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The fitting was more fun than I thought it would be—and instead of slogging through the mall afterward, Mom took us both for a nice lunch in one of the restaurants lining the beach. I spent most of the meal staring out at the waves, picturing the dress in my head. Picturing how Sam would react when he saw me wearing it.
“Earth to Alex.” Misty waved her hand in front of my face. “You have your ‘I’m thinking about Sam’ look. He’s going to go nuts when he sees you in that dress.”
“You think so?”
“Duh.” She smiled, using one of her husband Zach’s favorite responses. It was still hard to believe she was married, and living with a gorgeous, funny, super kind former angel. Yeah, I have interesting friends. “Zach agrees. I showed him the picture your mom emailed me, and his eyes glazed over. You have a winner, Alex. Sam won’t be the only one unable to take his eyes off you.”
“Thanks, Misty.”
She reached over and gave me a one-armed hug. “You’re the most beautiful tomboy I know—and you are the only one I know who can pull off that dress. I’ve never seen you dance, but when you walked out of the dressing room, you looked like a dancer.”
I blushed, smiling at her. There was a reason Misty had never seen me dance; until last year, no one outside my family even knew. I still keep it close, even though I haven’t been to classes since I hurt my ankle last fall. I do have a reputation to keep.
We finished lunch, and took off our shoes to walk along the beach. It was one of those warm days in Southern California that let you forget it was winter. I lifted my face to the sun, enjoying the moment, and the company. The madness would begin soon enough.
Mom drove us all back to the house. Misty wanted to try some hairstyles on me, now that she’d seen the dress, and the veil. I knew better than to argue, simply because she’d wear me down until I said yes.
She dragged me up the stairs, laughing at my resigned expression, and flopped down on my bed. The pile of decorator pillows tumbled to the floor.
“I still can’t believe you have all these frou frou pillows in your room,” she said.
“They’re not frou frou. They’re an accent.” And once upon a time, the perfect way to keep Mom from trying to dress me in frou frou. “So, how much am I going to hate this?”
Misty sat and put her hands on her hips. “I’ll only try three styles. Four, tops.” I obviously didn’t hide my horror well enough. She pushed to her feet and loomed over me. “You won’t die from a hairstyling session, Alex. Even if you think differently.”
“I just—I’m still not used to thinking of my hair, beyond keeping it off my face.”
“You can slack once you and Sam are married. He seems to like the way it goes everywhere.” She waved her hand at my offending hair. “But for the wedding, that is so not an option.”
I sighed, then dragged myself to the desk chair. “Have your way with me.”
She pulled a hairbrush, a comb, and several bottles of stuff out of her purse. It took the last of my control not to flinch when she moved to me, a brush in one hand, a bottle of something in the other.
“Relax, Alex. This will be painless. Mostly.”
She lied.
The wind and salt air had worked into my hair, creating stubborn tangles and a sticky layer that Misty spent forever brushing out before she even got to the styling part. I clutched the arms of the chair and endured. When my cell phone rang I almost cried in relief.
“I have to get that. It’s Sam.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Special ringtone? That’s so not like you.”
“Marrying the most popular boy in school is so not like me, either.” I flashed her a grin and escaped the chair. “But I’m doing it.”
Her laughter echoed in the bedroom. I smiled as I answered my phone. “Hey, Sam.”
“Hey, Alex.” His low, deep voice sent a wave of warmth through me. “Can you talk?”
“Misty is in the middle of torturing me, but I can beg for a reprieve.”
“Ha, ha,” Misty said. But she set her instruments of torture on the desk and wandered out of the bedroom, giving me privacy without me asking.
I smiled and gave my attention to Sam. “What’s up?”
The pause before he answered had my heart pounding. “I got a call from Detective Sampson. A man has been reported missing.” I swallowed, already knowing this was headed in a bad direction. “The detective in charge of the case is blaming it on Henry, the local hermit. But Sampson went to the site of his disappearance, and he told me it has—unusual evidence. He wanted to give me a heads up, in case—”
“It was one of the residents.” I sank to the edge of the bed. “You don’t think—”
“No.” Anger edged his voice. “But I want to take a look at the place he was last seen, for any evidence of what might have taken him.”
“Why does he suspect a monster?”
Another pause, this one longer. “He said he smelled something—wrong.”
“Oh.” Detective Joe Sampson was a recently turned Fenris, and still adjusting. After hanging around Fenris for more than a year, I’ve learned that certain senses are enhanced when they are bitten, and it’s not the same for each one of them. According to Jake, who saw him more than we did, the detective’s sense of smell was the most enhanced he had ever seen in a Fenris. “He didn’t recognize it?”
“Just that it wasn’t human. Can you come with me? I need a more objective eye than I’ll have.”
“Sure. I just have to be back by dinner.”
He let out a sigh. “I’ll be glad when you don’t have to be anywhere but with me.”
“Me, too,” I whispered. God, I loved him.
“I’ll be over in a half hour. I have some instructions for Louise on the newest arrivals.”
“Okay. I’ll wait for you on the porch.”
“I love you, Alex.”
“I love you back.”
Misty was standing in the doorway when I ended the call. “Bad news?” I told her, and she sat next to me, hugging herself. “You can’t get involved, Alex.”
“Sam just wants another set of eyes.” Her raised eyebrows made it obvious that she didn’t believe me. “That’s it, Misty. I promise.”
She let it go, and stood, picking up the brush to attack my hair again. I moved back to the chair and sat, clutching the arms. What Sam had told me helped block out the pain.
I was only going to help give a fresh perspective, and that was all.
I just hoped I could keep my promise.
~ ~ ~
Both Sam and Detective Sampson were waiting for me at the spot where the missing man had last been seen. It was the old public garden, and I wasn’t all that thrilled to come back, considering what had happened the last time I was here.
Thankfully, this was in a different part of the huge gardens, near the old granite fountain and glass greenhouse. Even better, I had Sam here to help buffer any memories.
He wrapped his arm around my waist and gave me a soft kiss.
“Hey,” he said. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” I met his clear grey-blue eyes, focused on him. He’d let his hair grow again, and the streaked blonde length brushed his wide shoulders, framing his beautiful face. Yeah, I was a goner. “Just don’t let go of me, and I’ll be more than okay.”
The smile that always left me melting crossed his face. “Never.”
Detective Sampson stepped forward and took my hand. “Thanks for coming, Alex. I understand you don’t have happy memories of this place.”
“No problem.” I looked around, expecting to find some evidence of violence. The tranquil space was the same as I remembered. “How do you know he was taken here?”
“This.” He led me and Sam to a spot between the fountain and the greenhouse, and I finally saw the obvious marks of a struggle. “The scene’s already been cleared. I want you to walk it, tell me what you see. Alone.” He glanced over at Sam, who nodded without an argument and let me go. Detective Sampson becoming a Fenris had definitely changed their rocky acquaintance. “Don’t project what you think I want to know, Alex. Observe, and point out what catches your attention.”
I nodded, and slowly walked around the small clearing. Whoever had been taken had fought, but it didn’t look like he’d fought for long. The scuff marks that showed someone being dragged along unwillingly just—disappeared. Like they’d been picked up. From the size and depth of the shoe print, the victim was big, and obviously strong, since he’d been able to fight as long as he did.
“He fought his abductor,” I said, walking to the opposite end of the site. “And he looks like he’s tall, maybe six feet. That or he has abnormally large feet.” A muffled laugh from Sam had me smiling. I kept my back to them until I could control it. “The other detective really thought Henry did this?”
Detective Sampson snorted. “The idiot has one foot out the door. This is his last case, and he’s always had it in for Henry. “What else do you see?”
“Whoever took him was bigger...” My voice faded as I noticed something on the base of the fountain.
“Alex?” Sam moved to my side, his hand on the small of my back. It comforted me, and made me feel loved at the same time. “What is it?”
I crouched, and he followed me. “There.” I pointed at a spot just under the wide basin. A taller person would have missed it. Three deep marks gouged the base. The hard, granite base. “Those marks are fresh. And they weren’t made by a person, much less a seventy-year-old hermit.”
The familiar fear shot through me as I stared at those gouges.
There was a new monster in Emmettsville.