Mortal Kiss (11 page)

The cop car followed Finn’s bike all the way to McCarron’s Bookstore.

The two girls kept on shopping, but Faye’s heart wasn’t in it. She shivered every time she thought of that woman reflected in the mirror. What was happening to her? First the terrifying chase through the woods, and now
this
? Faye wished her dad were around. Just talking to him would make her feel better, but there still had been no word from him. Even Aunt Pam was beginning to worry and had said she’d try to track him down.

“Faye? Are you all right?” Liz asked. “You’ve gotten very quiet.”

Faye forced a weak smile and shrugged. “I’m fine. Sorry, I’m probably just still tired from last night.”

Liz immediately looked guilt-stricken. “Are you still mad at me?” she asked. “I’m so sorry for making you walk home, Faye. I still can’t believe I did that.”

“No—no, it wasn’t … You didn’t …” Faye stopped. She didn’t want to tell Liz that in the end she hadn’t walked home, because that would mean explaining why. And Faye wasn’t sure she wanted to tell Liz about the chase through the woods. That would make it all the more real, somehow … and she would prefer to think of it all as a bad dream. All except Finn’s rescue and that trip home on his bike. Her stomach still did backflips every time she thought of him touching her face. She cleared her throat. “I just didn’t sleep well, that’s all.”

Liz narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms. “I don’t believe you. There’s something you’re not telling me.” Reaching out, Liz grabbed Faye’s hand and squeezed. “Please tell me. We used to tell each other everything. Maybe I can help.”

Faye shook her head. “I don’t think anyone can help.”

“Then there
is
something going on!” Liz cried. She pulled Faye down onto one of the mall’s benches. “Come on, spill. A problem shared is a problem halved—or something like that. What’s going on? You haven’t been yourself all day.”

Faye took a deep breath. “You’re going to think I’m crazy,” she said.

Liz laughed. “Come on, Faye. Out of the two of us, who’s known to be the crazy one?”

Faye grinned. “OK. Well, after I left the party last night, I didn’t walk down the track. I took a shortcut through the woods.”

Liz looked horrified. “Wasn’t it pitch-black?”

“It was pretty dark, yeah, but the moon was high. Anyway, I wasn’t really thinking straight. I just wanted to get home as soon as possible and I thought that would be the quickest way.”

Faye went on to tell Liz about being chased, her race through the woods and the wolves hunting her. Liz’s eyes got bigger and bigger, and when Faye got to the part about falling onto the road, right in front of Finn, Liz let out a little scream.

“Omigod! You could have been killed! What did he do?”

Faye looked down at her wrist, playing with her new charm bracelet. “He took me home and told me not to go up there again.”

“So he knew what was out there?” Liz asked.

Faye nodded. “I think he did, yeah.”

“My dad was right! He said those bikers were bad news!”

Faye shook her head. “I don’t know. Finn said he’d keep me safe—”

“Yeah—from
his
gang! They must have been the ones chasing you!”

“I don’t think so. I only heard his bike out there. I don’t think it was them, Liz.”

“Who else could it have been?”

“I don’t know.” An idea struck Faye suddenly. “But I have to find out. I have to go back up there and investigate. If there were wolves up there, they will have left traces! Let’s go, Lizzie, right now. Come on—it’s light, nothing will attack us during the day. It’ll be perfectly safe. I can take pictures for photographic proof.”

“Faye, you’re nuts!” Liz exclaimed. “Didn’t Barbie Finch tell you to stay away? And what about my dad? He’d go crazy if he found out I’d gone up there, especially if he knew about last night!”

Faye stood, her mind made up. “You don’t have to come, Liz. I’ll completely understand if you don’t. But I have to go. I
have to.
”

Liz stared at her for a moment before standing up with a sigh. “And how are you going to get up there? Walk? Come on, I’ll drive. Just make sure I’m home in time for dinner.”

Faye hugged her hard. “Thank you!”

“I think this makes us even,” Liz muttered.

#

Liz half expected to find nothing in the woods. She’d never say anything to Faye, of course, but she thought her friend had imagined the things she’d told her—it would have been easy to do, out there in the woods alone at night.

“How are you going to know exactly where you were?” she asked, tramping through the snow as she followed Faye. They had parked on the road and were fighting their way up the embankment into the woods. It was cold, and already the light was fading from the afternoon sky.

“Well, I know that’s the bend that Finn came around,” Faye said, pointing up the road behind them. “So it must be about here that I fell down the slope. Start looking—even with this fresh snow, there has to be some kind of trace.”

Liz sighed as Faye began taking preliminary wide-angle shots of the area. She knew when her friend was engrossed in something, and there would be no getting away until Faye had found what she was looking for. It if existed at all. Liz just hoped it wouldn’t take too long.

Something caught her eye, and she stomped through the snowdrifts toward a bush festooned with icicles. Some of them were snapped and crushed. “This is weird,” she called over her shoulder. “It looks like something has crashed into this bush and broken the ice.”

Faye came over to look and grinned. “Brilliant, Liz. We must be in the right place—I bet this happened during the chase.” After taking a picture, her friend knelt down in the snow and began digging.

“What are you doing?” Liz asked, confused.

“There must be wolf tracks around here somewhere! They have to be here, under the new layer of snow.… Yes—look!”

Sure enough, Liz found herself looking at a paw print. She shuddered, “Omigod, Faye. I’ve never seen a paw print as big as that. It’s huge!”

Faye stood up, and Liz saw the look of determination on her face as her friend scanned the area. “OK. Let’s keep looking. See if there are any more—I want to know if there really is a pack out here, or if it was just the two wolves I saw.”

Liz shivered, eager to get out of the woods, which had suddenly become a very scary place to be. “Really? Do we have to? We found this, Faye, isn’t that enough? I’d really like to go now.…” Liz looked around her fearfully, convinced that something big with teeth was going to leap out of the bushes at any second.

Faye wasn’t listening but instead was walking deeper into the trees, searching the ground.

“Look at this!” she called a few moments later, snapping away with her camera.

Liz headed toward the spot Faye pointed at. It was a pile of bloody bones and a mass of feathers, all in a heap. Liz was nearly sick right then. “What is it?” she asked, with a hand over her mouth.

“A chicken, I think. The head’s over there,” Faye said, oblivious to Liz’s discomfort as she nodded toward another bush. “Can you check the slope again? I just want to take a few more pictures.”

Liz nodded, not trusting herself to speak. She was determined not to show Faye how scared she was. Her friend was always so strong, so confident. Nothing seemed to worry her. Liz often wished she could be more like that.

She walked back to the hill that led down to the road, imagining poor Faye alone in the dark, and shuddered. There were a few broken branches, but thankfully she didn’t see any more carcasses. She was about to turn back and shout up to Faye when something caught her eye.

It was hidden in the snow at the base of a tree, half buried under a tree root, but it glinted when the afternoon sun hit it. Moving closer, Liz realized it was something silver. She reached down and picked it up. It was a tiny letter opener, pretty, with an engraved handle. A small, dark mark stained the blade, which was surprisingly sharp. Liz stared at it. Could that be dried blood? She pulled a tissue from her purse and wiped it clean.

“Now, how did you get there?” she muttered under her breath. She looked back up the slope but couldn’t see Faye. “Hey, Faye? Look at this—”

“Liz? Liz, where are you?” Faye’s voice echoed from between the trees, cutting her off. “I’ve just realized what time it is! Aren’t you going to be late for dinner?”

Liz looked at her watch. “Oh no! You’re right—God, Dad and Mom will kill me!” She shoved the letter opener into her purse and struggled back up the slope.

Faye opened her mouth to say something but stopped. Another sound penetrated the peaceful forest—motorbike engines revving in the distance. Faye turned toward the sound, but Liz grabbed her arm.

“Time to go,” she said firmly, afraid but determined to hide it. “Right now.”

The sun was beginning to set as the two girls got back into the car. They couldn’t hear the motorbikes anymore, but Faye could tell that Liz was worried—though that could just have been because she was going to be in huge trouble if she was late home.

“Don’t worry,” Faye told her friend as they pulled away. “We’ll be back in town in no time. You can tell your dad it’s my fault you’re late.”

Liz glanced over and smiled. “It’s fine. I should just make it. I’m more worried about—”

There was a sudden noise like a gunshot and the car swerved violently. Both girls screamed as it slid sideways, and for a second Faye was sure it was going to tip right over, trapping them both inside. Liz slammed on the brakes. The wheels screamed as they tried to get a grip on the icy blacktop, but eventually the car skidded to a stop, bumping off the road and into a thick bank of snow.

“What happened?” Faye asked, stunned, her hands still gripping the side of her seat.

Liz leaned against the steering wheel, breathing hard. “I think we got a flat. That was the sound of the wheel blowing. We must have driven over something really sharp.”

“Do you have a spare?”

“Yeah, but I’ve only ever changed a tire once!”

Faye groaned. “Can you call your dad? He’d come out and help, wouldn’t he?”

Liz shook her head. “Oh, he would—but I’d be grounded for at least a month! He’d want to know what we were doing out here.” She sighed. “It’s OK. I can do it … it just might take a while.”

“Can I help?” Faye asked as Liz opened her door. Another snowfall was beginning, and the temperature was dropping fast. It was getting dark, too. Winter Mill always seemed to be dark these days, no matter what the time. Faye pulled her coat tighter around her.

“Yeah—can you can hold the flashlight?”

The two girls climbed out of the car and stood staring at the ruined tire. It was the front right tire, and it was easy to see the puncture—a ragged hole about the size of a silver dollar where something had torn through the rubber.

“What could have caused that?” Faye asked. “It must have been something pretty big.”

Liz, already shivering, shrugged and went to get the jack and the spare out of the trunk. “Right now, I don’t care. I just want to get this thing changed before I freeze to death!”

Faye flicked on the flashlight, but as Liz prepared to put the jack under the car, a pair of headlights appeared around the bend. The car pulled to a stop behind them. As the door opened, Liz straightened up, moving to stand next to Faye. She linked one arm through Faye’s, and Faye realized Liz was shaking a little. They were obviously both still jittery after their almost-crash; Faye’s heart was hammering too.

“Are you two girls OK?” The rough voice was familiar, but it wasn’t until the man stepped into the circle of light cast by the flashlight that they realized who it was. Faye felt Liz’s arm tense against hers.

“That’s Ballard,” Liz whispered into her ear. “The man who works for Mercy Morrow. I saw him earlier today and he was horrible.”

“We’re fine,” Faye said in as firm and calm a voice as she could muster. “We just had a flat. Liz was about to change the tire. Thanks for stopping, but we can manage.”

The big man glanced down at the ruined tire and nodded. “That’s a nasty one. I can help.”

“No!” said both girls in unison. Liz laughed nervously. “No, really, Mr. Ballard, It’s fine. We—we were just going to call my dad. He’s with the local police. Sergeant Wilson. He’ll come out just as soon as I call him, so—”

Ballard smiled, a curiously unpleasant gesture that curled his lip to show a set of uneven, yellowed teeth. “Oh yes. Sergeant Wilson. I met him this morning, in fact. He gave me his card. I expect he’s got plenty of other troubles to keep him occupied this evening. And since I’m here already, it would be silly to bother him, wouldn’t it, girls?”

There was something about the way Ballard said the word “girls” that made Faye shiver. It was like a cat preparing to play with a mouse—there was something sly and scary about it. But before either of them could say anything else to stop him, Ballard was on his knees in the snow, changing the tire. They stepped back, wrapping their arms around themselves against the snow and watching Ballard as he worked. It was as if neither of them wanted to turn her back on him, even for a moment.

Ballard was very strong, there was no doubt about it. Within moments he had the jack pumped up and was using his bare hands to twist the wheel from its housing. He detached the damaged tire from the wheel, tossing it into the snow
before slipping on the new one and securing it. Faye glanced at her watch as Ballard finished up. It had taken him less than ten minutes. She knew they should be grateful for his help—without him, she and Liz could have been there for hours. But all she wanted to do was jump into the car and get Liz to drive away as quickly as she could.

Ballard stood up, picking up the jack and the old tire and slinging them into the trunk. He brushed the snow from his knees and turned to the two waiting girls. “There you go,” he said. “Done. No need to call Daddy, was there?”

Faye forced herself to move, squeezing Liz’s arm as she did so. “Thank you,” she said with a smile. “That’s so great. We would have been really stuck without you, Mr. Ballard.”