[Mystic Caravan Mystery 05.0] Freaky Places

by Amanda M. Lee

  “He didn’t, like, do something creepy to you, did he?” Kade’s expression bordered on angry.

  “No. He was always trying to get in good with my father. My father had more money and he was always begging for funds for whatever get-rich-quick scheme he had going. He wanted me to like him so my father would be more willing to give him money.”

  “Okay, but that still doesn’t explain about the doll.”

  “I know. The doll story doesn’t get better or more exciting. My mother caught me trying to destroy the doll, so she put it on a shelf in my room. She told me that I was to ignore it and not play with it. She thought I was being ridiculous.”

  “I can see that.”

  “I couldn’t ignore the doll, though,” I said. “I thought it was watching me in my sleep. I thought it was going to scratch my eyes out, because that was the story some girl at school told a few weeks before the doll arrived. So I started locking the doll up because I was seriously sleep deprived.

  “I put the doll in the hamper … in closets … and in the basement. But it kept returning to my room,” I continued. “My mother claimed she wasn’t moving it, so I became paranoid. One day, I couldn’t take it any longer. I waited for my parents to be distracted in the backyard. I carried the doll to the front driveway … and beat its face in on the pavement.”

  Kade and Luke snorted in unison.

  “I guess you showed her, huh?” Luke chortled. “What did your mother say?”

  “I tried to explain, but they hated hearing about my abilities. They said I was acting crazy. It was an early lesson on who I should share certain things with.”

  “Oh, honey, I’m sorry.” Kade pulled me in for a hug. “I thought the story was going to be a lot funnier.”

  “If it’s any consolation, I looked deranged when I was killing the doll. I’m sure you would’ve laughed if you’d seen me.”

  “I honestly don’t think that’s true.” Kade kissed my cheek. “Come on. Let’s get the rest of the stuff on the list and then get back to the circus grounds. I need to talk to Max, and you’ve clearly had a tiresome day after the doll talk and everything else.”

  I rolled my eyes, but walked ahead of him, the excitement over the potential move eradicating the bad memories of the doll pretty quickly. I left Luke and Kade to check out with the groceries, including bagging everything, and surveyed a bulletin board located near the exit. I hadn’t seen it when we entered, but now that I could focus on it the photographs sent a chill down my spine.

  The bulletin board was completely covered with missing persons’ fliers. There had to be at least fifty of them, and they all featured young women. None of them were for children – a mild relief – but some of them were very clearly teenagers and young adults. Nobody on the board looked over the age of twenty-one.

  I read through some of the details. One of the girls, Robin McCullough, disappeared six months ago and hadn’t been heard from since. Another girl, Katie Pace, had been missing for three weeks. Her parents were offering a large reward for information that led to her discovery … dead or alive.

  “What are you looking at?” Kade stole my breath when he walked up behind me.

  “Look. These are all missing girls.”

  Kade’s eyebrows rose as he scanned the fliers. “That’s a lot of missing people for one small area.”

  “Look at them,” I prodded. “They’re all girls … and young girls. There are no boys … or older women … or even younger children. It’s all girls of a certain age.”

  Kade scratched his cheek. “What do you think that means?”

  That was a very good question. “I don’t know. It can’t be normal, though, right?”

  “It does seem odd. But it’s not as if this has anything to do with us.”

  He was right. “I know.” I forced a smile. “It simply caught me off guard.”

  “It’s sad, but it’s not our problem.” Kade extended his hand. “Now, come on. I thought we’d spend the rest of the afternoon looking at trailers on the internet and then I’ll hit up Max for the big gift at dinner tonight.”

  “Are you sure he’s eating with us?” Max was hit or miss with dinners.

  “I texted him to make sure.”

  “I’m not sure he’ll like that his invitation is part of our manipulation.”

  Kade merely shrugged. “He’ll live.”

  6

  Six

  “Okay, apparently I was wrong.” Kade stretched his arms over his head as he stared at my laptop screen at one of our communal picnic tables while I shucked corn and watched him with curious eyes.

  “Wrong about what?”

  “So many things,” Kade teased, wrinkling his nose. “For one, I feel wrong about pressuring you to tell the doll story. I can tell you’re still agitated by it.”

  “I’m not agitated.” I said the words, but averted my eyes. We’d spent the last two hours looking at trailers online because Kade wanted something to show Max when he arrived for dinner. Because I had a lot of nervous energy, I decided to do something with my hands – hence the corn shucking – while waiting for everyone else to join us for our evening meal. It was only a matter of time before our privacy vanished and we were inundated with curious co-workers.

  “You’re agitated, and I’m sorry.” Kade was sincere. “I’ll make it up to you later. In fact, I’ll make it so you don’t even remember the doll story.”

  “How do you plan to do that?” It wasn’t that I didn’t believe him, I was simply legitimately interested because I was convinced I would dream about that doll again – and there were a few key details I left out of the story because I didn’t want to be laughed at.

  “I have my ways.” Kade wiggled his eyebrows, smiled, and then gestured for me to leave the corn and join him. “We only have a few minutes before the rabid crowd joins us, and I know you don’t want our plan getting out before I talk to Max.”

  Kade seemed completely at ease as he patted the bench, so I joined him, leaning close as he pointed at the screen. “I can’t find any recreational vehicles that have three bedrooms. I honestly thought it had to be a thing, but apparently I was wrong.”

  I knew it was hard for him to admit he was wrong – he was a man, after all – but I decided to let a prime teasing opportunity slide. “I wondered if that was the case. I’ve never seen one like that before. I think three bedrooms would make the trailer too big to haul.”

  “I think you’re right.” Kade wasn’t the type to panic, or give up on an idea, so he pointed toward the screen. “I like this one.”

  The recreational vehicle Kade pointed to was big and luxurious. My eyebrows practically flew off my forehead when I saw it. “The Durango Gold? That’s like a hundred-thousand-dollar RV.”

  “So what?” Kade didn’t appear bothered by the prospect of requesting the vehicle.

  “Do you honestly think Max is going to just go out and buy that for us?”

  “Yup. Don’t worry about that.” He patted my arm. “I want to make sure you like it first. It has some really nice features. Look through the online brochure and tell me what you think … and be honest. If you don’t like it, we’ll find something we both like.”

  I was dumbfounded, but did as he asked, widening my eyes as they darted between fancy cabinets to what looked to be a very nice laminate that mimicked rustic hardwood floors. It was absolutely beautiful. It was also wildly expensive.

  “Kade … .”

  “Don’t look at the price tag,” Kade ordered. “Look at the RV. Can you see us being happy in there?”

  I nodded without hesitation. “The thing is, I can see us being happy no matter what we’re in.”

  Kade’s lips curved. “That was a very good answer. I like this one, though. As for offices, I’ve been giving it some thought. We clearly can’t do that with one trailer, but if we turned one of the trailers we already have into an office, we could share that space.

  “For example, if you’re angry with me and need so
me air you can go to the office trailer,” he continued. “I figured we could share that, too, but make an agreement that if anyone is agitated we’ll cede it to the aggrieved party.”

  “Aggrieved party? Have you been watching Matlock when I wasn’t looking?”

  Kade snickered. “I think it’s a good plan,” he said. “We can store all our office stuff in the second trailer and spread out and make the new trailer homey.”

  It was a good plan. In fact, it was a great plan. Still … . “I don’t think Max will agree to do this.”

  “He will.”

  “He won’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because as much as he loves you – and I do believe he loves you – he can’t buy you this trailer because everyone else will complain,” I pointed out. “I can guarantee Luke will be a whining mess if Max buys this thing for you.”

  “For us,” Kade corrected. “If he buys it, it will be for us. That was the whole point of this little exercise. Remember?”

  I remembered every moment of it. “That RV is beautiful,” I admitted. “I don’t want to get my hopes up for that, though. We can still do the thing with living together in one trailer and turning the other into a mutual office. I think it’s safer to focus on that.”

  “You, my little love bucket, are afraid to dream,” Kade chided. “I’m going to prove to you that dreaming is perfectly fine … and sometimes it even works out.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “Now, go back to cooking. I’ll handle the trailer.”

  I stared at him for a long moment. “You’re going to handle the trailer … just like that?”

  Kade nodded. “I’ve got everything under control. Trust me.”

  I KEPT ONE EYE on Kade later as he schmoozed Max on the far side of the dining area and the other on food preparations as Nixie, Naida and Raven joined me to help with grilling duties.

  “Have you ever noticed that it’s always us cooking dinner while everyone else is lazy and eats the food but doesn’t help prepare it?” Raven complained as she seasoned a steak. “I’m starting to get sick of it.”

  “Meh. I’m fine with it.” Naida shrugged. “You guys wash your hands before handling the food, which means we don’t get salmonella on a weekly basis. What’s not to like about that?” She inclined her chin in Nellie’s direction. The stalwart dwarf leaned back in a lawn chair, his legs spread so the person across from him could get a gander at his goods thanks to the dress. He dug in his nose with his index finger as if he expected to strike gold. “See what I mean?”

  “You have a point,” Raven conceded, making a face. “I stand corrected.”

  I smirked as I wrapped potatoes in foil and handed them to Nixie so she could punch holes in them. “What do you guys think about the groups surrounding us?” I asked. I was doing my best to keep from focusing all my attention on Kade – mostly because I didn’t want to explain why I was more interested in him than dinner preparations. That would open us to a bevy of questions I wasn’t in the mood to answer – and I thought a discussion about the people we would share space with the next few days was in order.

  “I think most of them are harmless,” Raven replied. “I was hanging around the crafts fair. There are a few weirdos, including a total pervert who asked me if I wanted to reenact the scene with the pottery wheel from Ghost.”

  I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing.

  “That’s … I don’t even know what to say.”

  “Yeah, he was fat and sweaty. He seemed to think I’d jump at the chance.”

  “Well, it takes all kinds.” I rolled my neck. “Anyone make it down to the food trucks? We were going to go, but then we got distracted and had to hurry to the store if we expected to get back before dinner.”

  “We did,” Nixie answered. “They have a lot of offerings, and I want to try a few things. We didn’t talk to anyone, but I didn’t get any bad vibes from them. If there are dangerous paranormals running around over there, they hide it well.”

  I told them about the fliers I saw on the bulletin board at the grocery store.

  “Hmm. That can’t be good, right?” Naida wrinkled her forehead.

  “I wouldn’t think so.” Raven looked troubled. “You’re sure they were all young women of a certain age?”

  I nodded. “If I had to guess, I’d say they were all between the ages of sixteen and twenty-one,” I explained. “They didn’t all look alike. They weren’t all blonds or anything like that. They were a mixture of hair colors, heights and the like.”

  “What about body types?” Nixie asked.

  “What do you mean?”

  “Were they all thin and willowy? Were some of them bigger boned? It helps narrow down a type if we know that,” Raven answered for the pixie.

  “Oh.” I searched my memory. “They were all thin. I mean … they weren’t waifs or anything, but they were thin. I guess that’s another clue there, huh?”

  Raven shrugged. “I think it depends on whether or not they were taken for the same reason. Girls that age run away. In fact, that’s the predominant age for runaways.”

  “But all of them in such a small area?”

  “I agree that’s weird.” Raven licked her lips. “You said they’d mostly been going missing for the past six months, right?”

  I nodded.

  “Then maybe we should find out what happened six months ago,” Raven suggested. “That seems to be the obvious next step.”

  I was surprised by her reaction. “Kade said it wasn’t our problem.”

  “He’s right. It’s not.” Raven met my gaze without blinking. “It could become our problem if girls start going missing at this festival. Even though they’ve been disappearing for months, they’re likely to focus on us … or the carnies.”

  “Let’s hope they blame it on the carnies,” Nellie interjected, proving he’d been listening the entire time as he shifted his head to stare at us. “They’re weirder than the clowns, by the way.”

  I wasn’t sure that was possible. “You’ve been hanging around the carnies? Why?”

  Nellie shot me a knowing look. “I love a good freak show.”

  “Ha, ha.” I shifted my shoulders. “Why really?”

  “They brought a lot of beer with them, and it’s not that fancy-schmancy micro-brew stuff that makes me want to check to see if I’ve really become a woman when no one was looking.”

  “Ah, well … .” I ran my tongue over my teeth. “I don’t know what to do. We don’t even know that anything is technically going on here. All we have are a bunch of fliers at the grocery store. We don’t even have a theory.”

  “So we’ll find a theory.” Raven was calm. “All we have to do is keep our eyes and ears open. If something nefarious is happening – and if it’s something we’re meant to fight – we’ll figure that out relatively quickly.”

  “I don’t see what else we can do,” I agreed, shifting my gaze to Kade as he moved in my direction. His body language was hard to read. He didn’t look jubilant, but he didn’t look unhappy either. He didn’t stop until he was by my side. He reached for a potato to wrap rather than volunteer information, so I was genuinely irritated within ten seconds of his return. “Well?”

  Kade slid me a sidelong look. “Well, what?”

  “You know what.”

  “I’m not sure I do.” Kade played coy. “You might need to remind me.”

  I flicked a gaze to Raven and found her watching us with overt curiosity. It didn’t seem like a good idea to interrogate Kade in front of an audience, so even though I was dying to know how Max reacted now wasn’t the time. “I guess we can talk later.” I couldn’t stop myself from being a bit deflated.

  “Geez. You’re no fun at all.” Kade twisted his lips. “He said yes. I told you he would.”

  I stilled, dumbfounded. “I … he said yes?” Even though I was hopeful, I didn’t think that was a real possibility. “Wow!”

  “Wow what?” Raven leaned closer, her gaze keen as she looked between
us. “What did Max say yes about?”

  “We’re moving in together,” Kade answered without hesitation, catching me off guard. “Max is buying us a new trailer and we’re turning one of our other trailers into a shared office space.”

  Raven’s mouth dropped open. “That doesn’t seem fair.”

  “Well, get used to it.” Kade was blasé. “Poet and I are moving in together. It’s official.”

  “You’re what?” I recognized the shriek, and I briefly pressed my eyes shut before turning. When I did, I found Luke’s accusatory eyes burning a hole into me. All I could do was heave a resigned sigh. “Oh, well, this is the end of the world! I can’t believe you did this to me!”

  With those words, Luke turned on his heel and stalked away.

  I pursed my lips as I lifted my chin and focused on Kade. “Could you have found a better way to announce it?”

  Kade cringed. “I maintain this isn’t my fault.”

  “That doesn’t matter now. We’re both going to have to fix it.”

  Kade didn’t look happy with the prospect. “Yeah. I figured that out myself.”

  LUKE POUTED THROUGH DINNER, refusing to as much as glance in my direction. Even though I was excited at the prospect of getting a new trailer for Kade and me to share, my enthusiasm was tempered by Luke’s rather apoplectic reaction.

  Given everything going on around me, I didn’t have time to baby Luke. He would have to come around on his own eventually. Or, and it was far more likely to go down this way, he would wear me down until I exploded and gave him whatever he wanted in an effort to garner forgiveness. I’d have to wait and see which outcome it would be.

  After dinner, everyone congregated around the bonfire. I wasn’t surprised to see Barney back. He was a talkative sort, and from what I could tell he’d never met a story he wasn’t keen to repeat for an audience. Of course, his stories grew bigger and bolder each go around. Thankfully he was a good storyteller, because otherwise he’d be almost unbearable to be around.