2 If It Bleeds, It Leads

by Amanda M. Lee

  Luckily, there is one of those warehouse Halloween stores that pop up every year near my house. I figured it would be pretty picked over, but I should be able to find something.

  The thing about Halloween is that you really only have a couple of choices if you’re a girl. You can dress up in something skimpy, put a pair of animal ears on it and call yourself a sexy mouse or cat or armadillo (What? I bet that’s an actual thing in Texas). The other option is some ridiculous fairy princess – and I wasn’t prancing around in a shiny dress and wings. I’d never live the humiliation of that down.

  As I perused the aisles, I noticed a lot of harried women with hyper kids running up and down the aisles. That’s the one thing I hate about Halloween. The kids. Why do they always have to ruin a perfectly good holiday by going around and begging for candy?

  There were quite a few selections left – which surprised me – and I had pretty much whittled down my selections to a slutty Jason Voorhees or a slutty witch. Ultimately, I went with Jason Voorhees since the idea of carrying a machete around appealed to me. The costume was essentially a pair of skintight faux leather pants and a black sparkly tank top (no reason I couldn’t still be feminine) and the machete. I figured I would pair it with my Doc Marten boots and a flannel over the tank top when I got home. I knew Carly wouldn’t be thrilled – but at least it wasn’t ‘Star Wars’ – and I’d earn points for that alone.

  When I got home, I decided to go all out. I took a shower and put mousse in my hair so it would air dry curly (I usually run a flat iron over it). I then painted my fingernails blue and put black crackle on top of them to give them an eerie look. I still had a few hours to go before the party, so I decided to occupy my time with ‘Star Wars Lego’ on my X-Box 360 as a distraction.

  I wanted a video game I liked but wasn’t too mentally taxing. This was the perfect way to go. While I played, I tried to go over what I knew. Darby hadn’t been as sweet as everyone pretended, but she didn’t sound like a total loser either. She donated her time to charities, she dropped the asshole boyfriend and, from everything I could see, she wasn’t a drug dealer. She had apparently just got inadvertently tied up with them. That can happen sometimes. O.K., maybe that only happens in my world, but it still happens.

  I wasn’t exactly sure how Sunshine and Tina fit into all this. Maybe it was just a coincidence that Sunshine’s ex-husband was dating Darby and now she was dead. That still didn’t explain how she ended up down at the warehouse, though. Unless . . . an idea was starting to form in the back of my mind. What if Sunshine was the one who had called the police to tell them about the meth lab? Maybe she had done it as a way to try and get Kevin Walker locked up for good? If he was really threatening her, she might feel the only way she would be safe was if he was locked behind bars.

  That still didn’t explain her association with Tina, though. Was Tina tied to Kevin Walker somehow? Given the state of her clothes when I saw her with Marvin, I didn’t think she was pulling in dealer money. She also didn’t look like she could function at that high of a level. I think securing her daily fix was about all she could handle. Marvin wasn’t exactly known for dating the great thinkers of our day – and Tina was no exception. Marvin likes them dumb and helpless.

  Maybe I was wrong and Tina and Sunshine didn’t have any ties to this at all – but it was still suspicious that they were in that area when the raid was going down. I had no idea where Sunshine lived, but I remember Marvin telling me that Tina lived 10 miles away in south Warren. She didn’t seem like an Eastern Market kind of a girl, so there really wasn’t a good explanation for why she was downtown at that time. Tina was really more iceberg lettuce and ranch dressing than romaine and flavored vinaigrettes.

  I considered calling Eliot to ask him what he knew about Sunshine and where she lived but I opted against that option in the end. First of all, after our conversation last night I wasn’t really up to seeing him. Secondly, I didn’t want him to know what I was working on. He wouldn’t be as much of a pain as Jake, but he would be aggravated all the same. I really wasn’t up for hearing another lecture about how I was going to get myself killed – even if I thought his motivations stemmed from a good place.

  Between my constantly evolving thoughts and the video game, before I knew it the time of the party had arrived and I hadn’t even gotten dressed yet. I quickly switched off the game and poured myself into the vinyl pants. They fit . . . barely. I admired the way they made my backside look in the mirror before I grabbed my Jason mask and faux machete to leave. I was pretty hot for a serial killer, if I do say so myself. Carly was going to flip when she saw my outfit.

  The party was being held at Carly’s parents’ house out in Chesterfield Township. It was a good 20 minutes away and I knew I’d never hear the end of it when I was late. There wasn’t much I could do about it now. The party was actually a bonfire in the backyard, so I was hoping I could slip in and Carly wouldn’t notice. Then, when she finally saw me I’d lie and say I’d been there the whole time. She wouldn’t believe it, but she also wouldn’t be able to prove I was lying.

  Unfortunately for me, Carly was standing in the driveway with her hands on her hips when I pulled in. She already had a dirty look plastered on her face. I noticed she’d dressed up like a slutty fairy. She looked cute. I didn’t think I could carry off the outfit.

  “You’re late.”

  “Happy Halloween to you, too.”

  “Tomorrow is Halloween.”

  “Yes, but today is the day of pre-holiday festivities. We should all rejoice.” Carly can’t stay mad at me forever. If she did, she’d have no one to listen to the diatribes about her future mother.

  “What are you supposed to be?”

  I pulled the Jason mask over my face and raised the fake machete menacingly.

  “No, really, who are you supposed to be?”

  “Who are you supposed to be?”

  “I’m Tinker Bell.”

  “You just look like some random fairy to me.”

  “Well you look like a goalie in leather pants. I don’t know what you’re supposed to be.”

  “I’m Jason Voorhees.”

  “Who does he play for? The Avalanche?” Carly is an avid hockey fan and, like any self-respecting Red Wings fan, she hated the Colorado Avalanche.

  “No, he’s the killer in ‘Friday the 13th,’” I was a little embarrassed by her lack of pop culture knowledge.

  “And why do you want to be a serial killer?”

  “Why do you want to be a fairy?” This was getting us nowhere.

  “This is getting us nowhere.” Carly doesn’t have a filter sometimes either. “You’re probably going to have to explain to everyone why you’re dressed like that.”

  Personally, I didn’t think they would care but I shrugged and followed her to the backyard. She’d gone all out, I could see. There were fake cobwebs in all the trees and papier-mâché pumpkin lanterns hanging from the branches. She’d also made fake tombstones and placed them all around the yard. The fog machine that was going on the porch added to the ambiance. I had to admit, it was pretty cool.

  “This looks great.”

  Carly smiled for the first time since she’d caught sight of my outfit. “It does, doesn’t it?”

  There were about 20 people milling around in the backyard. But, since I had no interest in talking to any of them I went to check out the food situation first. I was digging in to my first caramel apple with gusto when I decided to see who was here.

  As I scanned the crowd, there was a familiar face there that I wasn’t expecting. I felt like the wind had been knocked out of me.

  I motioned furiously for Carly to come up on the porch. She was talking to one of her neighbors about picking a honeymoon destination. She frowned at me when I kept motioning her to come up on the porch – waving me off like I was an annoying child. This only made me exaggerate my motions even more. Finally, she detached herself and came up to me.

  “What?” She was irritate
d again.

  “What is he doing here?”

  “Who?” Carly looked genuinely confused.

  “Eliot.”

  “Eliot, where?”

  “Over there. He’s dressed up like Mick Jagger.”

  Carly narrowed her eyes and stared into the crowd. She finally got whom I was talking about.

  “He’s not dressed up like Mick Jagger. He’s dressed up like Nikki Sixx.”

  “That’s better?”

  Carly ignored me. “So he’s the pawnshop guy. Huh. I didn’t recognize him. I only saw him for a second the other day at lunch and I didn’t want to stare. I think he came with Tori.”

  Ugh, Tori. She was Carly’s neighbor. She was like a really slutty Lucy Lui. She had that perfect alabaster Asian skin and long dark hair that never looked out of place. She was also stacked. I could see her now, fawning all over Eliot in a low cut black dress.

  “What, she came as Elvira?”

  “No one but you knows who Elvira is. She’s Morticia Adams.”

  She’s still a slut. I didn’t say that out loud, of course.

  “She’s not a slut.” Carly was giving me a dirty look.

  Whoops, maybe I did say it out loud.

  “I’m leaving,” I hissed, trying to pull away from Carly and unobtrusively detach from the crowd without anyone noticing.

  “You absolutely are not leaving,” Carly’s voice was starting to carry. I saw that the group of people out on the lawn had raised their heads to see what all the fuss was about. I saw Eliot’s eyes rest on me for the first time that evening. I suddenly felt really self-conscious and I had no idea why.

  Kyle, Carly’s fiancé, must have seen that things between us were rapidly deteriorating. He was dressed as a cowboy and he made a big show of pretending to snare us with his rope when he dragged us in the house and waved to the crowd – like it was all a big joke.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Avery says she’s leaving because the guy she has a crush on is here with Tori.”

  “I do not have a crush on him,” I said to Kyle. I turned to Carly, now. “And you have a big mouth.”

  “I didn’t know it was a secret.” She was feigning ignorance. It might have worked on someone else – but I was used to all of her tricks and I wasn’t buying it for a second.

  Kyle didn’t believe her either. “Carly, stop being a pain.”

  I smirked at her. I always liked Kyle.

  “Avery, stop being a child. Grow up. If you like him, go get him. This isn’t high school you two.”

  I always hated Kyle. He’s such a know-it-all.

  Carly and I pasted fake smiles on our faces and went back out to the party. I purposely planted myself around the perimeter. The minute Carly got distracted I was out of here.

  She must have read my mind, though; because she kept an eagle eye on me all the while she circulated through the party. Damn her.

  “Avery.” The minute I heard Tori’s sugary sweet voiced I wanted to ram a caramel apple down her throat to shut her up.

  “Tori.” My voice was tight. I refused to meet Eliot’s gaze.

  “This is Eliot Kane.”

  “We’ve met.” Eliot finally spoke.

  “You have?” Tori looked confused. I’m fairly certain this is her usual state, though. Instead of brains she got boobs.

  “We have.” Now it was my turn to be fake.

  Tori, per usual, was oblivious. “Did you interview him for a story?”

  No, we almost got naked in my bedroom.

  “We had some business together.” Eliot said smoothly.

  “What kind of business?”

  “The kind that’s none of your business.” Any pretense of being sweet had just flown out the window.

  “Well, that was rude.”

  Like that was some sort of news flash. I’m always rude.

  “Tori, can you give us a second.” Eliot was oozing charm as he eased away from Tori and grabbed my elbow to drag me to the edge of the property.

  Tori’s pout was profound. “Don’t be gone long.”

  “Oh, he won’t.” I called back for him as he led me a few feet away. What? I was trying to be helpful.

  “What are you doing here?”

  He had a lot of nerve asking me that. “This happens to be my best friend’s house,” I answered snottily. Okay, it was her parent’s house, but that’s basically the same thing. “I think the question is, what are you doing here?”

  “Tori asked me to be her date.”

  “I see. Well that’s great.” I was bordering on shrill. “Why don’t you go enjoy your date?”

  “I didn’t know you’d be here.”

  “And that makes a difference because?”

  “I told you the way things stood last night. Have you made a decision?”

  “Yeah, last night. That was great wasn’t it? Did you tell her you had your tongue down my throat less than 24 hours ago?”

  “I didn’t use my tongue. When I use my tongue, trust me, you’ll know it.”

  I felt heat rush to my face and, truth be told, someplace else as well. I was getting flustered. What were we talking about again?

  “I don’t know what you want me to say.” This was probably the most honest thing I’d said to him in weeks.

  “Then don’t say anything.” Eliot grabbed me and pulled me too him, giving me a swift hard kiss. This time, there was a little tongue.

  I pulled away in surprise. “What about Tori?”

  “What about her? I just met her the other day. She asked me to come to a party. It sounded like fun. I’m not in a relationship with anyone. I can do what I want with whomever I want.”

  “No one said you couldn’t.” I can be charming when I want to be. This apparently wasn’t going to be one of those times.

  “I meant what I said last night. I like you. I think I’ll want to kill you after spending any prolonged time with you, but I’m willing to give it a shot. I will not, however, watch you waffle between Farrell and me. You have to make the decision.”

  “What decision?” Crap, Tori was back. Had someone just blew a whistle that only dumb girls with big boobs could hear or something?

  “Nothing,” I mumbled, pulling away from Eliot.

  “It doesn’t look like nothing,” Tori was whining now. “In fact, it looks like you just tried to kiss my date.”

  “Excuse me? He kissed me.”

  “Please, why would he kiss you when he’s here with me? Let’s face it, I’m the better catch.”

  Or he’s more likely to catch something venereal from her. “Yes, I’ve heard you’re the catch of the day. Quite often, actually.”

  Eliot shook his head as he ducked down. I could tell he was getting off on us fighting over him.

  “Eliot, I’m hungry. Let’s go get something to eat.” Tori was acting all huffy now, tapping her foot impatiently on the stone walkway as she expectantly waited for him to acquiesce to her. I think she gets her way with men whenever she wants it.

  I met Eliot’s gaze as he moved to Tori’s side. For some reason, the simple act of him choosing to follow her made me feel like I’d been kicked in the gut. He must have seen something on my face because he took a step back towards me. I wouldn’t let him see me cry, though. Instead, I threw my caramel apple on the ground in a fit and fled to the front yard, where I hastily jumped in my car and drove away before I could fall apart in front of Eliot.

  I could see three faces as I pulled out of the driveway. Carly’s was angry (yeah, I’d be paying for that tomorrow). Tori’s was smug (I’d be smacking that before it was all said and done I was sure). Eliot’s was concerned, and for some reason that made me burst into tears as I drove home.

  I must have PMS or something.

  Fourteen

  The ride home seemed longer than it should have – mainly because I was mentally kicking my own ass for the duration. I couldn’t for the life of me figure out why I had gotten so emotional. Actually, I knew exactly wh
y I had gotten so emotional – I was sick to death of men and it was slowly driving me insane. There could be no other explanation.

  After the 20-minute drive home, I haphazardly pulled into my driveway. I could see the empty returnables scattered around the front porch of the neighbors’ house. I could only hope they had already had their nightly brawl and passed out – because I had no interest in seeing ‘Days of Our White Trash Neighborhood’ play out before I went to bed.

  Quite frankly, I wanted to wash my face, tie up my hair, strip off my clothes and go straight to bed. The quicker this evening was forgotten, the better.

  Of course, like all my plans, this one wasn’t going to go down exactly like I wanted it to either.

  The way my house is set up, it really doesn’t make sense to go in through the front door. My driveway is really long and narrow and ends at my back door, so that’s usually where I go into the house. When I pulled to the back of the house I knew right away that something was wrong.

  My back door was actually slightly ajar – and I knew I hadn’t left it that way. I froze when I saw it. I had a few options, here. I could call 911 or go in myself. Usually, I might go in myself. The run-of-the-mill dirt bags that try to break in my house aren’t usually all that terrifying. Of course, I did get the occasional legitimate threat and the type of day I was having didn’t lead me to believe it would just be some harmless nut in my house.

  Given the fact that I’d been around meth heads and professional criminal car salesmen over the past few days, I figured odds were good this could have been something a little more sinister.

  I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and debated. I could call Jake directly and have cops here in two minutes – and that seemed like a good idea given how hard my heart was pounding in my chest right now. Since he was out on a date with whatever the current flavor of the month was, though, he was a denizen of my “asshole of the month” list and I wasn’t exactly looking forward to dealing with him thinking that I’d purposely submarined his date out of jealousy.

  Then there was Eliot, but I definitely wasn’t going to go there after what just happened.