Night Feast (17 page)

"I'm not complaining though Lia, that's the only good thing that Amberlee has ever done, even though it was all for her own benefit." said Libby happily, she and Kevin were becoming like the two sides of one coin.

"Do people really think that Jay had something to do with her disappearance?" asked Lia.

"I think so, but it's crazy.  I have a theory about it though" said Libby solemnly, "everyone was really disappointed by the way the police handled the Elena Hudson disappearance, they kept all the details from the public when her body was found, wouldn't tell anyone anything.  But it sucks that they are saying that Jay was with both girls, on the nights of them both going missing, so he must have something to do with it.  The cops just want to put someone, anyone in the slammer, just to prove that they are good at their jobs. Anyone with half a brain would know just by looking at him, that Jay would not have had anything to do with Amberlee's disappearance or Elena's."

Then Libby went quiet for a moment while they both pondered her words.  Then she added,

"But you know Lia, if she doesn't come back soon Jay may need to get himself a good lawyer." 

They watched Kevin and Libby get into his old, car and waved to them as they drove away.  Lia told Jay that she thought his friends were very nice, and so obviously concerned about him.  Kevin had told Jay that there had still been no news about Amberlee.  They had thoroughly searched all the forests and the woodland in the area and come up with zero.  Jay didn't really want to think about what may be waiting for him when he returned to Portland.  The faraway expression came back into his eyes, and as his head drooped Lia took him in her arms and comforted him.

Even though Lia had given the Jacksons seven days to find Amberlee Robinson she went back to the antique shop, on the sixth day looking for answers.  Dalia was not surprised that she had come a day early.  She had seemed desperate to know where the girl was, her offer of fifty thousand dollars had been proof of that.  Dalia could see the same determined expression in the vampire's beautiful eyes as soon as she saw her.  She knew that Lia would not have taken the admittance of  'sorry I just couldn't find her' lightly.  Both Dalia and Abe had wondered what the vampire wanted with the human girl.  They had thought that it may be her blood that was the attraction.  Then they had decided that there were thousands of other teenage girls in Portland, that she could go to and satisfy her bloodlust.  And that it made no sense to go chasing one human girl.  Although they were both consumed with curiosity, neither one of them dared to ask.  Lia looked at them without smiling or greeting and spoke.

"Did you do as I asked?"

Dalia nodded smugly, she was still congratulating herself for a job well done.

"Yes"  she said, "I found her, she is staying with her father in Philadelphia."

The couple noted that the vampire breathed a sigh of relief.

"You are sure that  it was her, you are sure that it was Amberlee Robinson?"

"Yes Miss, I am sure." said Dalia emphatically.

Lia reached into her purse and pulled out the remaining twenty five thousand dollar payment.  she placed it on the wooden counter in front of them.  Dalia thanked her and handed her a small piece of paper, with Amberlee's Horrocks street address written on it.  Lia took the piece of paper and turned to go.

"Hold on Missy"  said Abe quickly, "we got more good news for you." 

Lia stopped and looked at him quizzically, wandering what he was going to say.

"Your old oil painting has been sold, for two million dollars!"  Abe proudly announced.

For a moment Lia had no idea of what he was talking about.  She, in her new environment and her life with Jay, had completely forgotten about the antiques that she had brought to the shop, that had helped her set up home in Westport.  Then it suddenly dawned on her.  Libby had been saying earlier how a signed painting from the seventeen or eighteen hundreds, she couldn't remember which, had been bought by a museum in New York, for a very large sum of money.  Surely it couldn't be the one that she had taken from the attic at home, the painting of her English grandmother?

"I take it you will want the money in cash?" asked Abe.  He assumed that she hadn't opened a bank account.  Lia nodded.  'Two million dollars?' she thought, 'surely it can't be worth that much, there must be some good reason for it.'

And there was.  Lia's parents had taken the painting, amongst other things when they had gone to her family home in Surrey, to wreak revenge on those who had caused Arabella so much pain.

Lia told the Jacksons that she would return for the money in due course.  They smiled, when she added that they would be paid a large commission for their good service.  But right now the vampire had more pressing things on her mind, and she was so looking forward to her trip to Philadelphia.

Chapter E
ight

Jay rolled over in bed still half asleep.  He stretched out his arm to touch Lia's cold cheek, he had become very accustomed to her body temperature, it did not worry him anymore.  That was just Lia.  He was surprised to find himself in an empty bed as he felt his hand touch her soft pillow.  He opened his eyes, sat up in bed and looked around the room.  It was then that he heard the loud banging on the front door.   Jay rushed down the stairs, and when he opened the door he was very surprised to see four police officers standing in front of him.  He thought for a moment that he must be dreaming, and was really still in bed with Lia.  Jay felt a sudden panic, he hoped and silently prayed that nothing had happened to her.

"Jay Patterson?"

"Yes" answered Jay his expression was a mixture of fear and confusion.

"Jay Patterson I am arresting you in suspicion of being connected to the disappearance of Amberlee Robinson." said the police officer in a monotone but determined voice.

"What?" cried Jay, this was not what he was expecting, because as far as he was concerned they had no evidence to charge him for anything.

One of the other police officers produced a pair of handcuffs, and the arresting officer continued with reading Jay his constitutional rights.

"You have the right to remain silent and have an attorney present during questioning.  The court will appoint an attorney to represent you if you can't afford one of your own."

Jay had pulled on a pair of jeans and a shirt before rushing down the stairs to answer the door.  He felt relieved about that, because the police officers didn't look like the kind of guys who would have let him get suitable dressed.  They handcuffed the teenage boy, searched him for weapons, then bundled him into the back of their police car.  In just over an hour, Jay Patterson was being held in police custody in Portland.

He used his one phone call to contact his mother.  Cora was distraught.  The police had been to her house just yesterday with a search warrant.  She hadn't been concerned at all,  it was ridiculous.  They couldn't possibly find any incriminating evidence against her son, because there simply wasn't anything to find.  Or so she had thought.  Cora had been very surprised when they said that they had found something in the garden, which could possibly lead to her son being charged.  She had desperately tried to call him last night, but he'd had his cell switched off, and she didn't know Lia's landline number.  Cora promised that she would get Jay an attorney immediately, and her gave her Lia's number and asked her to inform her of his circumstances.

Lia returned to her house and slipped back upstairs, with the intention of climbing into bed next to the boy that she loved.  When she saw that Jay was not there she searched the house, frantically calling out his name.  She ran outside in the darkness to see if he, for some reason was there.  Lia wondered whether he had woken up and found her missing.  She wondered if he had gone searching for her, and wandered far away from the house and was trying to find his way back.  Lia also struggled with the thought that  he may have somehow discovered her dark secret, and had ran away as fast as he could.  But then she saw that his mother's car was still parked by the side of her house.  So she removed the fear of abandonment from her mind, and decided that there must be some other reason, quite unlike that one, for his disappearance.  Lia went back into the house and rang his cell.  There was no answer because he had left it switched off, and Lia suddenly noticed it lying on the coffee table before her.  She kept looking at the front door, hoping that Jay would come bursting in and take her in his arms in the usual way.  Lia sat for about two hours, with her heart sinking deeper into her stomach and waited.  Then the shrill ringing of the telephone interrupted the chain of her thoughts, and the silence of the room.

"Is, is that Lia?"  It was Cora on the line and her voice sounded tearful.  Lia's heart with suddenly gripped with an ice cold fear, and a sense of impending doom.  It was a feeling that was usually alien to a vampire.

"Yes, this is Lia, who is that?" she managed to choke out the reply.

"It's Cora Patterson, Jay's mom?"

"Oh, oh hello Jay isn't here at the moment, I think her may have just gone out for a walk or something."

"Lia, Jay asked me to call you.  He's been arrested, he's being kept in custody."  Lia could hear Cora crying softly now.

"What, why? How could he be there's no evidence"  Lia said her voice was raised and shaky.

"Well apparently there is.  I have spoken with Jay's attorney and he says that when the police searched my garden they found a shoe of Amberlee's, which is part of the pair that she was wearing on the night of the dance."

"But Jay was with me" protested Lia with growing frustration.  "He didn't leave the dance at all until he left with me, I don't believe this."

"I know, I know" replied Cora softly, suddenly sensing the girl's deep feeling for her son.  "But the police have always believed that he was working with some sort of accomplice.  I think the shoe has been planted to frame Jay."

Both were silent as they pondered this as a possibility. Then Cora told Lia that Jay was going to be in court on that morning, his attorney was going to try and get him bail.  She promised that she would call her back with more information.

Tori Martin felt bad, so bad when she saw the police go to search Jay Patterson's house.  She had been to see Judi and had taken a short cut through Jay's street, on her way home.  When she had seen the dark blue uniforms at the house, she had known why they were there. Tori hoped that no one ever found out that she was to blame, for the whole fiasco.

Despite being very young in years, Tori Martin had developed a severe drink problem.  She had successfully hid it from her parents, except for the night before the college dance.  Tori had really regretted drinking their wine and being grounded.  She had missed a wonderful opportunity to see Amberlee Robinson in a state of pathological humiliation.  Oh how she wished that she could have seen that girl take Jay away from her.  Amberlee Robinson had been a thorn in her side for over a year now.  She had made Tori spy for her and do her dirty work.  She had put Tori in sole charge of finding out where Tom Harrison and his girlfriend Amy would be going on dates, so that she could use the information to stalk them.  It hadn't been difficult.  Tori had known Amy and she would call her up and procure all the needed information from their chats on the phone.  Amy had never discovered the reasons behind those phone calls, at least.  But Tori wished that she had never confided her secret to Amberlee.

It had happened one evening about a year ago.  Tori's parents and older brother had gone out and she was left alone in the house.  She had become very bored with her own company, and when she'd phoned her friends they had all been busy.  Tori had poured herself an orange juice, and it was then that she'd wondered what it would taste like, if she added a shot of vodka to it.  She had poured a large amount of her father's vodka into the orange juice, before taking a slug, neat from the bottle.  Tori had really like the taste but she'd liked the feeling of being drunk more, so she had finished the bottle of vodka, stumbled out of the kitchen with her mother's car keys clutched in her hand.  She had only had her driving license for two months, and when sober she was still a nervous driver.  However the vodka had given her a new found feeling of courage, and she'd jumped into the car and sped off down the street.  Tori had put on the car radio, and as she drove she had shaken her head to the heavy rock music that blared from it.  Then it had happened.  Tori had not even seen the woman crossing the road in front of her.  The loud rock music and her drunken state had left her without a care in the world, and she had not been paying any attention.  However she sobered up quickly when she felt her mother's car crash into the body of the innocent stranger, who had been walking her dog.  Tori had panicked, she didn't even stop the car, but carried on driving until she got home.  There were already two or three dents on the front of her mother's car.  Her father had become so exasperated by his wife bumping into their garage door when parking, that he did all her parking now.  Tori didn't have to worry though, there was no one around when she'd hit that woman and another bump would go unnoticed.  She didn't listen to closely to the news of the hit and run, in the days that followed.  She knew however that the victim, the recently divorced Samantha Bradshaw was in a coma. Nevertheless she was relieved that when the woman came around from her coma, she couldn't identify the car, or its driver.