Hunted (24 page)

“Lanie!  Are you in here!” her dad’s voice suddenly boomed through the house.

Lanie’s heart leapt up into her throat and it dawned on her that she didn’t have the voice to answer her dad.

“We’re in here, Sam!” Gretchen called out, causing Lanie to gasp with a start.

Sure footsteps sounded out down the hall and then Sam appeared in the kitchen doorway, his gaze instantly finding Lanie.  “Lanie, what are you doing here?  Why aren’t you in school?”

Lanie opened her mouth to speak, but nothing came out.  Not a sound.  She didn’t have an excuse for not being in school!  And not a single excuse could she come up with!

Oh crap.

She was caught.  And now she was dead.

“Lanie was upset about what happened last night, so she called me,” Gretchen answered for her, her tone as light as if they were discussing the weather.  “I told her to come on home and we could talk about it.”

Sam seemed to take all that in stride, not even questioning Gretchen.  “Alright.  I understand, but don’t make a habit of this.  School is the most important thing for you right now.”

Lanie nodded and then shot a look at her aunt.  She was impressed.  Gretchen could stand there and look at Sam Bancroft with a straight face and utter a lie like it was nothing.  She never would have guessed it from her aunt, who was all open and touchy-feely and in tune with her emotions.

“How’s everything going?” Gretchen asked easily.

Sam let out a long sigh and ran a hand through his hair.  “It’s going.  Not well, but it’s going.”

“Oh?  What’s happening?” wondered Gretchen, going to the fridge to put some food away.

“Well, word’s out that Amy Jarvis was found and people are starting to panic already,” Sam answered, walking over to the island to plop heavily onto a stool.  The man looked haggard and weary to the bone.  “The station’s getting calls, Mayor Wylie’s getting calls.  People are wanting a curfew put in place and the schools shut down…it’s a mess.”

“Is there really that much of a reason to panic?” Gretchen asked, greatly interested. 

“Well, two dead girls in two days is serious business,” Sam answered wearily, running his hand across his face.  “But, some wise soul in town must have uttered the phrase
serial killer
, and now half the residents are ready to arm themselves and shoot the first thing that moves.”

“Serial killer?” Gretchen repeated, sounding surprised.  “Is that what you think?”

Sam paused for a beat, his gaze sweeping over to Lanie and then back again.  “Two girls have been found in the same park, murdered in the same manner.  I don’t want to put that label on the perpetrator, but that seems like a possibility.”

Lanie thought she gulped audibly.

“Should we be on lock down, Sam?  I mean, is it really that kind of a situation?” Gretchen asked.

“I don’t want to think it’s that bad, but if any more young girls turn up, it might turn into that kind of situation,” Sam answered.  “This is no joke, Gretchen.  Things are bad.”

Gretchen slid her gaze over to Lanie, who went stiff.  Oh no.  Gretchen was going to tell Sam!  Gretchen was going to tell him everything and her father would wind up getting killed and then she’d be all alone! 

“You look beat, Sam.  Why don’t you go on up to bed,” Gretchen told the man, looking back to him and Lanie had a hard time not blacking out from relief.

“Yeah.  I am beat,” Sam said, sliding off the stool and dragging himself across the kitchen.  “Unless something else happens, I won’t be going back to work until in the morning, so just let me sleep through.”

Lanie nodded and watched as her father left the kitchen, listening to him clump down the hallway and then up the stairs.  Once he was safely out of earshot, she heard Gretchen let out a sharp breath.

“Well, that was the most harrowing three minutes of my entire life!” the woman hissed, bringing Lanie’s attention around to her.  “Lanie, do you really expect me not to say anything to your father about this!  I mean, you’ve seen the person who killed those two girls, right?  You can identify him because he came at you.  And so can the stud with the crossbow.  You both
know
who Sam should be looking for!”

Lanie regarded her aunt for a moment, realization dawning on her.  Gretchen did not believe the story they had told her.  She did not believe that a vampire was responsible for killing Stacy Miller and Amy Jarvis.  She thought it was a person. 

“This isn’t some kind of game or joke, Lanie.  Two little girls are dead!” Gretchen said, biting off each word.  “I don’t know what that boy has told you or what he’s done to you, but if you—“

“Kyle didn’t do anything to me!” Lanie heard herself snap at her aunt.  Did her aunt really think that Kyle Vincent had…
brain washed
her into thinking she’d seen a vampire?  “I’m not making this up!  There is a…
a monster
out there killing people!  And he tried to kill me!  If Kyle hadn’t been there, he would have!”

Gretchen was visibly taken aback by Lanie’s tone and seemed thrown for a second.  Probably because she’d never heard her niece so much as raise her voice before.  A shard of remorse stabbed Lanie, but she ignored it.  These were desperate times, so her sassy tone would just have to be overlooked!

Gretchen cleared her throat and pulled herself up, shaking off Lanie’s lippy outburst.  “You’re really serious about this?  You really
believe
what you’re saying about a…a vampire killing those little girls?  Your
friends
?”

It was obvious that Gretchen was not going to get on board with the vampire story, and Lanie couldn’t blame her.  Pulling in a breath, she tried to keep her voice even as she spoke.  “Aunt Gretchen, you shouldn’t be involved in this.  Just forget that we said anything.  I’ll handle—“

“Ha!” Gretchen scoffed, cutting her off.  “My niece and some stud armed with a crossbow think there’s a vampire running around killing little girls!  Do you really think I’m going to just forget about it?”

She could hope.

“Look, I don’t know what’s going on around here, but I intend on finding out,” Gretchen stated firmly, jolting into motion and beginning to quickly put the groceries away.  “I’m going to go have a talk with your stud and I expect you to be here when I get back.  Is that clear?”

Lanie nodded.

“Be here in this house when I get back,” Gretchen reiterated, slamming the fridge shut.  “Otherwise, I’ll go straight to your dad with this.”  That said, the woman bolted from the room, leaving Lanie alone in the kitchen.

Once her aunt was gone, Lanie glanced around, trying to figure out what she should do with herself.  However, there wasn’t much she could do at that point, so she decided to do the only thing that made sense just then, which was to go into the living room to pace until she could come up with a better alternative.

  Lanie had no idea what Gretchen was doing to Kyle, but she didn’t hear from them for hours.  In fact, Johnna and Devyn showed up after school and they still weren’t back, which worried Lanie.  Right behind Johnna and Devyn came Chase Wylie, Finn and Brady and as everyone trooped into the house and toward the kitchen, Lanie felt rather a bit like screaming in agony.  The last thing she wanted was to have a houseful of people hovering around!  She needed some space!  There was not only a bloodthirsty killer on the loose, but apparently her aunt had taken a man hostage!  The last thing she needed was a horde of teenagers making a mess and yapping in her face about homework or what had happened in the cafeteria that day!

“Hey, Lanie, why’d you skip the rest of the day?” Devyn asked, going straight to the fridge and pulling out a soda.

“I just didn’t feel like going back,” she answered vaguely, watching as the three boys all disappeared into the pantry.

“And your dad let you get away with that?” Devyn asked dubiously.

Lanie shrugged. 

“She’s had a hard couple of days and her dad knows that,” Johnna said, shaking her head at Devyn.  “Speaking of your dad, Lanie, have you talked to him about what’s going on?”

“I-I…why?” Lanie asked, suspicion wafting through her.

“Well, because we went to Katy’s for a coffee at lunch and people were talking about…a
serial killer
,” Johnna said, whispering the last words.  “Have you heard anything?  Is that what the Sheriff thinks?  Is there…a
serial killer
running around Fells Pointe?”

Lanie suddenly felt a pang of sympathy for her father.  “He actually said it’s too early to have an opinion about anything like that, but that we should all stay calm and try not panic.  It won’t help anything.”  She decided to add those last bits in for her father’s benefit.

“Well, since you were the only person who saw the…the…you know…are you going to be in danger?” Johnna asked, her eyes wide.  “I mean, seriously?  Two people are dead and you might have seen the person who did it.”

Lanie lifted a shoulder.  “I really don’t know,” she said, which was actually sort of true.  “But, you two can go on home if you want to.  If someone does decide to…come after me, I don’t want you to be caught in the middle.” 

Yes!  Please, go home!  Her dad would probably not be happy about it, but oh well.  She honestly didn’t want her friends to wind up in the path of the monster who’d nearly carried her off into the night.  But, aside from that, she really wanted her house to be cleared out.  She could not deal with this…
situation
…with her friends hovering around!

The boys exited the pantry just then, their arms laden with all manner of junk food.  “What does Sheriff Bancroft say about the serial killer?” Brady asked, thunking his armload down onto the center island.

“He’s not saying anything,” Lanie stated firmly.  “So, if you hear any one going around saying otherwise, it’s a lie.  My dad doesn’t want a panic to break out when no one really knows what’s going on.”

“Sounds like a cover up,” Brady said, tearing open a bag of chips with his teeth.

Lanie ignored him.  “Don’t make a big mess, guys.  And keep it down.  My dad just went to sleep,” she warned.

Chase sidled up to her and nudged her with his elbow.  “Are you still going to be working on all the Homecoming Week stuff?”

“I guess so,” Lanie answered, watching as Brady and Finn made short work of the bag of chips and then started on a box of cookies.  They were like two rabid dogs!

“Well, you don’t have to be worried.  I’ll be watching out for you,” Chase told her.

Lanie tried to smile, but failed miserably.  Yeah, she’d be figuring a way to get out of that ASAP!  She wasn’t overly crazy about Chase Wylie, but she didn’t want him to get in the way of the monster that was running around killing people, either.

“It’s Monday night, guys,” Finn spoke up around his mouthful of cookie.  “Are we going to cancel the Drive-In?”

Lanie had forgotten all about what Monday in Fells Pointe meant.  It meant that all the kids descended upon the old drive-in movie theater to party and hang out.  In the dark.  On the outskirts of town.  Without any idea of what might be prowling around out there in darkness. 

There’d be couples sneaking off into the woods to hook up and half of the kids would be so blasted or stoned they wouldn’t even have the mind to scream if a monster did swoop out of the shadows to grab them.

“I think it should be canceled,” Lanie told the group.  “It’s not a good idea right now, at least not until my dad figures out what’s happening.”

“Well, I’m staying home,” Johnna spoke up.  “I certainly don’t want to end up like those girls.”

“We should do a mass text and tell everyone to stay home,” Devyn stated.  “It’s not worth someone else winding up dead.”

“I agree,” Finn stated.  “But, you know some of the kids aren’t going to listen.”

“We could get the parents involved,” Chase offered.

That notion was pondered for a minute.  It was a good idea, but no one in the room wanted to be the one to second the motion.  Getting the parents involved was a dark and dangerous move.  There were very few parent free zones in Fells Pointe.  Getting the adults to shut down a spot they might never want to open back up was not something anyone wanted.