I took out my ponytail, and straightened it with a flat iron. When I was finished, my hair hung just past my shoulders and looked almost as silky as the models did in those hair commercials. Nodding in approval, I grabbed a tube of mascara just as my cell phone rang.
“Hi,” said Susan. “You almost ready?”
“Yeah. What movie should we see?” I asked, holding the phone against my shoulder as I applied the ebony color to my eyelashes.
“I was thinking about that new superhero one. That guy is so hot.”
“The blonde guy with the hammer?” I asked, thinking that he could definitely get my mind off of Melody.
“Hell yeah.”
I laughed. “What time is the movie showing?”
“Seven-twenty. You don’t mind driving over here, do you? My brakes are acting up. I’m going to bring it in tomorrow morning before work and see what’s wrong.”
Susan was my age and used to live across the street. She’d moved to Shore Lake in the eleventh grade, which was about twenty miles from Beaver Creek, but we’d remained good friends. “That’s fine,” I answered, making a mental note to check my gas situation.
“Cool.” She sighed. “I’m just so glad someone switched with me tonight. I really didn’t feel like working three late shifts in a row.”
Susan was a waitress at Ruth’s Diner. I’d only been there a handful of times, but the food was great and the portions were monstrous. Needless to say, they were always busy. “Hmm… I wonder if I should try and get a job there,” I said. “I could really use the money. Maybe even a couple of hours a week?”
“I could talk to Rosie,” she replied. “I’m sure she’d hire you.”
“Wait, didn’t she just hire that girl, Nikki, recently?” I asked, biting off a hangnail. “I suppose she’s not looking for anyone else, if that’s the case.”
“She was hired during the summer, but I’m telling you, we could still use the help. She’s always short-staffed.”
“That would be really cool. I’d only need a few hours a week and… we’d get to see each other more.”
“Exactly.”
So, what’s Nikki like?” I asked. “She nice?”
“Very, and her brother, Nathan, he’s kind of a spaz, but adorable.”
I raised my eyebrows. “I didn’t know you had a thing for her brother.”
“Actually, I forgot to mention it, but we went out a couple of times during the summer. It didn’t really go anywhere. He works so many hours at that marina across the street. Anyway, I heard he’s been hanging out with that girl, Celeste.”
An image of a redhead with perfect skin, a perfect smile, and a perfect body flashed through my head. From what Susan had told me last year, she was also a perfect bitch. “Isn’t her dad the town’s sheriff?”
“Yes. You know, he and Celeste are both kind of weird. She’s actually friends with those guys who used to come in at night and just stare at the other customers, creeping them out. Remember I told you about them? The guys who Amy had said were vampires.”
I chuckled. “Vampires?”
“Don’t laugh,” she said, sounding serious. “Amy’s ex, Ethan, was part of that group. God, he freaked the hell out of me. I’m just happy he hasn’t been coming around lately.”
“I still can’t believe that Amy killed herself.”
“Well, you know how I feel about all of that,” she replied.
I did. Amy Kreger had supposedly committed suicide, but Susan, on the other hand, thought that Ethan had something to do with it. “I know. Let’s hope you’re wrong, and that she really did just kill herself. Didn’t you go out with one of Ethan’s friends?”
“Yeah, Drake. The guy from Australia.” She sighed. “I still don’t know what happened to him. He just kind of vanished, too.”
“Hmm… he didn’t call you or anything?”
“Nope.”
I’d never met Drake, but had heard about what a hottie he’d been.
“Oh, and get this… before Ethan disappeared, he started hitting on Nikki.”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
“What did she do?”
“Well, Nikki was seeing this other guy, Duncan, and I think she blew off Ethan. They’re not together anymore though, either.”
“Nikki and Duncan?”
“Right. She told me that they weren’t even on speaking terms. You know, now that I think about it, their breakup may have had something to do with Ethan.” She paused. “Damn, I want to ask her, but I don’t want to look too nosy.”
I snorted. “Susan, admit it, you are nosy and it’s going to kill you if you don’t find out.”
She laughed.
“Just ask her. If she doesn’t want to tell you, she won’t,” I answered, walking down the hallway toward my bedroom.
“True. God, it’s like one big soap opera.”
“Speaking of soap operas,” I said. “My cousin Melody is missing.”
“What?!”
I reached into my dresser drawer and pulled out a new pair of white socks. “Yeah, I guess she went to Club Nightshade last night to see some band play.”
“Ah… Venom. I’d heard they were playing last night.”
“Venom?” I’d never even heard of the band.
“They’re from Europe, and are really getting popular. That gal who owns Club Nightshade must have spent a fortune to get those guys to play in Shore Lake. I’ll bet the tickets were outrageous.”
“Huh,” I replied, pulling my socks on. “Well, that’s who Melody went to go see last night. Nobody has heard from her since.”
“Wow. Hey, I heard the main singer, Slade, is a total hunk. I’ve heard him on the radio. If he’s as sexy as that voice of his, I wouldn’t doubt if every girl in town was trying to get in to see him last night.”
“That’s not good,” I replied. “I’m sure a popular band like Venom would attract some real weirdoes.” I sighed. “Great, now I’m worried about Melody.”
“She’s really missing?”
“Well, she never came home last night. I guess I don’t really know.”
“Maybe she’s been partying or something. You told me before that Melody likes to drink.”
“Yeah. That’s what I hope is happening. My aunt is freaking out, though. She says that Melody hasn’t returned her texts or phone calls.”
“Is that normal?”
“She usually returns her texts, I guess.”
“Crap, that’s not a good sign.”
“I know.”
“Hey, do you want to go to the club and find out if anyone knows anything? I’d like to check the place out anyway. I still haven’t been there.”
I raised my eyebrows. “How would we even get in to that place? Tuesdays are Teen-Nights, right? It’s Friday.”
“You forget – I have a fake I.D.”
I grunted. “You know, I think everyone has one of those but me.”
“Eh… it’s not like I use it very much. Curt Hammer made it for me last summer, after he forgot his credit card at home and couldn’t pay for his meal.”
“So, you have a fake I.D. How am I supposed to get in?”
She sucked in her breath. “I know… I know… you can use Katie’s! I still have hers because she’s been too damn chicken to use it. Hold on, I have it in my nightstand somewhere,” she said. “I talked Curt into making one for her, too. Yep, here it is. Wow, seriously, now that I look at the picture, I just know you could pass for her. No problem.”
Katie was a girl Susan had graduated with last year, one I’d never met. I bit my lower lip. “I don’t know if this is such a good idea.”
She groaned. “Come on, it’ll be fun. We don’t even have to drink anything; we’ll just ask questions. See if anyone remembers her. You’re the one who’s going to school to become a Private Investigator, right?”
“A Forensic Investigator.”
“Whatever. You know what I mean. Come on, Chelsey, let’s do it! Th
e movie can wait.”
I had to admit, it was an intriguing idea. “Well, maybe we can just stop in for a little while.”
“Yes!” she said. “Like I said, I’ve been meaning to check the place out, but couldn’t find anyone to go with me.”
“Great, now I know the real reason you suggested it.”
“Chelsey! It’s not just that. I want to make sure Melody is okay, too,” she protested. “You know me.”
“I know,” I replied, although I also knew that she and Melody had never really gotten along. But Susan was my friend and had a good heart.
“Oh, I have to find something else to wear. I don’t want to look like a slob. I’m sure there will be some totally hot guys in that place.”
“I’m not dressing up,” I said, looking down at my jeans and sweater. “Just so you know.”
“That’s fine. You know what… I’m not dressing up either. Screw it.”
“What time should I pick you up?”
“Seven. I’m sure there will be a line to get in.”
“Okay,” I said. “I’ll see you then.”
“Cool. I can’t wait to check that place out. Who knows, maybe Melody will be back there.”
“Maybe,” I said, although there was a knot in my stomach telling me otherwise.
WHEN I PULLED up to Susan’s house and she got into the passenger side of my car, I smiled wryly. “Not dressing up, huh?”
Tossing her light brown hair, she grinned. “If we’re going to be ‘undercover’, I figured I’d better play the part.”
“We’re not actually ‘undercover’,” I said. “We’re just… investigating.”
She pouted. “Yeah, but it’s more fun pretending that we’re ‘undercover’.”
“Well, I guess in a way we are ‘under-cover’,” I replied in amusement. “I mean we’ll be using fake I.D.s.”
“Which reminds me...” She unzipped her black purse. “Here,” she said, handing me a Montana state driver’s license. “This is you.”
I looked at the picture and my eyes widened. “This says I’m five foot eight.”
She bit her lower lip. “You didn’t happen to wear heels, did you?”
“Even with heels I’m not even close. Dang it.” I tapped my forehead against the steering wheel a couple of times. “Susan,” I said, turning to her. “I hope to God we don’t get arrested for this. My parents would kill me!”
“Relax; they’re not even going to look at your height or weight. All they care about is the year on the license.”
“Let’s hope so.” I looked at the girl in the photo again. I had to admit, she did look similar to me. Sighing, I slipped the I.D. into the front pocket of my jeans. “I just hope they don’t quiz me or anything.”
“You worry too much. Trust me, they won’t.”
I pulled out of her driveway. “Famous last words.”
Giggling, she flipped down the visor and applied lip gloss. She rubbed her lips together and then flipped the visor back up. “You’re so paranoid.”
“You should be, too. We’re breaking the law, and obviously, if we get caught, we’re screwed.”
“Nah,” she said, slipping the tube of lip gloss back into her purse. “We won’t. Nothing interesting ever happens to me. The highlight of my day is counting my tips after I’m done working.”
“I wouldn’t call going to jail interesting.”
“You know what I mean. There is nothing exciting about my life. At least, not at the moment. My job is boring, my clothes are boring, and my love life is also freaken’ boring.”
It was like déjà vu. I’d pretty much told my mother the same thing earlier.
“Your clothes aren’t boring,” I replied, glancing at her sparkly silver sweater and black skirt.
She smirked. “Yeah, it’s because I borrowed the outfit from my forty-year-old mother. How lame is that?”
I laughed. “Well, your mom has great taste in clothes.”
“She’s single. Single women usually do.”
“You’re single, what’s your excuse?” I teased.
She slugged me playfully. “Bitch.”
“I’m just giving you crap. I’m wearing jeans and a plain old sweater. It’s not exactly exciting either.”
“You’re pretty, though,” she replied. “You could wear anything and the guys wouldn’t notice because of those eyes.”
“My eyes?”
“Yeah. You’ve got cat-eyes.”
“Really?” I asked, glancing at them in the rearview mirror.
“I’ve told you a million times, your eyes are wicked.”
“Thanks,” I replied. “Although I have to admit, ever since Billy Santino said that my eyes freaked him out in the fourth grade, I’ve been kind of self-conscious about them.”
She snorted. “Please…Billy Santino had a crush on you since the first grade. Your eyes didn’t freak him out, girlfriend. He just had it bad for you. Always did.”
I had to stop my jaw from dropping. Billy had actually turned out to be pretty hot. Well, annoying as all hell, but definitely drool-worthy. “What? How do you know that?”
“Because he told me. Told me he’d always wanted to ‘tap Chelsey’s ass’.”
“Tap my ass?” I burst out laughing. “You’re kidding me?”
“I know… what a pig, huh?”
“I’d say, but seriously, I had no idea he was interested in me.”
“That’s because he thought you hated him,” she replied. “I talked to him at the diner about a year ago and he told me that you used to glare at him all the time in the halls at your school.”
I snorted. “I’m sure I did, because of the comment he’d made about my eyes!”
She laughed.
“Anyway, I would have never gone out with him. Heck, he cheated on Sandy Mayer during the last two years of high school, when they were dating.”
“Did he really? Well, if I remember she was a royal bitch. She probably deserved it.”
“Nobody deserves it,” I said, although Sandy had been a real snob and we’d never actually gotten along.
Maybe it was because she knew her boyfriend wanted to tap my ass, I thought, stifling a giggle.
“They were made for each other,” she said. “They’ll probably get married, have babies, and he’ll cheat on her with bathroom whores at Teddy’s, when he’s supposed to be working late.”
Teddy’s was a seedy strip joint, just outside of Beaver Creek, and known for having broken up a lot of marriages. Rumor had it that many of the strippers would do anything for a twenty, and the place was always packed.
“Yeah, I’ll bet you’re right there,” I replied, pushing Billy out of my mind. I turned on the radio and scrolled through the stations until I found a new song by Maroon Five that I really liked.
Susan reached over, turned it up louder, and began singing with Adam Levine. “He’s so hot,” she said, as the song ended. “I need to buy one of his CDs.”
“Yeah, I love his voice. Uh, here we are,” I said, pulling into the parking lot of the nightclub. I’d driven by it a couple of times on my way to Susan’s, but hadn’t given the place much thought until the last few hours. Now that the mirrored building was lit up with strobe and fluorescent lighting, it was pretty impressive, especially for such a small town in the middle of Montana. “Looks pretty… swanky.”
Susan fluffed her hair as we parked. “I heard this place gets nuts after midnight.”
I turned off the engine. “Since it’s one of the only clubs around, that doesn’t surprise me.”
She unbuckled her seatbelt and grabbed her purse. “You ready?”
“I guess so.” I looked at the building again and a knot formed in the pit of my stomach. “You sure we won’t get caught?”
She opened the car door and got out. “Just act confident and you’ll be fine. Come on.”
I slid out of the car and locked the doors. “Okay,” I replied, trying not to chicken-out. She’d obviously done some
thing like this before at other bars, so she knew what she was doing.
Clutching my purse tightly, we walked to the front door and found that there wasn’t a line yet.
“Slow night?” asked Susan, handing the bouncer her I.D.
“It’s early,” he replied, looking at the fraudulent card.
“True. I know it gets pretty crazy here at night.”
He didn’t reply.
I stared at him nervously as he looked over her fake I.D. His nametag read “Honi”, and he was bald with a spider web tattoo that wrapped around his neck, and had muscles the size of coconuts on each arm. When he looked up, his dark eyes went directly to mine.
I smiled innocently.
“You’re next, Cupcake,” he said, handing Susan back her I.D.
Cupcake?
I cleared my throat and handed him the I.D., our fingers brushing. His skin was unnaturally cool, even for October, and the brief contact gave me the chills.
He smiled a big, toothy grin. “You nervous?” he asked, his eyes glittering in the darkness.
“No,” I answered, trying to look confident, although I was almost peeing my pants.
He glanced down at the I.D. and then back at me. “Your I.D. doesn’t do you justice, Cupcake.” He smiled and handed me back the I.D. “You’re much better looking in person.”
“Uh, thanks,” I replied, my face turning two shades of pink.
“You two, behave,” he said. “Or we’ll have to get the whips out, and you don’t want that.”
My eyes widened. “Whips?”
He chuckled and looked at Susan. “She always this gullible?”
Susan smirked. “Only after dark.”
His face became serious. “That’s when you have to be the most careful,” he said. “Especially in this place. Pomaika`i, ladies.”
My eyes widened. “What does that mean?”
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