Ember X (Death Collectors)

chapter 15

I’m woken up by a banging on the front door that continues to grow louder the longer it goes on. Finally, I throw the blanket off me and climb out of bed. Asher is gone and my room is pitch black, and blue and red lights flash outside my window. I pull on a t-shirt and a pair of shorts and stumble into the hall.

The last time the cops showed up, Ian had wrecked the car. My mom went easy on him because Alyssa’s death was a fresh wound, but he was in the hospital for two days recovering from severe head trauma.

I throw open the front door. Two uniformed officers stand on the front porch. One’s short and lumpy and the other tall and bulky. A cop car is parked in the driveway and my neighbors have congregated on their porches, watching the scene in their pajamas, the red and blue sirens lighting up their burn-her-at-the-stake expressions.

The shorter officer reads a paper attached to a clipboard in his hands. “Are you Ember Rose Edwards?”

My pulse skips a beat. “Yeah, I am.”

“And are you the owner of a 1970 Dodge Challenger?”

Oh shit. “Umm…”

“And lying will only get you into more trouble,” the officer warns.

“It’s mine.” There’s a crumb in his mustache and I can’t stop staring at it. “Or my dad’s and mine.”

“Your dad’s Patrick Edwards?” The tall one asks and I nod. “He’s the one who disappeared a few years ago and you were brought in for questioning.”

I nod. “Yeah, so?”

He scowls at me and skims the paper with his finger. “It says on here that you’re on probation for drug possession.”

I bite at my tongue. The drugs weren’t mine—they were Ian’s. But I took the wrap for it because he’d just suffered a manic episode. “Yeah, I am.”

“You’re going to need to come with us.” He takes off the handcuffs from his belt and holds them in his hand as a warning that I better behave. “Your car was pulled out of the lake tonight.”

“I didn’t know it was a crime for your car to be in a lake,” I say, leaning against the doorway.

He offers me zero tolerance. “Actually it is and it’s a little suspicious you never reported it, then it’s discovered near a crime scene.”

“What?” I stammer, standing up straight. “What crime scene?”

“There was an incident at the lake,” the shorter cop explains. “A girl came up missing tonight and we got an anonymous tip that your car could be found at the bottom of the lake at the last spot she was seen.”

“That’s bullshit” I argue. “I was here at my house all day.”

“What about your car?” he asks with a condescending smirk that crinkles the skin around his eyes.

I hesitate. “That’s been gone for a week or so.”

“Stolen?” he asks and I shake my head. “Then why didn’t you report the accident?”

I shrug and lie, “I didn’t want my mom to get mad at me.”

The cops exchange consequential looks and the shorter one steps off the porch and heads to the cop car.

The taller one says, “I’m Officer McKinley and that’s Officer Adams. We’re going to need to take you down to the station for questioning. If you’ll go easy, we won’t use the handcuffs.”

I glance around at the ridiculing eyes of my neighbors, planning an escape. I disappeared once, and I can do it again. “Fine. Can I at least get some shoes on?”

He points behind me at a pair of my flip flops. “Those should work.”

A*shole. I slip on the flip flops and follow him out. The garage door is open and Ian’s car isn’t parked inside. Raven runs out of her house in her silky pajamas and slippers, stopping at the edge of the driveway.

“What’s happening?” she whispers, glancing cautiously at the cops.

“Get your brother and come down to the station in case you have to bail me out,” I hiss. “Not Ian and not my mom. I don’t want them dealing with this.”

She nods with wide eyes. “Okay, we’ll meet you at the station.”

I duck my head as I climb into the back of the cop car. The last time I was in one it smelled like sweat, smoke, and old meat. It smells just about the same.

The officers climb in and slam the doors. We back onto the road and I spot Cameron climbing out of his Jeep in front of his house. Looking in my direction, he smiles and gives me a little wave. Suddenly, I have an idea of who told the cops my car was at the bottom of the lake.