“There’s a story there, all right, but I don’t know what it is yet,” Mr. Brewster said. “I want to keep digging into the ownership of those parcels. And we don’t have enough yet to tie the disappearances together, much less to time them to property purchases.”
“But Adrian was investigating the purchase of that property. His journal said so. And then he disappeared. That’s the connection.”
“I believe you. I just wish we still had that journal.”
“We’re letting the police win here!” Coral protested.
“No, we’re practicing responsible journalism by waiting until we have all the facts. And I think you’ve got some obits to type up.”
Muttering rebelliously, Coral went back to her desk.
Frederick glanced over at Coral as she sat down.
“Is it true somebody followed you back here?” he asked. “I told you that you should have had me go with you. And by the way, Melinda called, and she was very relieved to hear that nothing happened to you.”
Coral sincerely doubted that was true. “I’m not sure you should be telling her our business,” she said uneasily. “Why does she even care what I’m up to?”
“Oh, please. I trust her completely,” Frederick said.
Coral shrugged; he was blinded by lust.
Bettina walked over, grabbed a chair, and pulled it up. “I’m pretty good at computer research,” she said. “I can help you track down the ownership of that land, if you want.”
Frederick glanced over at them. “Is there anything I can do to help?” he asked hopefully.
“Well, you could go take a long walk off a short pier, without a life preserver,” Bettina suggested, and then turned on the computer and started typing.
Frederick sighed and turned back to the picture he’d been editing.
“I’m going to go work at my desk,” Bettina said with a glare. She flounced off, and Frederick watched her go with an unhappy look on his face.
“I miss being friends with her,” he said mournfully. “She’s the only girl I ever met who likes video games as much as me.”
“Well, you can’t have your cake and eat it too. Jackass. You just better hope that when you realize that Melinda is using you, it’s not too late with Bettina.”
Maybelle was sitting across the room, with her back to them.
“Sorry, Blanche. Hi. What’s up with your bff?” Coral asked.
“The old coot is mad at me, because I told her there’s just something off about that new man she’s dating, and now she’s sulking,” Blanche said. “She had the nerve to accuse me of being jealous.”
As if on cue, the old coot in question got up and stalked over to them. “All those years that you got all the menfolk, and finally I find me a decent man, and you can’t stand it, can you?” Maybelle’s face was flushed with fury. “Tell me one thing that you think is off about him. One thing.”
Blanche shook her head, fiddling with her purse strap. “It’s just a feeling, Maybelle. My instincts are never wrong. That man is trouble.”
“The only thing wrong with him is he likes me better than you. Eat your heart out!” And Maybelle marched off, head held high.
“Don’t come crying to me when he breaks your heart, you old fool!” Blanche yelled after her.
Were the stars mis-aligned, or something? Coral wondered. Why was everyone’s love life in suck city right now?
“Please tell me you found out something about the disappearances,” she said.
“I’m not sure if this is anything, but I did find out something interesting about the population explosion of shifters,” Blanche said. “Apparently, there’s been some speculation about the involvement of Archibald’s comet.”
“How so?” Coral asked, leaning back in her chair.
“Well, Archibald’s comet appeared maybe a year before the first big wave of shifters was discovered. Suddenly, people who’d been human all their lives were able to shift. And as we know now, those shifters became the parents of more shifters, like their genetic makeup had been altered. Some research seems to indicate that the changes started happening right after the comet passed by, and most of the shifters tried to keep it quiet for a while until it was just too obvious. It happened all over the world, but the biggest population explosion happened in Blue Moon Junction.”
“So how would the comet have caused that?”
“There’s a possibility that the comet’s meteor shower had some kind of cosmic radiation which caused a flare-up in the ley-line’s power.”
“The comet is coming again in a couple of days,” Coral said thoughtfully. “Is it possible that every time the comet passes by the earth, it’s meteor shower would cause a ley-line flare up?”