Fireflies: A Katie Bell Mystery (book 1)

by BG Archer

  Katie turned around and hurried back into the kitchen. The brother was just setting a fresh keg on the kitchen island.

  “Hey, man, I have a quick question. Where do you guys get all of these sweet kegs?”

  He glanced at her, puzzled. “Oh that’s easy. You know Amelia Wood? Dan’s old squeeze? Her older brother apparently works at a local brew house; he gets the kegs hella cheap. It’s pretty sweet and generous on her part, especially considering she doesn’t drink.”

  Katie nodded. “Yeah, I know, she quit after what happened to Dan.”

  He looked at her, confused. “No. It’s not that she quit drinking, she doesn’t. She’s allergic to alcohol. If she had more than two sips, she goes into cardiac arrest.”

  The key turned in Katie’s head. Suddenly it was a flash of insight, and everything made sense.

  She ran back into the living room. Walter was ten feet away from her, and yelling at both her and Stacy. Gideon was right behind him, clearly about to stop him. On the dance floor the Greek god continued to grind with the Ditz, and in the corner Tiffany and Duncan continued to make out. Amelia Wood however was gone, leaving the cookie-cutter friend to dance self-consciously by herself.

  Amelia Wood was nowhere to be seen at all. Sweet, sad, shy, very small Amelia Wood. The girl that Tiffany and many others had seen drunk as a skunk on the night of Dan’s death. Amelia Wood who couldn’t drink. Amelia Wood, the girlfriend.

  Katie understood it all, though there were still sections she wasn’t one hundred percent on. She moved towards Walter, who tried to stop her, but Gideon was there, and grabbed him by the arm. Walter spun, fury in his face.

  “Don’t you touch me!” he yelled out. Some people looked, most ignored them.

  “Okay, sorry man,” Gideon said, but Katie didn’t stop, she ducked under them and was past them, sprinting for the front door.

  Behind her Stacy and the others were calling for her. She ignored them. Katie’s heart was racing, and she knew, just knew what had happened and had to see it through. If they were fast enough, they would catch up to her, if not … She could finish this on her own.

  Katie was outside well before they were, and was half a block down the street looking left and right, trying to spot Amelia.

  Katie spotted her across the street, heading back towards the north parking lot of campus. She started to jog after Amelia

  Nick and his friend stepped out of the shadows and blocked her path.

  “Well hello, little lady, where do you think you are going all by your lonesome?”

  “Jesus you two, not now,” Katie hissed.

  She tried to move around them, but Nick grabbed her by the arm. Katie looked at his hand and then back up at him. She glanced over her shoulder. Katie could just make out Amelia moving from one streetlamp to the next … Amelia would be out of sight in a few moments.

  “Sorry, but you know the orders. And since your girlfriend isn’t with you…”

  “Katie, wait up!” It was Stacy and Gideon, both running out of the house.

  Katie could see the big Samoan shift his attention away from her and towards them. She didn’t have time to waste sorting it out, and she figured the chances that Gideon might get hurt trying to stop the two overzealous security guards was pretty high. Besides, if she was going to try and follow Amelia, she couldn’t have a group with her. She had basic surveillance training. They didn’t. Not to mention it was dangerous, following after her, and Katie would never forgive herself if she got her friends hurt. She was willing to take the risk, but she couldn’t ask that of them.

  Katie Bell took a deep breath in and waited. The Samoan took a step towards her friend, and then another. Nick was looking back at them too. One more step, and Katie moved. She twisted her arm fast, freeing it of Nick’s grip. Startled, he started to turn back towards her, but she was too fast for him, and brought up her other hand out of her messenger bag, her hand wrapped around her black cylinder.

  Katie flicked her pepper spray open and hit him with a long stream in the face. Nick screamed and went backwards, clutching his eyes. He doubled over and Katie followed through with her knee, it making a satisfying crunch as it connected with his nose. Nick went down, even as the Samoan started to turn towards her. Katie brought the pepper spray towards him and tagged him in the eyes too, and he grunted and started to stagger backwards. Katie followed through with her foot again, this time kicking him in the groin.

  He cried out in pain and then Katie turned and ran hard after Amelia, leaving both security guards on the sidewalk, both of them whimpering in pain.

  Three blocks later, Katie spotted Amelia again. The redheaded instincts had been right; she was going to her car parked in the north parking lot. Amelia got into her black Mercedes and turned on the engine. It was the first bit of luck Katie had had all evening. She happened to also be parked in the same lot. She waited till Amelia was pulling out of the parking lot before she ran to her Camry and started to follow.

  As she pulled out onto the street and followed Amelia’s taillights in the distance Katie could feel her heart racing. The likelihood of Amelia leading her anywhere important were slim to none, except…

  Felipe. He had left the party. He had been angrily talking to Walter at the New Year’s party … except Amelia had also been in the same room.

  Katie knew she only had part of the puzzle, but she was damned sure she was about to find out the rest of it.

  Her iPhone started to rattle in her bag. It was Gideon. She ignored it. This was something she had to do on her own.

  48

  11:14PM Friday May 31st

  Katie parked her Camry on the side of the road just outside the heavy gates to the Asheville airport. To call it an airport was really glorifying it, it was more like several large hangars and a runway and a tower. The last half a mile Katie had had to kill her headlights to follow Amelia on the two-way highway, and she had been nervous the entire time that somebody would come from the other direction, but no one did.

  Amelia had drove up to the gate and had gotten out of her vehicle, unlocking it and pulling the gate back before driving and parking it in the main lot. When she got out again she opened the trunk of her Benz and pulled out the late Dan Reedman’s backpack. Under the cover of darkness Katie easily was able to pass through the open gate and watch as she started to move around one of the hangar buildings.

  Katie counted to ten and then followed after Amelia even though she had disappeared from sight around the corner of the building.

  That’s when she heard the whine of an airplane engine warming up.

  Katie used the noise to jog, hugging the shadows and the side of the building. She could just see Amelia disappearing. At the next corner Katie saw the small two-seater pulling out from one of the hangars across the field. Amelia walked towards the plane, and two men appeared out from the shadows at the mouth of the hangar.

  Cursing silently, Katie took a deep breath and then rushed forward, sticking to the shadows as she went. The men were both focused on Amelia. Noise didn’t matter because everything was muted by the sound of the plane, and besides, it was a moonless night.

  Katie pulled out her phone and tried to take a few pictures, but without the flash it was next to worthless.

  She moved even closer.

  The plane taxied onto the runway and was ready to go when the engine was killed. As the propeller blades began to slow, the third man got out of the plane. Katie didn’t recognize him, but she could tell by the way he walked who he was. It was Felipe Smith.

  Katie crept closer.

  Amelia handed the backpack to Felipe. He handed over a black box to her, and Amelia looked at it for a long time, saying something very heated to him. The two men at either side of her said something and snapped before turning around sharply. She pointed at the shadows being cast by the hangar directly to Katie’s left, roughly a hundred feet in front of her.

  Katie froze.

  Amelia cried out.

 
The planes propellers had finally stopped spinning and the night was strangely peaceful aside from the sound of crickets in distance in the field.

  “What is it?” it was one of the men behind Amelia.

  “I heard something…” Amelia said.

  The two men looked at the leader and he nodded his head. They pulled guns out and started to move towards the shadows.

  That’s when one of the shadows from the hangar in front of Katie moved towards the three men and the killer. That’s when the shadow flashed color, the end of a rifle spitting angry and red at the group by the plane.

  The men started yelling and opened fire back at the shadow, which as it continued to advance Katie suddenly recognized. It was a girl, one of the Japanese foreign exchange students that had been at the parties.

  Katie dropped to the ground and considered for a second, before she raised her phone and started to film as best she could.

  Amelia ducked down and grabbed the backpack, even as all the men with her fired back at the exchange student. She may have had the element of surprise, but apparently she was a terrible shot because in short order she suddenly went down, clutching her chest and screaming something in Japanese.

  Katie realized that one of the men, the one that had been at Amelia’s right, was limping as they made their way over to the body.

  Amelia meanwhile was running with both the backpack and the black box, right back towards Katie.

  Katie froze for a second and then leapt up. Amelia could see her, but there was no time to waste.

  “Hey!” Amelia cried and pointed.

  Katie didn’t look back, even as she heard more shouting from behind her. Suddenly there was more gunfire, the loud angry rattle of another assault rifle, and the returning volley of the CRACK-CRACK-CRACK of the men’s pistols. Katie could have sworn she heard the sound of yelling and more gunshots and screams, but she didn’t care, she knew she just had to go. Katie Bell ran, harder and faster than she had ever run in her entire life.

  She was at her car. Katie pulled out her keys, dropped them. Her hand was trembling and she opened the car door, and she got in and took a few deep breaths before she tried to start her car. Why the fuck had she parked so far away?

  There were bright lights in her window, and Katie froze just as the Benz smashed into her Camry.

  Everything began to ring and the crunch of metal and glass filled her ears. Katie felt her whole body slammed back in her seat, and her head hit the roof of her car.

  Things blurred for a few moments, and she found herself moving without thinking, moving towards the passenger door, forcing it open. The smell of gasoline filled her nose, and made her eyes water.

  Katie collapsed out of the car onto gravel and tried to stand up, but her whole body hurt.

  There was a voice behind her, high and angry, but it took Katie a second to realize it was Amelia, and another to understand what she was saying.

  “I should have known it would be you, you bitch. You’re not going to stop me, not with the hell of a year that I’ve had.”

  “I’m sure you think it’s all about you. I mean I get it. I was an only child after all,” Katie called over her shoulder and then she started to run, down the side of the ditch into the dark open field in front of her.

  Except calling it running was being kind, it was more of a limp/jog. In front of her she could hear more crickets, as she ran towards them they became quiet. Ahead of her there must have been a stream or a pond, because Katie could hear the sound of frogs as well.

  Behind Katie Amelia followed. Amelia wasn’t hurt, and she was yelling something, but Katie couldn’t hear the killer. All Katie could focus on was the sound of the crickets and the frogs ahead of her. They were nature’s symphony, even though it occurred to Katie that it could be Mother Nature mocking her. It certainly felt like that.

  Katie’s leg hit the ground wrong and she went down. The frogs ahead of her fell silent. Still, she wasn’t done, and she started to crawl forwards. Until she felt somebody grab her by the leg and flip her over.

  Katie knew it was Amelia, staring down at her with hate filled eyes.

  Katie took a deep breath and realized she was panting. She must have not been breathing for a portion of her attempted escape.

  “You … you killed them. Both of them.”

  “Of course I did. You got me Nancy Drew. Bet you still don’t know how I did it.”

  Katie propped herself up on her elbows. Her leg was screaming at her, and her forehead was pulsing and she felt something warm and sticky sliding down the right side of her face. She was dully aware it was probably her own blood.

  “Sure I do. The beer keg. I’m guessing that one of them had a false bottom, with enough storage space to hide Dan’s backpack?”

  Amelia looked surprised. “Nicely done. But how did I get from the upstairs down to the basement without being seen?”

  “You’re small enough, and I bet you were a gymnast in high school. I’m guessing you actually slid down the laundry chute.”

  “Two for two.”

  Amelia reached into her pocket and pulled out something small and black. She flicked her wrist and the dull shine of a knife blade appeared. She moved over Katie, so she was standing directly above her.

  “Wait. But why them? I’m assuming that Dan was a drug mule, and that he had some coke in the backpack?”

  Amelia started to laugh. “Some coke? Try a brick worth two hundred grand. But no, I didn’t kill him for the damned money. He cheated on me!”

  “Yeah, with a lot of girls.”

  Amelia shook her head and leaned in, the knife blade waving in the air. “No, I didn’t give a shit about that. That was expected. No. He cheated on me with Chris.”

  Katie felt utterly shocked, even though it made sense. “You killed him because he was gay?”

  In the distance the frogs began to croak again.

  Amelia started to shake, she was so filled with rage and disgust.

  “It was all planned out. I didn’t mind that he strayed. But we were going to go the long haul. My family had met him, and found him respectable. We were good together. But I’m not marrying some fag. He didn’t get to cheat on me with his nerdy little friend. That was unacceptable … So I took care of it,” Amelia started to giggle.

  There was yelling behind them, and Amelia turned to see what it was all about. Katie grabbed Amelia’s leg and pulled hard, sweeping it out from under her. Amelia cried out and went down, and Katie rolled on top of her, scrambling for the knife.

  Behind them there were gunshots, but neither girl cared, they were too busy fighting for their lives. Katie felt a streak of pain on her forearm and saw the flickering as the knife blade came towards the side of her neck, but she blocked Amelia’s arm and punched hard, her fist connecting with Amelia’s nose. Amelia’s head jerked back and she dropped the knife.

  Katie rolled away from her and struggled to stand up. She felt something hot and wet stinging her chest and reached down. Her fingers came back wet and sticky. In the rush of the fight Katie hadn’t felt herself getting cut there, but it didn’t really surprise her. She felt light headed, and even the pain in her leg was beginning to dull.

  Behind her the frogs fell silent again. Katie turned in the direction of the road and heard the footsteps before she saw him. It was Felipe.

  He pointed his gun at Katie.

  “The backpack,” he said, his accent thick.

  Katie pointed at Amelia. “Must be over there somewhere.”

  Felipe moved a few feet away, his eyes searching the dark field. After a moment he reached down and grabbed the backpack, slinging it over his shoulder.

  “Thank you,” Felipe said, and leveled the pistol back at Katie.

  “Seriously?”

  Felipe tilted his head for a second, like he was considering it. “Nothing personal.”

  “Neither is this,” a voice said from behind him.

  Felipe spun even as the high-pitched whine of “Pop,
Pop, Pop, Pop,” cracked the air, and his body jerked unnaturally sideways and back and crumpled into the field. Katie felt nauseous as she saw Felipe’s body twitching on the ground for a few long moments before he lay still.

  In the darkness of the field in front of her the shadowy silhouette appeared. One moment he was not there, and the next he was, moving towards Katie at a slow pace, like he was just out taking an evening stroll.

  The frogs and crickets started up again.

  It was the mysterious man from both the first party and the one that had been talking to Tiffany at the SCU museum. The man in the North Face jacket. His arms were at his side ,but Katie could see the outline of a silenced pistol in his right hand, though the suppressed barrel was pointed at the ground.

  A few feet away from Katie and the mysterious man, Amelia groaned. Without looking at her directly he raised his pistol and squeezed the trigger again. “Pop, Pop,” his gun went, and Amelia’s head jerked back and she fell silent.

  “Jesus!” Katie gasped.

  The mysterious man reached down and opened the backpack. He pulled out the black object, Katie recognized that it was a camera and some sort of hard drive, and stuffed them inside his black coat.

  “That’s evidence,” she said numbly.

  “Between the backpack itself and her there’s enough to explain it. This isn’t necessary,” he said.

  Katie swallowed hard. There were black spots in her vision, and she felt so light headed. “Are you going to kill me now too?” she found herself asking, but it was almost like she was watching herself ask the question rather than asking the question herself.

  Katie could only partly see his expression in the dark, but he looked downright offended.

  “You know for being a pretty clever girl, sometimes you really are an idiot,” he replied, and then Katie felt her legs give out.

  He was standing over her, looking down.

  “You’re safe now,” he said, and then everything began to fade quickly for Katie.