Fiona Frost: Order of the Black Moon (42 page)

“
If
the victim
was
already dead, Sydney
, a
ll you can do is place them in the cave after the murder.
If you didn’t see them actually commit the murder, we can’t do much other than call them liars for not admitting to being in the cave
the night of the murder
.
At least at this point.
Now, if there are any pictures of the victim on Victoria’s phone prior to her death in the cave, well, we’ll have the smoking g
un on them,” I said assertively, tapping her on the back.

“One more thing, Fiona.”

“
What’s that?
”

“That crazy lady, whatever her name is, but she’s the one with the yell
ow hair and teeth,”
she
added warily.

“Emily Vance
.
She lives in the cave and in the park
.
What about her?”

“Well, I saw the victim and that bag lady have a fight
.
I wasn’t the only one who saw it
,
either.
At the Stop-Go on Biscane Street, in the parking lot
. They screamed
a
t each other
.”

“Really
?
When was this?”

“It was the morning before the murder, on a Tuesday.
They were fighting and screaming
,
then
that
crazy
lady bit
her
o
n the shoulder
,
and
she
started yelling
.
I didn’t know what to do, but the clerk
broke them up
and made
them leave.”

This
explain
ed
the
bite marks
.
We would have to
interview
the clerk and clear this story soon.
I
had
hoped there was also video surveillance footage
to corroborate Sydney’s story
.

“Sydney, you’ve been a great help.
I will pass this along to
the ones in charge
.
If
they need
to talk to you
further
,
we
’ll be in touch.
We know where you live.
And don’t worry about Dimitri.
He can’t sneak into your room at night without us knowing.
You have an alarm in that big house, right?”

Sydney drew
ultra-silent
, distant,
trying
to hide
from something
on the other side of me.
I turned around to see what
was behind me
.
Victoria and Damien
st
ood
in
the middle
of the road,
eyes on the
grave excavation
with smiles on their faces
.
Possibly, they had caught
the newscast
—we were
close to
Damien’s
residence
in the Lakeside Trailer Park
.
Sydney crouched down
, continuing to speak
in a quiet tone.

“Yes, my parents set it every night
.
They don’t trust me anymore.
They put even more magnets in my windows
,
so I can’t sneak out
.
I don’t want to sneak out, Fiona.
I’m good with staying home and not getting into trouble.
I only went to the cave with them on Friday because I was scared
,
but I’ll take your word he can’t get
to
me in my house.”

“Well, as far as what I’ve seen in vampire movies, they can’t come in unless they’ve been invited,” I
giggled
.

She
smile
d.

“
Thanks, Fiona,
”
she
said in a whisper
as
she frantically peered around my shoulder to view
their
position.

Sydney
took off in a full sprint
down the street
.
As I spun around, V
ictoria and Damien
had turned toward
s
me, watching her run away.

I
rushed back to
the curb
as
a burgundy Acura
pulled in
behind Agent Bronson
.
Lauren, Willow
,
and Maddie piled out and
hurried
over to join us
.
I shook my head
and smiled
at
Willow
,
suited like
a CEO of
a
Forbes-listed corporation.
Her professionalism never ceased to amaze me.

“Good afternoon, Fiona!
”
she
sparked, shooting me a bright smile, pushing up her blazer sleeves to her elbows.

“Hi
,
Fiona, Wolfe, Detective,” Maddie added
.
“Sorry
,
I didn’t return your text, Fiona
.
My mom needed me to translate for her with a vendor
,
and it took hours,” she laughed.

“Gotta love Mrs. Christie.
Didn’t she learn English as an adult, after marrying your dad?
”
Wolfe asked.

“Yes, she grew up in Japan, my father met her over there because he was in the Air Force,”
she
responded, her long black hair glistened in the sunlight like a vivid satin curtain on either side of her face.

“Hey, what’s up, people!
”
Lauren sounded, gathering her bushy locks and twirling them into a thic
k bun on the back of her head
and
repositioning her military-style cap.

“Hey
,
guys
.
I
just spoke to
Sydney
Sergeant
,
so you’ve got excellent timing.
And Maddie, I can imagine the translation session was a chore, but I love your mom to death.”

I
hastily got
everybody up to speed with what Sydney had told me
,
and everybody agreed that Damien Lee was
undoubtedly
in the cave, along with Victoria and Camber.
We reasoned they were lying about
not being there around the time of the murder.
A
t
a minimum, they were guilty of lying and
of exceedingly
poor
judgment
in playing with a dead body
.
The pictures were hearsay, so
we needed to obtain the
picture
s
from Victoria’s cell phone
.
We
also
thought Damien and Victoria should be put back in jail
, without bond
until we could solve the case.
The evidence was mounting against them and their behavior was more than odd.

We ventured
closer to
the
gravesite
just as the excavator located the first sign of the dead body.
We carefully drew in as closely as we were allowed.
I
inclined my head forward and observed the
exposed
section of the carcass.
There was
fur that had
detached and curled
back
, exposing
a piece of
decayed flesh.
It
wasn’t a human
in
the
grave
.
I heard laughter from the middle of the road
coming from
Damien and Victoria.
They
had
turned around a
nd were slowly marching back
towards
Damien’s trailer.

“
I
t’s probably somebody’s dead dog or something.
How did they not know that?
”
Willow pressed with her high-pitched voice.

“Well, no bodies are supposed to be randomly buried in
the
land that belongs to the city like that.
They
searched
for a body to go with th
e
second murder
and
came across this
.
W
hat did you expect them to do, ignore it?
”
I defended.

“Oh, no, not at all
.
It’s just unfortunate,” Willow added, looking over to watch them exhume the animal corpse.

“What’s really unfortunate is I missed my nail appointment to come see them dig up a dead dog, Fiona,” Lauren sc
offed, barely giving me a smirk, flashing me her
chipped
fingernails as if I would feel sorry for her.

I looked d
own at my own nails with
chipped blue nail polish.
I
wasn’t
sorry for
her
in the least.

“I suppose we’re caught up to speed, when are
we
meeting as a club next?
We really have
to piece this together before spring break because my parents have rented a
huge
bungalow
in Hawaii for the week.
No way I’m missing that
,
but I
want to be there when this suspect is arrested!
I missed it last time!
”
Willow
sighed, shaking her head.

“Go
Doc
!
Let’s
have you
cuff
’em,” Lauren laughed, mimicking bei
ng in invisible handcuff
s
.

“Right, little Willow would be the last one I’d assign to handcuff a suspect!
”
Maddie scoffed, her lips curling up at the corners.

“Let’s go, Lauren.
Maddie, would you like a
ride home or do you want to stay here at the pet cemetery
?
”
Willow ch
irped
, sauntering t
owards Lauren’s car.

“I’ll stay here.
You guys have fun.
See ya
soon!
”

W
e waved goodbye
to the inseparable duo.

“
Yeah,
we’ll have a meeting tomorrow afternoon or Monday,” I shouted
.

We took our seats
back on the curb.

“When are we going to get a break?
This all seems so scattered!”
Maddie
grudgingly
added
, peering
over her shoulder at the
gravesite.

“Never,” Wolfe muttered, standing in front of us, facing the investigators.

“Well, I will tell you what is not scattered, Fiona,” Maddie said
, her voice growing softer every word.

Suddenly, Wolfe gained interest in what
she
was saying and leaned down to hear our conversation.

“
Let’s hear it,
”
I said.

“Carden came to my game last night
.
We won, obviously, and I scored a goal.
Woot woot,”
she
cheered.

Wolfe shook his head and straightened upward, leaning to
wards
the right to
watch the
investigators.

“You go, girl,” I chuckled, giving her a high
-
five.

“And afterward, not sure if you saw his ride in front of my house, but he came over and we watched
The Golden Child
, it’s an old movie from the ‘80s.”

“You serious?
Well, don’t let Detective Chase hear that,” I whispered
, seeming a little mollified
.
“He’s playing prison warden with Wolfe and me
for no reason
.
We’re
perfectly
professional and h
e keeps giving me a mean mug
,” I said in a muffled voice as to get out of earshot of Wolfe.