back, Dawn hardened herself to what The Voice wanted and drove on.
She passed a convertible with a surfboard and a voluptuous blowup doll sticking out of the backseat and tried to find it humorous. But the only funny part was that the team’s foes—whoever they may be—weren’t having to do much to thwart them these days. Life was pretty much doing all the attacking.
So much for hostile red-or silver-eyed vampires.