Stand-in: Take 3 of the Kanyon and Daylen Series

by K. B. Draper

  Daylen nodded.

  Kanyon wasn’t able to meet up with Daylen until a late afternoon break, finding Daylen at the edge of the staging area. “Sorry, it took longer than I expected. Some of the stuff Mr. Hot Hands blew up this morning were props for this scene, so the shoot is running behind.”

  “All good. I’ve always enjoyed watching you on set.” She gave Kanyon a quick smile then continued so nothing more could be made of the simple statement. “Lieutenant Boston left a bit ago after talking to Calvin.” She answered Kanyon’s unasked question. “No, he didn’t mention anything about you or our bad guy’s fireball trick. She spoke to a few other crewmembers but again, nothing. She was stopping by the security office on her way out to get a copy of the visitor logs, etcetera. She’s going to head back to the office, start on some backgrounds, and then meet Calvin at his and Cody’s apartment in,” she looked at her watch, “about an hour. Her angle right now is drug deal gone bad, gambling debt collection, or something along those lines. Calvin told her there was no way, but I think she hopes there will be something at their apartment to the contrary.”

  Kanyon nodded. “Is she going to let you tag along?”

  “Yeah. I’m hoping I can get some kind of, you know, vibe or something. I mean, maybe the article is there.” Daylen saw Kanyon’s concern creep into her face. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Lt. Boston will be there.”

  “Yeah, but how about …” Kanyon paused, realizing she didn’t even know if Daylen got overwhelmed by her Seeker sight anymore.

  “I’ll shield before I go in,” Daylen answered, knowing what Kanyon was about to say. “I’ll be cautious. Promise.”

  An hour later, Daylen stepped out of her SUV as Lt. Boston pulled up in front of Calvin’s and Cody’s apartment building. “You find anything at the studio or in your background check?” Daylen asked when Lt. Boston joined her on the sidewalk.

  “No one on the visitor records that the security guy couldn’t account for, but that doesn’t mean someone didn’t get by him.”

  “He’s a solid guy. If they came through the gates, he’d know,” Daylen offered.

  “I get that,” Lt. Boston agreed. “There wasn’t anything in Cody’s or Calvin’s backgrounds except a couple of traffic violations. So, they’re clean or they just haven’t gotten caught yet.”

  “He’s here,” Daylen offered, seeing Calvin get off a bus just down the block.

  “Good.”

  Calvin jogged up to them, a little winded by the short trip. “Sorry I’m late. Some guy didn’t know how to get his bike on the bus rack. The bus ran over it two blocks later. Dude was not happy.”

  “I’m sure neither was the bus driver.”

  “No, they totally went at it. I have video if you want to–”

  “No. Let’s get started,” Lt. Boston said flatly, already moving to the front door of his building.

  Calvin paused outside his apartment, keys stopping just before being inserted in the lock. “What?” Lt. Boston asked flatly with an underling accusatory tone. “You have something to hide in there?”

  “No. No, I just …” Calvin blushed.

  Daylen stepped up, putting a comforting hand on his shoulder. “She doesn’t care about how messy your apartment is, she’s just looking for something to help your brother.”

  He nodded and put the key in the lock. “It’s just a bachelor pad you know, so–”

  “For God’s sake, I’ve seen a lot worse than nude posters, dirty underwear, and piles of empty beer cans.” Lt. Boston pushed Calvin aside and stepped past him. She took two strides in and stopped abruptly. “Ah, okay, not much worse.” She held up a hand to have both Daylen and Calvin stop behind her.

  “Dude,” Calvin looked around his kitchen and living room, “I swear, Lieutenant, there were just some empty pizza boxes and beer cans.” He pointed to a demolished stack of cans. “It was a beer fort. Fort Bud.”

  “Either of you have an engineering degree?” Lt. Boston asked while taking in the demolished structure.

  “No,” he replied confused.

  “Thank god,” she muttered.

  The rooms, or at least the two they could see, were ransacked. Furniture was flipped over. Cushions destroyed. Dishes and food swept from the cabinets. The contents of their refrigerator and the trashcan were dumped on the floor. Lt. Boston unsnapped the holster of her gun, resting a hand on the butt. “You two, outside,” she ordered. “I’m going to check the rest of the apartment.”

  Daylen took ahold of Calvin’s forearm and pulled him toward the front door. He reached out and grabbed the doorframe, taking another look inside. “They broke my TV,” he said absently. “And my Xbox! Ah, man.”

  Daylen gave his arm a little tug. “Better than a bullet in you if we don’t get out of here.”

  He turned wide eyes to Daylen. “You think they’re still in there?”

  “No. I think they’re long gone. I was talking about Lt. Boston.”

  “Oh. Ohhh!” he stated, letting her lead him out.

  Five minutes later, Lt. Boston found them out on the sidewalk. “Nothing,” she said. “I’ve got my forensic team coming to search through everything. They’ll be here shortly.” She took a notebook out of her pocket and flipped to a blank page. “Let’s get some of the routine questions out of the way while we wait.”

  “Lieutenant?” Daylen interrupted, then waved to her to step out of Calvin’s earshot. “You mind if I go up for a quick look around?”

  Lt. Boston gave her a WTF lift of her brow.

  “I promise I won’t touch anything. Just a quick look around. Maybe I can …” feel something, “you know, get lucky and see something out of the ordinary.”

  Lt. Boston gave her another suspicious look. “It’s a crime scene and against protocol,” she said again for the record.

  “Five minutes. Just a quick look.”

  “Three minutes, while I interview the kid.”

  “Three minutes,” Daylen agreed.

  Daylen reached for the door handle, then thought about the won’t touch anything promise. She didn’t want to use the sleeve of her shirt, not wanting to smear any potential fingerprints. Instead, she grabbed in her bag for her set of keys. She tried a couple before her house key slid in just far enough that she could use it as leverage to twist the knob, then she used an elbow to push open the door.

  Daylen lowered her shields slightly as she stepped into the apartment. She took a slow assessing look around before moving in any further. Not seeing or feeling anything in the immediate area, she carefully navigated the room, using caution to not disturb the items littering the floor. Deciding to start with the kitchen, she made a quick sweep feeling it was probably the least possible place that an article would be, unless it was a goblet or something. She used a pen to open the once closed cabinet, finding nothing more than a few plastic cups. She moved on, doubting a set of Fantastic Four themed 7-11 Big Gulp cups were what she was looking for.

  She moved into the living room, assuming the pile of cinder blocks and slats of wood toppled onto the floor meant Calvin and his brother once had bookshelves courtesy of Home Depot. Their once well-used plaid couch was completely used now. Its cushion guts were used to decorate the floor with yellowed foam. Whoever searched the apartment had been thorough, not leaving anything untouched in their destructive wake. Daylen didn’t see anything that stood out. She didn’t feel anything either, but her powers were still erratic, like a badly tuned radio. The only time she’d actually felt a strong connection to an article was the first case she’d worked with Kanyon. She’d seen the Blood Ring locked away in an upstairs office at the Defalco’s mansion. She quickly cleared that line of thinking before she replayed the violent scene that had followed.

  She did a quick peek into the small bathroom that separated the two bedrooms. She took one step in then immediately retreated. If the article was in there, the big guys would have to get it themselves or send her a bio-hazard suit.

  She moved i
nto the bedroom on the right. More destruction, pulled out drawers, a flipped over bed, and posters ripped from the wall. Unless she was looking for a dirty T-shirt or a movie from a Will Ferrell favored DVD collection, she didn’t think the article was there either. She moved to the second bedroom and froze as soon as her feet were on the other side of the threshold. Her entire body began to … hum? That was the only word she could think of to describe the soft vibrating sensations that shot up her spine. It was subtle, but since she had all her senses on a heightened state of alert, she noticed it. She took a cautious step forward and the sensation moved into her veins. Another step and it was racing through her entire body. She took another step, hoping the stir in her blood was some supernatural article homing beacon, intensifying the closer she got to it. It would be a super convenient trick anyway. She stepped over a rumpled poster torn from the wall. It was of Kanyon with her arms crossed, threatening glare, standing in one of her more provocative Dark Savior outfits. Daylen stopped to smile down at the image. She didn’t blame the guy. The day she’d seen Kanyon in that outfit she’d wanted Kanyon in her bedroom too.

  She moved deep into the room, the vibration steady until she navigated her way over to a four-drawer dresser that was currently housing only one of its drawers. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the underwear one. Daylen stepped over a pile of white man panties to inspect the items on the dresser’s top. Pictures, concert ticket stubs, cologne bottle, handful of loose change, and a knocked over television took up its surface. Upon closer inspection, what she’d thought was a dark stain on the back wall was actually a scorch mark, like the TV had caught fire. The top of the dresser was also burned, its top blackened, the cheap faux wood charred and buckled. She stopped herself from running a fingertip over the area, thinking again of the forensic team that was on their way.

  Because she didn’t know what else to do, she lifted her hand, palm down, and hovered it just over the damaged area to see if her body or her mind would react. Nothing. She tried the wall. Again, nothing more than the slight vibration she’d felt when she entered the room. She stood examining the scene for a moment. Maybe if I lower my shields completely I could get something? She knew the risks. She’d been overwhelmed by external senses before, but in those cases her aunt and Kanyon had been around to ground her. But she had also been practicing and training hard the last eight months.

  Never know until you try. She cautiously lifted her hand and let it hover over the wood. She took in a deep breath. “Here goes nothing.” She closed her eyes and dropped her shields. She felt the flash of fire seer her palm and jerked her hand back, her eyes flying open as she refortified her shields. She looked at her palm, expecting to see red and blistered flesh, but there was nothing. She rubbed a thumb tentatively over her skin. It wasn’t even tender. “That was fun – not at all,” she said to herself. She gave the scorch marks another once over and flipped through the flashes of images she’d seen in that split second of time. She booted the television over with her foot. It was blackened and burned. She contemplated dropping her shields again and running a hand over it, but paused as she heard car doors slamming and bustling outside.

  She moved quickly to the window, using a knuckle to separate the cheap vinyl blinds. A forensic van and two additional patrol cars were outside and she caught the quick glance Lt. Boston gave the building before moving to greet the arriving forensic team. She didn’t have time for another paranormal peek-a-boo party, so instead she pulled out her phone and took photos of the top of the dresser, wall, and TV before heading quickly out the door and down the opposite staircase, not wanting to take the chance of meeting the forensic team on their way up.

  Back out on the street, Lt. Boston gave her a nod of acknowledgement before turning back to the crime scene team that was making their way to the front door. Once they disappeared inside, Daylen made her way to Lt. Boston.

  “Find anything?” Lt. Boston asked in a low tone.

  “Just this.” Daylen held up the picture of the dresser top and burnt wall. “You have any idea what would’ve caused marks like that?”

  “I noted that as well. Missing person’s bedroom dresser, northwest corner. I can’t say for sure what caused it, maybe an electrical fire, but it would’ve had to have been extremely hot with a quick burn-out otherwise the wall and dresser would’ve caught fire.”

  That had been Daylen’s thought too, and she couldn’t help but think of the man that had thrown blue flames of light at Kanyon. They had hit wood and exploded, but hadn’t caught the tent and the crates on fire.

  “What?” Lt. Boston asked at Daylen’s knitted brow. “If you know something …”

  Daylen shook her head. “No. Sorry. Just thinking. Don’t know anything.” Not exactly a total lie. “What are you going to do with Calvin?”

  “Take him down to the station for more questions.”

  Daylen nodded. “Take it easy on the poor guy, the burglars killed his Will Ferrell movie collection.”

  “And that’s a bad thing?” Lt. Boston muttered.

  “I’m going to say good-bye to him, then head back to the studio. I’ll let you know if I find anything,” Daylen offered before Lt. Boston could order her to do so.

  Chapter 9

  Kanyon was in her trailer just finishing a costume change when Daylen’s knock came at her door. “Two seconds,” she yelled from the back room as she scooped up the leather gun harness that strapped two pistols to her back, which topped off the tight black tank top and slightly baggie, low-riding cargo pants ensemble. She checked herself quickly in the mirror. “Now this I can get behind,” she remarked with a self-satisfied grin. She gave Ralph a quick “behave” as she opened the door and stepped outside to greet her guest. “Sorry, I was just changing.”

  “No prob–” Daylen started as she turned from the lot and came face to … long, well-toned body. Kanyon’s hair was pulled back in a ponytail and she looked full on cargo-pants-wearing warrior superhero.

  “You find something?” Kanyon asked.

  Daylen swallowed hard as Kanyon slid her gun harness on, which caused her chest to test the elasticity of her shirt. “I, um,” she coughed out. “I don’t know exactly.”

  Kanyon cinched down the straps of the harness, securing the guns tightly against her. She adjusted and flexed to ensure the proper fit. Satisfied with the feel, she quickly drew both guns in a fast, practiced motion. “So, you found something?” she asked as she flipped the guns in her palms like a modern-day gunslinger before re-harnessing them. “Way more practical than the leather.”

  “Practical. Yes. Exactly what I was thinking,” Daylen mumbled as she gave the “practical” outfit a good onceover.

  “Daylen?”

  “Yah? What?” Daylen asked, giving her head a quick shake to clear the Kanyon action movie that was playing there.

  “What’d you find?”

  “Oh, right. Walk and talk?” Daylen was already two steps in the other direction, needing to focus on something besides Kanyon’s ... um, tank top. “The apartment was broken into and everything was searched,” Daylen began when Kanyon quick-stepped alongside her. “They broke most of their things, ripped up and or shredded everything else. The poor guys didn’t have much to begin with, but now …” She shook her head. “Whoever did it was thorough and my guess, mad.” She dug in her bag for her phone, scrolled, then held it out to Kanyon. “Look familiar?”

  Kanyon studied the scorch marks on the wall and dresser. “The guy from this morning?”

  “That’s my thought.”

  “But why firebomb the dresser?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe the article was there and he,” Daylen flung her hands out like a wizard casting a spell, “just poof … blew it up?”

  “Maybe, but I thought this whole gig was about getting the power and using it for their own personal gain. You know, steal the power, use it for evil, take over the world, mauhahaha and all.”

  Daylen glanced at the picture again. “Right. Heavy o
n the mauhahaha.” She stared at the image, thinking about the heat on her palm again. She’d also felt something else. “He was angry. Like ten on the Richter scale kind of angry.”

  Kanyon glanced at her, interested in the surety of her words. “How do you know?”

  “I,” Daylen stopped walking and took another look at her phone. “I sensed it when I was there. I don’t think I was tingling because of the closeness of the article. I think I was tingling because of the emotion in the room.”

  Kanyon cocked an eyebrow. “Tingling?”

  “Yeah. I got this sensation when I walked in the room. I guess it was more like …” she thought for a second, “a humming that ran through my entire body. I didn’t know what it meant. Ruby said Seekers are able to sense articles when they’re close.” She stopped again and thought about the sensations. “I thought I was sensing the emotions attached to the article. But–” She shook her head. “No. There was something else when I lowered my shields,” she absently rubbed the palm of her hand, “and was burned.”

  “Burned?” Kanyon grabbed the wrist of the hand Daylen was caressing. “Are you okay? I knew I should’ve gone with you. Damn it, I–”

  Daylen laid a hand on Kanyon’s forearm. “I’m fine. I only thought I was burned.” Daylen’s heart jumped a little at the obvious concern in Kanyon’s eyes. “I’m okay, promise.” She rubbed a thumb over Kanyon’s. “I felt a flash of heat on my palm, but I shielded and everything was fine. I’m fine,” Daylen soothed.

  Kanyon took another glance at Daylen’s palm, satisfied that she wasn’t hurt, but she didn’t release her grip. “Okay, so then what?”

  “Besides the heat, I sensed rage. I don’t think he got the article. I don’t think it was there. Maybe it was there at some point, but not when he was there.”

  “So, he had a supernatural, flaming ball throwing, temper tantrum?”