Fiona Frost: Order of the Black Moon (54 page)

Within a few minutes, the uniformed officers rushed into
Dracul’s Den
.
We exited the cave with Madd
ie,
who was visibly
shaken from the ordeal.
As we reached the
main area with the waterfall
,
the inseparable duo
rushed
down the corridor
. They had a team of
paramedics behind them.

“We got your text, Fiona!
Maddie, are you
alright
?
”
Willow screamed,
immediately
rushing to check
her wound
.
“Oh my gosh, your neck!
You need
medical
assistance
!
”
she
screamed
.

“I am so glad they found you, Maddie
.
I thought you went out with Carden last night
,
but then
,
when they said at school you didn’t
and
were missing, I was so freaking worried!
”
Lauren shouted
, putting her arm around
her
as
we
walked down the corridor
.
“
So,
Melanie Newsted kidnapped you?
From the mall?”

She
nodded, walking
briskly
towards the
mouth of the cave.

“
Yeah, she
got behind me
in the mall parking lot as I exited my car
and put a
chloroform napkin
against my
face
.
I
fought her but
inhaled it
,
and
then woke up
later
at her house
in this
disgusting
little
room with
scary dragon stuff, duct tape over
my mouth
and around my
hands and feet.
It was a nightmare!
”
she
shrieked, trembling.

“Fiona
’s
the
hero this time, huh
?
”
Wolfe said as he walked out of the shadows of the corridor holding his longboard.
“Came right over when I got your text
,
”
he said
,
matching my steps
as we exited the cave.

“Can you believe that it was Victoria’s mom?
She murdered Jody James out of revenge
.
A long time ago,
Jody
called Child Protective
Services
on Melanie, even though
she
was the one abusing Victoria
because she was Victoria’s babysitter and obviously has anger issues
.
Jody
caused
Victoria
to be taken out of Melanie’s home when she was five
-
years
-
old
—
can you imagine that?
Destroyed Melanie
,
”
I reported, allowing my eyes to adjust to the sunlight.

“
But t
hat lady
must hold some
major grudge
s
,
how long ago was that?
”
Willow said bluntly
, examining Maddie’s body for
further
injuries, stopping to survey the reddish areas on her arms from the duct tape removal.

“Well, from what I
can recall
, Victoria’s been back at home since she was
eight
.
Obviously, Melanie never got over it
—especially since Melanie and Victoria failed to repair their relationship.
”

Detective Chase walked
towards our
group, his eyes glued on his cell phone screen.

“
We just found out Melanie
was up for a promotion at
the prison
.
Before all promotions,
they do a
routine criminal background check
.
Well,
for the first time, the warden noticed her
previous
child abuse
charges
;
due to a human resources slip up,
they’d
been overlooked when she
was hired.
A
hearing
was
scheduled
for next week
to see if
Melanie
could
even
keep her job
,
and
as Dimitri said,
the promotion
was
out of the question.
Even though she was never convicted of the charges due to a lack of evidence, the case was so mangled
and
handled improperly
—
it show
ed
up
as a
criminal
record
.
Kind of sad that she couldn’t afford an attorney
back then to straighten the mess out.
I can see why she
may have been
bitter, but
murder
wasn’t
the ans
wer,”
h
e reported.

“That story is all so crazy.
I feel sorry for her to have dealt with that, but two wrongs don’t make a right,” Lauren added.

“Maddie, you told your mother that you were spending the night with me last night.
Maybe next time, my best friend, let me know that you’re doing that!
”
I said
jokingly, tapping her on the back
.

She gazed at me with loving eyes, a grin spreading across her face.
F
razzled
, she looked
as if
she had spent five days
on a deserted island.

“
It was so dumb
,
a last minute thought
.
I wasn’t g
oing to spend the night
out
, I
planned
to go home
,
but I just didn’t want her asking a bunch of questions.
You know my
mother
;
she
’d
have acted crazy if I told her the truth. She probably would have given me a curfew of 9
o’clock!
I shouldn’t have lied to my parents
;
now I see how that got me into more trouble because nobody realized I
was missing
!”

“You’ve got a lot of explaining to do when you get home,” I said
, a
rant
blasted
from the parking area.
It wasn’t in English. It was
Japanese
.
“Or maybe you don’t ha
ve to wait that long, actually,” I
bemoaned, pointing towards Mrs. Christie who was
marching in our direction
.
Mr. Christie
trail
ed
a few steps
behind
, and
Maddie’s
younger brother, Doug
,
struggl
ed
to keep up.

Maddie rushed over to hug her parents
and was q
uickly escorted
to the ambulance.
We watched in anticipation as the paramedics
examined
her
and after a few
minutes,
sh
e
was released and
waved goodbye
at us
before
setting off to the parking area and
climbing into her parent’s car.

Out of the mouth of the cave,
paramedics
push
ed
Melanie on a
gurney
, uniformed officers
escorting her on either side
.
She
groaned
as they
lifted her into
the
back of the
ambulance.

“She won’t be getting out of
prison for a long time,” I said with an icy tone.

“
S
he better hope she likes orange jumpsuit
s and nasty food,” La
uren added, shrugging a shoulder, glaring in
Melanie
’s direction
.

“Well, Fiona.
Doc
and I are going to jet.
We’ve got dates next Friday with some Hartford boys
and
gotta get som
ething cool to wear, you know!”

I laughed.
This news didn’t surprise me in the least.
She
was
terribly
boy-driven
,
and Willow
always went along with what she wanted to do.

“
Well, be careful in the mall parking lot, I hear it’s dangerous. But
let’s talk to
the detective
before you take off
!
We solved another case, guys! Let’s hope we get a break for a bit!
”

“Uh, no doubt.
I’m a high school senior, I’ve got to act like one on occasion, you know!
”
Lauren said in
a
raspy voice.

“I wouldn’t mind a slight break, Fiona
.
I have some major spring break plans
in March
,
so solving this case
is stellar
,” Willow said, smiling as she
searched
for Detective Chase.

Wolfe turned to me and inclined his head with a crooked smile.
I couldn’t he
lp but return with a
grin
so deep-seated, it lit up my face from within.

“Fiona, mind if I come over later
?
”
he
inquired, his smile
intensifying
.
“I have something for you.”

I
stared at him with probing eyes, finding
it odd that
he would
have something for me.
Curiosity
took hold.

“Sure,
let’s
finish up
here
.
There’s probably no sense in going back to school for 45 minutes,
huh?”

“No, I’m done for the day.
My l
ast period is physical education
,
and I certainly don’t like playing kickball in the gym,”
Willow laughed, pushing up her blazer sleeves.

“I have computer science
; I’m smarter than my teacher,
so I’m out too,” Lauren added.

“
Alright
,
let’s
head
over to
Detective Chase
and see what he
has to
say,” I said, leading the group
.

We ventured
to the parking area where
news reporters were interviewing
the detective
.
I always forgot that aspect of the job
and
realized I would have to get used to the cameras
one day
.
Once he was finished, he sprinted over to our group.

“Job well done, guys.
I appreciate your help tremendously.
We’re headed over to Melanie’s house to collect essentially everything she owns so we can place her with trace evidence
.
The more evidence, the merrier.
We don’t want her walking on a technicality
.
However,
Maddie’s kidnapping is an open
-
shut case
,
and that’s enough to put her away for
a long time.
”

“No doubt.
And I’m a witness for sure.
S
he is a psychopath
!”

“Are you certain that the teen cult didn’t have any involvement?
I mean, is it possible that they did it with her?
”
Lauren inquired.