Fiona Frost: Order of the Black Moon (13 page)

Sydney Sergeant stated she walked in on Damien holding the sword, and the investigators found Damien’s bloody print on the
handle
.
But the unknown fingerprint would certainly be used by the defense
,
so Detective Chase needed to collect and analyze all points of the case before making any determination about
who was guilty
.
Th
e fact that Damien
,
Victoria
and Camber
outright denied
their presence in the cave the night of the murder was complicating things, even with the growing evidence that pointed otherwise.

After the meeting adjourned,
Agent Bronson escorted me
home where I spent the rest of the day attempting to analyze the data we collected and ran experiments on in the lab on Friday night.
I tried to keep my mind off
my stressors
.

To no avail,
I begged and pleaded
with Agent Bronson
,
as well as
my father
,
to take me to the hospital to visit Janice
, but
she wasn’t allowed visitors
,
and
with Gerald Smith still on the loose,
I wasn’t
permitted
to leave the house
until Monday to go to school.

I called the hospital
and asked for Janice’s room
, but the attending nurse told me she was unable to come to the
phone,
s
he was asleep.
My mother
said
she had been diagnosed with bacterial meningitis.
I looked it up
.
Of course, the description deemed it a medical emergency, giving details of how the layers surrounding her brain and spinal cord were infected with bacteria.
The mortality rates were variable, depending upon the
strain
of bacteria that
infected her
.
I
a
ssumed she’d be undergoing some painful tests
I read about
,
and my
heart ached for
her
.

Luminal
was still being detained at the vet’s office for observation
. I
missed my furry best friend
.
I spent Sunday in my room, lights off, watching scary movies
and avoiding Haley like the bubonic plague
.
I would
have
snap
ped
if
she
had
antagonized me
in
such a fragile state.

Fighting
urges to call Wolfe
to
reveal
how I felt about him
;
I
shuddered at the replays in my head of how hurt I was when he defended
Camber.
Realizing I would
sound jealous,
maybe even
psychotic
—
I figured the best course of action would be to allow things to play out organically.
If he
chose to
speak to me, he would
call
.
Monday morning could not come soon enough.

The
morning
sunbeams rushed in and I scampered around to get ready, rushing o
ff to school an hour early,
my
handsome
black suit
following closely behind.
As I pulled into the parking lot, I was shocked to find multiple police cars parked with their red
-
and
-
blue lights flashing.
After slamming the car into park,
I jumped out
of my car and rushed over to
the agent’s
Lincoln
—he was v
iewing a report on his iPad.
He unlocked his doors and pointed to
the
passenger’s seat.
I scrambled inside, shutting the car door, amazed by the cleanliness of his car.

“Do you think it’s Gerald Smith?
”
I said frantically.

“No, Fiona
.
I’d have heard something
if it were
.
They are following a few leads on Gerald, but cannot seem to locate him as of yet.
Let me find out what is going on
, sit tight.”

I had never seen a car as
spotless
as
Agent Bronson’s
.
The
dashboard was oiled, the fragrance in the car was more than
sensational
—
a
spicy
, clean pine aroma.
His floor mats were
unsoiled,
meticulously vacuumed with stripes
—
not a
speck
of dust.
A
supremely
soft classical mel
ody played from his car stereo.

He
i
mmediately got on
the phone
to find out what had happened at school.
Moments later,
a girl with
platinum curly
locks was
escorted
outside
by officers. She was handcuffed and
placed
into
the
back of one of the police cars
.
Haley
.
Agent Bronson hung up from his phone call and looked at me with a serious face.

“Fiona,
appears as though a young lady named—”

“Haley Frost
.
I see her
—she’
s my cousin.”

“Well, I don’t know how to tell you this, but it appears as though she broke into your laboratory.”

I
was living
one of the worst days of my life.
My mind
spun in
circles,
searching for an exit to
this nightmare.
I reluctantly
ambled over to the
crowd of police officers, Principal Dinges, and students who were
watching the scene.

T
he
superintende
nt of the school district
, a middle-aged mousy-haired man with a huge belly,
decided
after a quick deliberation
to shut down my
program
until further notice
. He held
his pudgy hand out for my
keys, telling
me
they would have to
file a report of the
incident
to my
granting agency, the
International Science Foundation
.
A
wave of nausea
hit me like lightning
as he went on
that I was not to undergo any further
involvement
with my lab
or the police department
until I heard
differently, as he was deeply
concerned
about
the security of my lab having actual case evidence
and with
Haley being related to
me
—he
felt it was best to
ter
minate the program
until he could investigate thoroughly.

Forensic science was my life
.
I had poured
my soul into the grant
and the development of my training program
.
M
y juvenile delinquent cousin
—
who was supposed to have been away in New Zealand
—
had
jeopardized
everything.

I couldn’t help but mope during
my
morning classes
. I pitied
myself
as I
trudged off to
c
alculus
with a grim expression
taking over my
face.
I met
another blow as
Wolfe, who had always sat
across the aisle from
me, had moved
seats to the
front of the class
.
I couldn’t help but take this personal.
When the bell rang to end class
,
he didn’t wait for me in the hallway. A few steps down the corridor
,
I spotted him
standing
next to
Camber Johnson
.
I
wanted to break down
,
cry,
and give
up on my sanity.

The custodian passed with a lock fixture in his hand,
tool kit
in the other
.
I sulked past my laboratory door;
a
shiny new lock was already installed on the door, the lights
were
off inside.
I wondered why
the
superintendent
wanted my keys if they were to change
the
lock
.
Was
he
a
fraid I would rush to my lab in that
short
of time?
To do what?
Was I being looked at as a criminal because Haley was my cousin
?
It was my lab
so why was I not trusted
?
Changing the lock seemed overly cautious—a dramatic kneejerk
reaction.

As I opened my
locker
,
I heard
a group of girls gossiping
about how Camber
had
a
big crush on Wolfe.
I pretended not to hear them as I pulled my
backpack out, throwing my math book onto the shelf.
One good thing came of it—at least they weren’t talking about me this time.

My face was in a fierce pout
as I
staggered
to the cafeteria
to meet with
Maddie
.
I couldn’t help
it. I decided to blab everything.
S
he was my best friend
and likely knew it all
, nonetheless
.
We walked over to the cafeteria line, remaining a few steps back out of earshot from the people in front of us.

“I’ve already heard, Fiona, everyone’s talking about it.
If I see Haley anytime soon, I can’t guarantee
I’ll
be able to hold back,”
she
sneered.

My face hardened as I hesitated for a short second.

“Yea
h
, we can’t go anywhere near the lab until they hear back from the grant administrators.
They said we have sensitive data in there
.
They
thought the lab was
secure, but since Haley showed
it wasn’t, we have to pay the price now.”

Intense curiosity invaded
her
eyes.

“How
’d
she break in, Fiona?”

I shrugged, sulking
as
I p
ut a carton of milk on my tray.

“I can only guess she stole my spare key from my writing desk
,” my voice cracked.
I swallowed and continued, “
Actually, there is no way to break in, I don’t think.
They called it a break in because she wasn’t authorized to be in there
,
and she w
as stealing a bag full of stuff.”

Her
eyes narrowed, anger fuming onto her face.
We moved a few steps
towards the
buffet line.

“What
!
What was she trying to steal?”

I waved my hands in the air and shook my head in disgust.
I paused as the girl in front of us nonchalantly turned to
gaze
at us, attempt
ing
to eavesdrop.

“She had
Petri
di
shes, agar, gloves, and ethanol,
”
I said
quietly
as I fought a surge of tears,
the taste of
panic in the back of my throat.

“What
?
That doesn’t make sense.
She was doing a microbial study or what
?
”
she
shrieked, pulling a cafeteria tray out of the stack and handing it to me.

I signaled for her to lower her voice, nodding towards the girl in front of us who wanted in on our conversation.

“No idea.
Nothing
she
does
shocks
me, Maddie.
Hate is a strong word, but i
t’s simply not strong enough to describe my feelings towards her.”

Switching from the norm of
pizza and fries
, I opted
for a quick pita sandwich.
I had
n’t
actually
gained my appetite back
since my world
had
collapsed;
food
still tasted
bland to me
for the most part
.
We
grabbed our
usual
seats in the cafeteria
,
and I couldn’t help but
unload my problems.

“Janice
was admitted to the hospital with
bacterial meningitis
.
People actually
die
from that.
My parents won’t allow me to visit because it’s contagious
.
”
I choked out the words as the world around me
blurred like a bad connection
.

Her
eyes
were
filled with
sympathy.
She appeared to contemplate her words carefully as she paused, tilting her head to the side
.

“I
’m
so sorry, but I do have faith she
will pull out of it in no time
.
”

I fought a swell of tears
, compressing my temples to push the
despair
out of my head,
before I continued, “And Luminal is still at the vet.
They said he
has a tumor in his salivary gland
,
and
it is growing so large, it’s
bursting
the
skin open in his neck.
I never imagined that tumors could grow so fas
t
.
”

“
Oh my gosh, how horrible.
W
hen is the last time you felt along his neck?
I mean, how fast can this stuff grow?
”

“
To be honest,
I usually pet his ears
, back and belly.
They might have been growing a while
, his fur is pretty thick there, I wouldn’t have noticed.
But the vet is removing them today
,
and there’s a chance that he won’t make it out of the surgery because the blood vessels are so intertwined with the tumor,” I said glumly as a lone tear streamed down my face.

Maddie’s forehead creased with worry, her eyes saddened as she reluctantly nibbled on her French fry.

“Oh, Fiona
.
I’m so sorry.
All of this isn’t fair, is
it?
You are too good of a person
to have to go through all of
this.”

I sighed deeply, drop
ping my head towards the table.
Principal Dinges startled me as he shouted on his bullhorn at some boys that were break dancing in the middle of the cafeteria
. He demanded
they immediately take their seats at the table.

“
And I see you’re still being followed around by that agent dude
—saw him parked in front of your house when I left for soccer practice this morning
.
No word on Gerald Smith, huh?”

“Of course not.
When bad luck
rains, it becomes a torrential storm.
I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before
Gerald Smith
shows up
at my dad’s office to get him,” I sparked sarcastically, picking up my pita and inspecting it
, searching
my mind
for a glint of appetite
.
Nothing. It looked like cardboard to me.

I
raised my chin towards
the ceiling to draw my tears back into the tear ducts.
My heart palpitated as I drew in long breaths
, and she
rubbed my hand to comfort me.

I couldn’t stand it any longer.
I threw my pita back down on my tray
, deciding to
just
go for it
.

“And I don’t know what is up with Wolfe
.
Why is he acting so weird towards me
?
”

I couldn’t bring myself to say
the words.
I wanted to tell
her
how I felt about him
,
and what he had said to me in the cave,
but the words wouldn’t form.
She
inclined her head towards me, her eyes
studying me
, questioning me with
f
urrowed brows.

“What do you mean, Fiona?
How is he acting strange
ly
?
Because he missed the lab meeting and
the
meeting at Chuck’s Diner?
I heard he had family commitments or something.”

“Well,
I guess that’s not strange then,
”
I mumbled
.

I
couldn’t tear my gaze away from the
cafeteria window
, looking at a
squirrel
in the tree
, realizing that spring was around the corner
.
I contemplated
the
possible
reasons why Wolfe would have moved
to the front of the classroom
without explanation
.
It had to be for a calculated reason, and that reason was to get away from me.