“No. It’s not that.” I chewed my lip and looked to Bobby for help.
“Ah,” Ezra said knowingly and swiveled the chair side-to-side. “This is about Jane.”
“Yes,” I nodded.
“Nothing you find will bring her back or bring you any comfort.” He looked out the darkness behind the house, the frozen lake looking black in the night. “Death, unfortunately, doesn’t have a cure, not even for the pain of those left behind.”
“Maybe not,” I said, but I wasn’t sure that I believed that. “But someone is out there killing girls, and I’d rest a lot easier if I knew who it was.”
“And you think that the police know who it is but haven’t bothered to catch him?”
Ezra asked when he looked back at me.
“No.” I sighed and shook my head. “I don’t know. But I think they know something.”
“Maybe they do,” Ezra allowed. “What would you do with that information that they aren’t already doing? You’re presuming that they’re hiding something for a reason. What would they hope to gain from this?”
“I don’t know,” I sighed, growing frustrated. All of this felt so logical in the living room with Bobby, but Ezra had a way of punching through everything.
“Just because we don’t understand why they’d cover up something doesn’t mean they aren’t,” Bobby said, and we both turned to look at him.
“Now you just sound paranoid,” I said.
“Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not after you,” Bobby said with an expression so serious that I couldn’t help but laugh.
Milo came home a few minutes later, breaking up any chance I had of convincing Ezra that I needed to know what the police were up to. I’m not sure that I did actually need to, and I hated that he had a point.
What could I do that the cops already weren’t? It wasn’t like I had any experience with solving crimes or forensic equipment. My knowledge was Law & Order reruns on TNT, and I doubted that would help me catch a serial killer.
As soon as Milo came in, he started making supper for Bobby. He still loved to cook, and it was a shame that hardly anybody around him could eat it anymore. When Milo asked what we’d been up to, Bobby made a point of not telling him about Jane.
Apparently, we’d both decided that it’d be better if our respective boyfriends didn’t know what we were doing.
Jack had to go away for work the next day, so I spent the evening curled up with him.
He’d been handling most of the business affairs by himself lately, since Ezra didn’t feel like doing much of anything, and I was really proud of Jack for stepping up. I just hated that he had to be away so much.
We went to bed early since he had an eight a.m. flight, and I still didn’t understand how he learned to handle himself so well in the daytime. I’d gotten much better about being in the sun, but it would never be anything I’d enjoy.
I woke up with him to see him off, and Matilda whimpered as soon as he was out the door. I tried to reassure her by telling her that he’d be back in a few days, but I’m not sure that she understood me. Or if she did, it still hurt too much to be away from him. I agreed with her on that point.
I crawled back into bed and began crying. I hated the empty space left behind when Jack went away. I felt lonelier than I had in a while, and everything felt off-kilter. Not just because Jack was gone, but everything with Ezra and Mae and Jane. Milo was busier with school, Jack was busy with work, and I was just here… doing nothing.
“Alice?” Bobby knocked on my bedroom door, and I hurried to wipe away the tears before he could see them. He opened the door without waiting for me to respond. “Are you awake?”
“Yeah. What do you need?” I sat up in bed and rubbed at my eyes, covering up my sadness by looking sleepy.
“Milo just went to school, and I saw that Jack left for work,” Bobby said, walking into the bedroom.
“So? Shouldn’t you be at school?” I asked, looking over at him once I felt certain my tears were gone.
“Yeah, but I decided to skip.” He bit his lip and shoved his hands in the pockets of his skinny jeans. “I’ve got an idea for a better way to spend the day.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“Let’s go find Jane’s killer.”
“Like now? Like right now? How?” I asked as I pushed off the covers. I’m pretty sure Bobby didn’t have a plan, but it already sounded better than anything else I would probably do today.
“Milo and Jack are gone, so it seems like the best time,” Bobby shrugged. “And I thought we could just go downtown, check out the crime scenes. I mean, I know stuff’s gone, but I thought we might find something. I wrote down all the addresses.” He held his hand out to me, and he’d written a couple locations on the back of it.
“Alright. Let me get dressed.”
Bobby smiled and went outside to wait for me. I’m not sure why exactly, but as I pulled on my jeans, I felt better than I had since I’d gotten back from Australia. I was actually doing something. And even if it was a long shot, it was something that actually mattered. Or it would, if we could catch the killer before another girl got hurt.
8
We stood on Eighth Street, with the buildings blocking out the morning sun. I’d donned a jacket, a hat, and giant sunglasses, so the sun wouldn’t be much of an issue for me anyway. As we walked away from the second crime scene, I felt queasy.
This time of the day, downtown was bustling, and I wasn’t used it. I’d gotten accustomed to the quiet of the night. We brushed past people, some of them bumping into me. Being in crowds didn’t bother me anymore, and the open air helped alleviate the scent of their blood. Lately, my bloodlust hadn’t been bad at all, and Ezra commended my ability to get it under control so quickly.
“I don’t think this is gonna work,” I told Bobby as we waited at a crosswalk for the light to turn green.
“I know we didn’t see much back there, but we still might find something,” Bobby said. “Anyway, it’s better than doing nothing.”
Other than a piece of battered police tape stuck to the side of a pole, there hadn’t been anything at the last scene. The one before had even less evidence than that. I’m not even sure what we were looking for, but we found nothing.
The closer we got to the spot where Jane had been found, the sicker I felt. My mouth and throat felt dry, and it was hard to swallow. The jacket and hat were making me too hot, and cold sweat broke out all over my skin.
“I don’t know.” I shook my head and stayed a step behind Bobby.
“It won’t hurt to look.”
He slipped on a patch of ice, and my arm shot out instinctively. I caught him, holding him by his arm for a second before he got his footing again. A man passing by gave me an odd look. I shoved my hands in my pocket and tried to look inconspicuous as Bobby straightened out his jacket.
“Thanks,” he said.
“No problem,” I mumbled and took his elbow to hurry him along. A few other people kept glancing over at us, and I didn’t like it.
If I hadn’t felt so nervous, I might’ve taken a moment to be proud that I moved quick enough to elicit weird stares. My reflexes were getting much quicker, and I didn’t slip on the ice anymore, not even when I hurried across it. I’d begun to feel really comfortable in my new skin.
“Is there a reason we’re jogging?” Bobby asked, giving me a sidelong glance.
“We’re not jogging.” I was going faster than I meant to, and I slowed down.
When we turned the corner onto Hennepin Avenue, I let go of Bobby’s arm, but I wished I’d hung onto him. I shoved my hands deep in my pockets and slowed down even more, so we were barely moving. We were getting close to V, and past that, I could see the empty space on the concrete where Jane had been found.
“Are you okay?” Bobby asked. “You look pale.”
“Yeah,” I lied, but I stopped walking. We were in the middle of the sidewalk, so people had to part around us, but I did
n’t care. “Why are you doing this?”
“What?”
“This. Helping me. Trying to solve this or whatever.”
“I’m from St. Joseph, Minnesota,” Bobby said, and I shrugged, not seeing any significance. “My mom was pregnant with me when Jacob Wetterling went missing. I have a brother nine years older than me, and he knew the Wetterling kids.”
I didn’t know a ton about the case, but I’d heard enough over the years to get the gist of it. Jacob had been eleven-years-old when he was abducted near his home in St.
Joseph. Twenty years later, the police weren’t any closer to finding out what happened to him or who took him.
“I grew up with a crazy over protective mother, always talking about him.” Bobby squinted up at the sun that peaked over the top of the buildings. “It’s like a mystery hanging over everything, and I never even met him. But it still bothers me that I don’t know what happened to him.”
“You’re looking for Jane’s killer because you can’t find Jacob Wetterling?” I asked.
“My mom always talked about how she didn’t know how his mother went on, how she could survive without knowing what happened to her son,” he said. “And Jane’s not missing, and she wasn’t your kid, but I know you need to know what happened. I wanna know, and she wasn’t my best friend.”
“I don’t know if she was really even my best friend anymore.” I exhaled and stared down the street, to where her body had been found.
“Well, since I’m now your de facto best friend, I have to help you with this.”
“How are you my best friend?” I raised an eyebrow.
“You can’t count your boyfriend or your brother, or your boyfriend’s brothers, so it has to be me.” Bobby grinned at me. “I’m your new best friend.”
“What about Leif? Or Olivia?” I asked.
“Leif’s not your friend.” He shook his head and furrowed his brow. “I’m not sure what he is, but he’s not your friend. And Olivia’s your trainer. She’s like a boss. Doesn’t count.”
“There sure are a lot of stipulations that constitute who can or can’t be a best friend.”
“I didn’t make the rules,” he shrugged. “But as your best friend, it’s my civic duty to help you with this.”
“And you think looking at this will help?” I asked.
“I do,” Bobby nodded. “Come on.”
“Alright.” I took a deep breath and walked with him, moving in closer to him. “So, how does your crazy protective mom feel about you living here? Do you ever even go home?
“Um… she doesn’t feel anything about it,” Bobby said. “She died of cancer when I was 12. And I don’t go home very much. My brother lives in Oregon now.”
“Oh. I’m sorry,” I said, feeling stupid that I didn’t know that.
“It’s okay.” He shrugged. “I mean, it’s not. But it was a long time ago. So…”
We reached the spot, and we both just stopped. People were already making big arcs around the place where Jane had been dumped, so they didn’t mind that we just stood there. A fresh bit of police tape flapped in the wind, but the rest had been cut down.
I expected to feel worse when I got here, considering the built up nausea I had walking up to it. Once here, seeing it up close, I only felt that strange blankness inside me.
Like my emotions just shut off completely.
Six inches of snow had been dumped on us the day before, and the ensuing cleanup had scooped most traces that would be left. But I could still see faint stains where her blood had been, especially in the cracks.
I crouched down, and I could still smell her. Very faintly, underneath the scent of snow, salt, exhaust, and all the people around. If I hadn’t known Jane, I probably wouldn’t be able to smell her at all. I breathed in deep, as if I would learn something new.
I reached out to touch the darkest part of the stain. As soon as I touched it, an electric shock shot through my fingertips, and I yanked my hand back.
“Are you okay?” Bobby asked.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I shook it off and stood back up. “Do you see that?”
“What?”
“Her blood.” I pointed to it. I hadn’t seen any at the other crime scenes, and I wasn’t sure if it was because I was tuned into Jane.
“Yeah,” he nodded. “It’s faint. But I see it.”
“Did you see any at the other spots?”
“No.” His forehead crinkled as he thought about it. “No, I didn’t see anything.”
“That doesn’t really mean anything, I guess,” I said. “They did happen a long time ago.
The first one was before Christmas.”
I looked over at the building V was in. It looked so ordinary, like all the other buildings around it. Nobody would ever guess it housed hundreds of vampires every night in its basement.
“But I don’t remember seeing that much blood in the other crime scene photos,” Bobby said. “Maybe they had less to clean up.”
“Did you see real crime scene pictures? Or just the ones they let them post in the paper and stuff?” I asked. “I mean, they have to keep out the truly gruesome ones.”
“You can find anything on the internet.” He waved off my doubt. “I’ve seen some brutal ones.”
“You’re a twisted guy, you know that?”
“It was research!” Bobby looked defensive for a moment before moving on.
“Anyway, the point is, maybe Jane had a little more overkill, so there was more blood.”
“I don’t wanna think about that,” I grimaced.
“Sorry. But I’m just saying that when things have overkill, it usually means its personal,” Bobby said.
“Lots of people were pissed at Jane,” I sighed. He had a point, but I felt too agitated to think. I kept my eyes on the club, but I could see her blood stains out of the corner of my eye. “Look, can we walk and talk?”
“Uh, yeah, sure thing.”
“The sun is bothering me,” I lied.
The sun had started shining over the buildings, but it hadn’t bothered me yet. I walked across the street, more towards V, so I’d be in the shadows again.
“So, what do you think?” Bobby hurried to keep up with me. He slipped on snow again, and I caught him, but this time I made sure to do it more slowly, like a human would.
“I don’t know what to think,” I admitted.
We reached the alley by V, and I glanced at it out of habit. But I saw something that made my heart skip a beat, and I stopped.
“What?” Bobby asked.
“Oh no. Please tell me it’s not another one,” I whispered under my breath.
In a snow pile pushed up to the building, I could see long blond hair. A long coat lay next to it, covering the shape of a body. The entrance to V was kinda hidden in the alley, so it wouldn’t be as out in the open as the others had been, but it appeared to be a body discarded near the door.
“What?” Bobby repeated.
“Stay behind me,” I commanded.
I held my arm up in front of him, and we walked slowly down the alley. By the time we reached the snow bank, my heart hammered so loud in my ears, I could barely hear myself think.
My hand would’ve been trembling, but I stopped shaking. In the past month or so, I’d become incapable of it. Inside, my muscles felt rubbery, even though I knew they’d react like marble if I needed them to.
I reached forward and peeled back the jacket. I expected a corpse, but what I found scared the hell out of me. Bobby screamed behind me A vampire jumped up, moving with the speed only we could master, and she nearly lunged at me before she saw who it was. Violet stared at me, her weird purple eyes wide and shocked. Her skin looked bluish from where it had pressed against the snow bank, and her clothes were dirty and wet.
“Why are you always bothering me?” Violet snapped. “Are you like stalking me or something?”
“No, I’m not stalking you,” I said. “I just saw you and I thought-” I didn’t want to adm
it what I’d thought, so I let it hang in the air.
“You know each other?” Bobby asked, once he got over the scare.
“Not really.” Violet tucked a strand of blond hair behind her ears and crossed her arms.
“What are you doing out here?” I asked.
“It’s not really any of your business, is it?” She glared at me for a moment but almost instantly lost her nerve. She turned away and pulled on her long jacket. “But I guess I better be on my way.”
“Do you even have anywhere to go?” I asked, and Violet swallowed hard. “Why were you sleeping outside, during the day?”
“I didn’t have anywhere to go, okay?” Her intense eyes met mine, and her lip quivered a bit. “I usually find somebody to take me home so I can crash with them, but the clubs have been dry lately. That damn serial killer is keeping people off the streets.”
“Yeah, he’s making it rough on all of us,” I muttered dryly.
“I already apologized about your friend,” Violet said, but she softened a little. I think she felt guilty about everything that had transpired between us before, and that counted for something.
“Why do you have to find people to crash with? Why don’t you have your own place?
” I asked.
“I’m sixteen and I look sixteen!” She gestured to herself, and she had a point.
Sometimes, she even looked younger than that. Her eyes had a strange innocence to them when she let down her guard. “I don’t have my social security card, so I can’t get a job, but even if I could, working part-time at Starbucks won’t pay the bills. Even when I do have money, nobody will rent me an apartment or a hotel room. I don’t even have a frickin driver’s license. What else am I supposed to do?”
I’d never thought about what it would be like for everyone else to be a vampire. I’d come into a rich family who take care of everything, from money to housing and phony social security cards. I couldn’t imagine how anyone else survived without them, especially someone that looked so young, like Violet.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve gotta find somewhere new to sleep.” She started to walk past me.
Wisdom mba-4 Page 8
