“Please, sit down.” Kade is gallant under every circumstance. He’s very rarely rude or crass (unless Luke eggs him on and they’ve been drinking). I often wonder if that’s a product of being raised by a single mother. It’s a nice trait, whatever the cause.
“Here’s some coffee,” Luke offered, sliding a mug in front of Pamela. His face was lined with concern as he exchanged a quick glance with me.
We were all thinking the same thing: Would we be blamed for the missing girl? It was a callous first conclusion, but we’d been blamed for crimes more times than I could count. Still, there was something about Pamela’s demeanor that shook me to my very core.
“I’m sorry for troubling you.” Pamela twisted her fingers as she tried to get comfortable at the table. She introduced herself on a shaky breath. I already knew who she was, but the others didn’t. It was good to have a bit of normality, even if it were sandwiched between bouts of panic.
Naida appeared out of nowhere, her eyes on Pamela as she took the spatula from me. As a pixie, Naida was in tune with people’s emotions. Whatever she sensed when walking the row of trailers, she instinctively understood that Pamela wasn’t to be trifled with.
“I’ll finish breakfast.” Naida’s voice was low. “Nixie is walking the boardwalk to make sure there are no surprises. Once that’s done, we should probably talk about this.”
Naida was rarely serious. In fact, when she was close to water she was generally in a good mood and downright giddy for days. Still, her agitation was evident now, and that made me edgier.
“Why is Nixie walking the boardwalk?” I asked.
“In case there’s a body to be discovered.” Naida was matter-of-fact. “We don’t want a mother to discover it, do we?”
That was undoubtedly true. “Good thinking.” I wiped my hands on a towel before moving to the picnic table. What Naida left unsaid while we talked near the grill was that the best way to figure out what happened to Pamela’s daughter was for me to read her. Yeah, that whole “circus fortune teller” shtick I run on show days isn’t merely an act. I can read people … and it isn’t always a welcome gift.
Kade spared me a glance as I sat on the bench next to him. Most of his attention went to Pamela, but he managed a tight-lipped smile for my benefit. I had no idea what he was thinking.
“Tell us what happened, Ms. Dobbins,” Kade prodded. “We can’t help if we don’t know what we’re supposed to be looking for.”
“It’s my daughter, Katie,” Pamela said. “She was down here hanging out with her friends last night and … well … she didn’t come home.”
“How old is she?” I asked.
“Seventeen. She’s a good girl. She never misses curfew, and she’s always on time. I didn’t wait up for her last night. She’s older now, so I don’t do that like I used to. I thought for sure she was home, but when I went to check her room … .” Pamela broke off, chewing on her bottom lip.
“She wasn’t there,” I finished, cocking my head to the side. “Did you call her friends?”
“Not yet. It’s early. I didn’t want to wake the other parents. I thought I was probably overreacting, so I decided to come down here and check. But she’s not here.”
Pamela looked lost … and my heart went out to her. “Well, we’ll help you look.” I reached across the table and grabbed her hand. To an outside observer, it would look as if I were comforting a woman upset about her missing daughter. Those in the know would realize I was reading her.
I narrowed my eyes as I tried to absorb the series of images zooming through my head. They were scattered and non-linear, but I saw enough to cause my blood to run cold as I stood on shaky feet. “My friends here will help you contact Katie’s friends. You need to do that right away … and then we’ll contact the police.”
I sounded wooden, robotic even. That was all the energy I could muster.
“Where are you going?” Kade asked, pinning me with a worried look.
“To wake some of our co-workers. We need to search the area.”
“Uh-huh.” Kade didn’t look convinced, but he offered a solid smile for Pamela. “Luke will be right here while you make calls. I’ll only be gone a minute. Then we’ll continue looking.”
Kade followed me out of earshot as I headed toward the far end of trailer row. That’s where Melissa – who had some of the same abilities I did, although not quite as honed – put her head on a pillow every night. I needed reinforcements for what I had planned, and Melissa and Raven were my first choices.
“What aren’t you saying?” Kade challenged, grabbing my arm and spinning me so I faced him before I could put too much distance between us.
“What do you mean?”
“You know exactly what I mean.” Kade clearly wasn’t happy with my diversionary tactic. “You saw something when you touched her hand. What was it?”
Now that right there was a loaded question. “I saw several things.”
“Is her daughter dead?”
I opened my mouth to answer but ultimately shook my head, holding my hands palms up as I shrugged. “I’m not sure. What I saw didn’t answer that question.”
“So why didn’t you go deeper?” Kade asked. “I know you can do that if you put a little effort into it.”
Admitting that I was afraid to go deeper because the vision flashes were altogether terrifying wasn’t going to help my street cred, but lying wasn’t an option. “I saw … a dark room … and blood … and I heard crying … and screaming … and laughing.”
Kade arched an eyebrow. “Laughing?”
I nodded as I licked my lips. “I heard laughing like the laughing I heard in my dream.”
Kade was understandably confused. “So … what? Do you think it’s dolls or something?”
That was too simplistic. “I think whatever we’re dealing with is evil. I don’t know what else to tell you.”
“So where are you going?”
“To get Melissa and Raven. I’ll need help if we’re going to magically search the area for Katie.”
“Do you think she’s dead?”
There was that question again. “I don’t know. I don’t think she’s safe. I don’t think Pamela will find her with a friend. I don’t think a sheepish apology for forgetting to come home – or at least call – will fix this.”
“What do you think will fix this?”
“Maybe nothing. I know it’ll take more than me to get answers. You need to let me do this. I need a power boost to figure things out.”
Kade released my arm and nodded. “Okay. If you need me, you know where to find me.”
I gave him a quick kiss. “Take care of Pamela. I think things are going to get worse for her before they get better … if they ever get better.”
I RAPPED ON MELISSA’S trailer door before turning the handle and pushing inside. It didn’t occur to me that I should wait for Melissa to invite me in – that’s not really how we do things at Mystic Caravan, after all – but one look at Melissa told me I should’ve rethought my decision.
The girl – it was hard to think of her as anything but a girl even though she was technically an adult – sat on the couch, head in her hands. The look she shot me was pure venom as I pulled up short.
“Do you knock?” Melissa rasped.
“I did knock.” That was true. I simply didn’t wait for an answer. “Are you sick?” I took a concerned step forward until the expression on Melissa’s face told me it would be a mistake to crowd her.
“I’m not sick,” Melissa gritted out. “I’m … having a hard time waking up this morning.”
I took a moment to give her a longer look – taking in her disheveled hair, ashen features, the same clothes she wore the night before and a distinctive odor emanating from the couch – and pursed my lips as I debated how to handle the situation.
“You’re hungover,” I said after a beat.
“So?” Melissa’s frustration was evident. “Why does that matter?”
“You’
re not old enough to drink.” The answer was out of my mouth before I thought better about uttering it. I wasn’t Melissa’s mother. And, as for underage drinking, I’d done my fair share of it. I wouldn’t have reacted well to anyone bringing that up to me – I was taking care of myself, after all – and I expected Melissa to balk. I wasn’t disappointed.
“Like that’s important.” Melissa rolled her eyes. “I met some of Paige’s friends down by the waterfront last night. They had a keg. It’s not a big deal.”
One look at Melissa’s wan features told me it most definitely was a big deal. “Well, we have a situation. You should probably get some coffee in you and then meet me by the kitchen area so we can come up with a plan of action.”
Melissa knit her eyebrows. “What kind of situation?”
“A missing girl. Her mother stopped to ask if we’d seen her. We think there’s a very real possibility she was either taken or found trouble on her own.”
“So what?” Melissa made an annoyed face. “People go missing all of the time.”
Her vitriol caught me off guard. “That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t look … or try to help.”
“And what if we can’t help?”
I shrugged. “We can only do what we can do. Right now that means helping Pamela Dobbins.”
“Well, I didn’t sign up for the circus so I could help the PTA keep tabs on their kids,” Melissa drawled, leaning back so her head rested against the couch as she rubbed her forehead. “I think I’ll pass.”
I was floored. “You’ll pass?”
Melissa nodded. “I’m not really into looking for a kid who probably took off for a day or two to have a good time.”
“And what if she didn’t take off voluntarily?”
Melissa shrugged. “Bummer for her, I guess.”
“Yeah, bummer.” My anger flared, but I kept it to myself. Melissa’s attitude needed an adjustment, but I didn’t have time for it. “I have to get Raven.”
“Yeah, you should probably do that.” Melissa refused to look at me. “Close the door on your way out. Oh, and next time, wait until I invite you in, please. I’m entitled to a little privacy.”
I stared at her for a long moment. “Right. I’ll try to remember that.”
I WAS FUMING WHEN I descended the steps and hit the pathway in front of Melissa’s trailer, scuffing my feet against the packed earth as I tried to rein in my annoyance.
I remembered well what it was like to be Melissa’s age. I was a teenager when Max plucked me from the streets of Detroit – after I attempted to pick his pocket and read his mind, of course – and I remembered having attitude to spare. I also remembered being grateful for what he did for me and showing him a modicum of respect.
I stepped in to help Melissa because she was a gifted girl languishing away in middle America. She had no one who really cared and no prospects. I wanted to help her.
Given the attitude I just bore witness to, I couldn’t help but wonder why I did that in the first place. She clearly wasn’t thankful for the chance I’d given her … and I kind of wanted to smack her around a bit for the attitude.
I was about to settle into a self-righteous internal monologue when something at the back of trailer row caught my attention. I slipped between Melissa and Luke’s trailers so I could get a better look, dropping to my knees and peering close at the footprints.
I’d almost missed them. I was so caught up in Melissa angst I almost didn’t see the prints. I wasn’t a tracker by any stretch of the imagination, but the indentations clearly belonged to heeled shoes. In fact, if I had to guess, I believed they signified a chunky heel and flat sole. Most men didn’t wear shoes like that, so it had to be a woman.
“Hmm.”
I studied the shoeprints a bit longer, shifting my neck and scanning the trail. It followed a parallel track, as if someone had been walking behind the trailers the previous evening. The tracks didn’t go all the way up to the trailers, stopping a good ten feet short. In fact … . I cocked my head to the side and pictured the dreamcatcher lines in my head, my stomach twisting when I realized my initial reaction was right.
The footprints indicated a straight path behind the trailers, but whoever it was never crossed the dreamcatcher line. That couldn’t be a coincidence, right?
That was the only thought plaguing me when I straightened and returned to my trek. I figured I would have Raven look at the tracks before we started looking for Katie Dobbins. The odds of the tracks and the missing girl being tied together were slim, but I couldn’t completely rule it out.
I climbed the steps to Raven’s trailer and knocked with brisk efficiency. I hadn’t spent much time with Raven in her trailer – that was a personal choice, for the record – but I knew Kade had wasted an hour or two (or ten) inside when we were trying to figure things out. The thought still stuck in my craw.
I heard a muffled sound from inside and assumed it was Raven inviting me in. I pushed open the door, a friendly smile on my face, and pulled up short when I realized that whatever Raven said wasn’t an invitation to enter. In fact, it very well may have been an admonishment to leave.
“What are you doing?” Raven screeched, crossing her arms over her chest to cover her nudity.
“Um … .” My mind went blank.
“Poet!” Raven was furious. I couldn’t blame her. Yet I couldn’t make myself look away from the scene in front of me.
Percival Prentiss, Raven’s new boyfriend and our one and only fake-accent clown, stood dressed in an odd sort of outfit. It was almost impossible to describe – there was a colorful ruffle, a big red nose, oversized shoes … his fish belly-white ass cheeks protruding from leather chaps that reminded me of a western gone wrong – and my mind had trouble processing what I was seeing.
“Poet! Get out of here,” Raven barked.
That’s exactly what I wanted to do, but I couldn’t find my voice … or the ability to control my muscles. Instead, as if trapped in a hazy dream, I slowly turned to the door at the sound of footsteps. Nellie, his favorite ax in his hand, poked his head through the door, glancing from face to face.
“What needs killing?”
I didn’t know how to respond, so I merely pointed at Percival’s chaps. “I can see his butt.”
“I can see it, too.” Nellie smirked at my reaction, cocking an eyebrow when Raven scorched him with a “you’re going to die” look. “This looks like a fun trailer. What are we doing this morning, kids?”
“You’re getting out,” Raven shot back. “This is a private moment.”
“Then why did you invite Poet?” Nellie asked pragmatically.
“I didn’t invite her. She let herself in.”
“I thought she invited me in.” I felt mildly sick to my stomach … and completely disconnected from my body. “I think I need to sit down.”
“Not in here,” Raven snapped. “You need to take your ridiculously judgmental behind out of here. I’m not joking. I don’t have to put up with this.”
“Of course not.” I licked my lips. “This is just not my morning.”
As if on cue, Kade appeared in the open doorway and poked his head inside. “I heard someone scream. Is everything okay?”
“Son of a … !” Raven narrowed her eyes until they were nothing more than glittering slits. “I’ll make you pay for this.”
I had no doubt that was true.
9
Nine
“I’m going to kill you if you don’t get out of here, Nellie!”
Kade and I stood in front of Raven’s trailer, listening to her shrieking at Nellie – who refused to leave – and steadfastly avoiding making eye contact.
“So, that was … interesting,” Kade said after a few moments of silence.
“It was,” I agreed. “It was so interesting I was rendered deaf and dumb for a bit.”
“Well, I don’t blame you.” Kade scratched the back of his neck. “I didn’t even know they made chaps with clowns in mind. What do you think tho
se hanging pompoms were supposed to signify?”
“I don’t want to know.”
“Yeah, me either.” Kade scuffed the toe of his boot against the dirt. “You didn’t see them like … doing it … did you?”
I scowled as I forced my eyes to his. “No. They were playing some sort of game.”
“And the clown outfit was part of the game?”
“How am I supposed to know?” I barked. “You’re going to give me nightmares if you don’t stop.”
Kade held up his hands in mock surrender. “Sorry. The last thing I want to do is give you nightmares.”
I knew that was true, and yet … . “Why do you think she was holding the riding crop?”
“I’m trying to forget that part myself.” Kade took me by surprise when he pulled me close and gave me a hug. “That kind of puts the doll nightmare you had last night in perspective, huh? Things could be so much worse.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure how much worse they could be.” I rested my cheek against his chest. “I need to flush out my eyes with acid or something. Maybe that will erase what I saw.”
“It’s something to consider.” Kade swayed, shifting his movement only when Nellie trudged down the metal steps. “I’m glad to see you’re still alive. I thought there was a real possibility she’d kill you if you didn’t leave within the next ten seconds.”
Nellie let loose a derisive snort. “I’m not afraid of her. She’s all talk.”
I knew that wasn’t true. “Did you ask her what the riding crop was for?”
Nellie nodded. “She likes to ride her clowns hard and put them away … um … wet.”
That was way too much information. “Okay, well … I need to focus on something other than what I just saw. Apparently I’m meant to work alone this morning because I’m zero for two in my recruitment efforts.”
[Mystic Caravan Mystery 05.0] Freaky Places Page 8
