“Two girls who knew each other. One that went missing. One that, I know, was scared of the other. We found Fallon’s picture in with the other one’s at Bud’s place, but I’m not convinced she might be one of the victims. I think she might be a partner.”
Nina pursed her lips and scratched at her chin, considering. “I don’t know if I’m buying that. Don’t get me wrong, I know how evil we ladies can be, but . . . what else you got?”
I told Nina about Kayleigh coming in to my classroom, about the way her hands worked the strap of her bag as she struggled to get anything out of her mouth. I told her about Fallon interrupting.
Nina sat back, her jaws working as though she were tasting her thought. Finally, she looked at me. “Fallon’s a teenager who still rides bike. Girls are afraid of other girls in high school. Hell, you’re still afraid of high school girls.”
I shifted in my seat, my eyes tight on the road.
Nina leaned forward, hanging on to the two front seats as she pushed herself closer. “These girls go missing, Soph, and they die.”
I held up a single finger. “One of them. One of them died.” That little, niggling voice in the back of my head wanted to correct me, wanted to tell me that it wasn’t just Cathy—it was Gretchen Von Dow, too, and at least two other girls. And now maybe Alyssa and Kayleigh, as well.
I pushed the gas pedal down a little harder.
We had cleared the city and were closing in on Fallon’s exit when my phone bleeped out “God Save the Queen.” Nina picked up the phone and glanced at it.
“Will. Want me to answer?”
“No. Ignore it.”
She punched the button and the cheery song died away. Nina frowned. “He’s called three times.”
I gripped the wheel. “Let him call three more.”
I was still in my kick-ass, take-charge stance when I turned the corner onto Fallon’s street. My kick-assedness turned into a roiling stomach and sour saliva when the blue and red police lights washed over our car.
“Oh my God,” I murmured.
My heart started to thud as the car slowed down and my blood became ice as I pulled aside and swept the scene. A handful of police cars were parked at jagged angles, an open ambulance in between them. A fire truck was blocking the driveway, the hose, like the discarded skin of a snake, flopped and ignored on the driveway. A wisp of smoke came from somewhere and the smell of something charred hung in the air.
“Why aren’t you answering your phone?” Will bellowed the second my car door opened an inch. He was dressed for work—firefighting, not the Guardian stuff—and the entire scene stunned me.
“I was—what’s going on here?”
Every light in Fallon’s house was on, the warm light flooding into the front yard, mingling with the flashing lights of police cruisers and the steady headlights of the ambulance and fire truck.
Nina came around the side of the car and put her hand on my arm, the chill just shocking enough to shake me. “Why are you here? What’s going on?”
“Call came in about twenty minutes ago,” Will said, his voice low.
“Lawson!” Alex’s voice cut through the general din of idling motors, barking orders, and my pounding heart. My body stiffened as he marched across the street and clamped a hand around my wrist. “I need you for this.”
His eyes were stern and hard, in complete business mode. I stared at him blankly and started to move until I felt a hand on my other arm.
“Soph and I are working on this together. I need her to see something.”
Alex’s eyes went over my head and locked with Will’s. “This is official police business, Will.”
“And this is Underworld criminal activity. Sophie and I have been dealing with Fallon for a week.”
I knew I should have said something, but I was still in a weird stupor, leaning toward Alex, leaning toward Will. Finally, I felt a tight tug and heard Alex say, “Sorry about that, but police business trumps your stuff.”
Nina’s eyes cut to the house and then back to me. She shook her head and took a step back. I handed her my keys. As far as I knew, Nina had never broken UDA protocol. But adding a vampire—even an adherent one—to a crime scene, where there could be enormous amounts of blood and a plethora of warm cop bodies, was begging for a rule to break.
I stumbled aside and glanced over my shoulder long enough to see the anger flicker across Will’s face.
“Hang on, mate,” Will said, following us quickly.
“Soph.” Nina’s eyes were wide.
“Both of you, stop!” I shook my arms free and turned on my heel, going directly to the ambulance, where a paramedic was wrapping a heavy blanket around Fallon’s shoulders. I didn’t know if the guys were following me and I didn’t care.
“Fallon, what happened here?”
Fallon looked up at me, her eyeliner smeared, black rivulets of mascara laced with tears sliding down her cheeks. Her hair was still in pigtails, but they were lopsided now and somehow, she looked like a regular kid: vulnerable, sad—scared. She blinked up at me, her lower lip trembling.
“I—I’m not sure.”