Rock 'n' Roll is Undead (Veronica Mason (28 page)

“Do you want to go to the diner and grab a bite?”

“Um, no. I have a few errands to run before tonight. I think I’d better head out.”

He nodded. “Okay.”

As I turned to open the door, he grabbed the handle and pulled. He stood so close my gaze traveled to his lips. Like last night, they were full and smooth, and just waiting for me to kiss them. I had to resist. I hurried behind the wheel.

He shut the door and I asked, “You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?”

“I wouldn’t lie to you.” He met my stare.

He was either a good liar, or telling the truth. But I knew in my heart he was fibbing. Even though we’d just met, it hurt. I had hoped I could trust him. That somehow he’d be different. Different from all the other cheating snakes I’d known. It didn’t matter—as soon as the gig was up tonight, I’d tell him he was no longer a member of the band. And until then, I’d spend all day trying to prove he’d been at the park and catch him in the act of his lie. It would be so much easier when I told him to take a hike.

“Thanks again, Veronica,” Pierce called from across the parking lot.

I’d been so engrossed in Buzz that I hadn’t noticed him exit the bar. But since he did creep around, it wasn’t hard to miss him.

“Hey, I’ll call you soon, buddy.” Buzz waved as Pierce drove off. No hearse. Thank goodness. But a black Lincoln Town Car, nonetheless. It kind of resembled a hearse.

Buzz patted my door, letting me know it was securely closed, and I turned the ignition. He stepped back, but didn’t walk away. I pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street. He didn’t know it, but I wasn’t going far. I’d circle around and, as soon as he was gone, I’d come back and leave a note on Monty’s truck. He didn’t need to see me—this was my business.

A couple of blocks down the road I pulled into a shopping center and parked between a truck and a car, backing into the spot and watching for Buzz to pass. I fidgeted with my hands. I always did when I was nervous. It was quite embarrassing, but I couldn’t help my anxiety. I leaned back on the leather seat and took in a deep breath. I reached up and swatted the fuzzy dice hanging from my rear-view mirror, then watched them sway back and forth. As much as I tried, I still couldn’t understand why any of this had happened. But understanding a madman was impossible. All that could be done was to locate him and stop him from doing anything further. As far as I knew, the vampires who were killed had led normal lives. Sure Johnny liked to scare people, but I’d never heard of him physically hurting anyone. I felt numb.

After about five minutes, with no sign of him, I navigated back onto the road and headed back to the bar. When I glanced in the rear-view mirror, I could have sworn I saw that old car. Was my mind playing tricks on me? Or was it back? When I returned to the parking lot, Buzz wasn’t there…but his motorcycle was. It had been about five minutes. Plenty of time for him to leave, I’d thought. If his bike was there, then where the heck was he? Pierce had already gone. Had he come back for him? What was with everyone disappearing from there? Was it some sort of bizarre Bermuda Triangle thing?

I pulled back into the spot I’d just left. If Buzz came around, I’d tell him I forgot something in the club. I didn’t know if I should get out and look for him, too. But what he did was none of my business. I grabbed a pad of paper from my bag and scribbled a note for Monty to call me as soon as he got it. Surely he’d be back around in an hour or two. As for Buzz, well, as long as he showed up for the show, that’s all I cared about. Well, not all, but all I was willing to allow myself to care about. I left the car running as I jumped out and placed the paper under the windshield wiper.

I looked around, but still no one was in the parking lot. It was like a ghost town. As I jumped back in the car, ready to get the heck out of there before I was sucked into the weird black hole, my cell phone rang. I flinched. My nerves were wound tighter than Daddy’s cheap flea market watch. I groped around in my bag until I finally pulled it out.

“Hello,” I said, still glancing over my shoulder with a paranoid gaze.

“Hey, where are you?”

I could tell by Kitty’s voice that she was upset. It wavered and sounded as if she’d been crying.

“I just finished with practice. What’s going on?”

She let out a deep breath. “Danny and I had a fight.”

“Oh, no.” I had to comfort her, but I wanted to do a happy dance in the parking lot. Would they break up for good? Would this be the end? “What happened?” I tried to sound seriously shocked by the news.

“He said I didn’t support him with his music career.” She snorted. “Can you believe that?”

I wanted to ask what music career, but that would just be mean and Kitty was my best friend. I was there to support her. When I knew they were honest to goodness broken up, I wasn’t beyond saying I told you so.

“What does he want you to do?”

“I don’t know.” She sighed. “I told him I had to help you today and he said I spent way more time helping you with your career.”

“Kitty, you don’t have to help me. I already know what I’m going to wear. I don’t want to come between you and Danny.”

I’d like to drive a permanent wedge between them, but whatever. If she really loved him, who was I to stop her?

“But I wanted to do your hair real special for tonight.”

“I can handle it. The place is dark anyway, no one will even notice if I look bad.”

“Ha. As if. They would notice, but you never look bad anyway.”

I laughed. “Right.” I paused, considering my words carefully. “Why don’t you work things out with him? Maybe you’re just not spending enough time together.”

Hmm. After that came out, I realized that wasn’t the case. They did spend a lot of time together.

“I think he needs something else and this is just his way of trying to tell you.”

“I think he’s seeing someone else and is just trying to make it seem like it’s my fault if we break up,” Kitty said.

“Well, there is that. I won’t lie, it’s possible. Where is he now?”

“I don’t know. It was early and I was mad, so I didn’t ask. He took off in a huff.” She let out a little sniffle.

“Sorry, Kitty.”

“No, I’m sorry. You don’t need to listen to me complain right now. I mean, maybe he just isn’t the right guy for me.”

I didn’t know if I should take this opportunity to tell her I didn’t like him. No, it was too soon. They may still get back together and she’d only hold what I said against me.

The roar of the car pulling up alongside mine made me jump. My adrenaline shot up and I almost gave myself whiplash looking over to see who it was.

Chapter 51

I didn’t recognize the man. He was in a new black sedan. After a couple of seconds, he got out of his car, locked it, and smiled as he hurried past. He was dressed in khakis and a white polo. No tattoos, definitely not into the Rockabilly scene.

At this point, Kitty was rambling on about what outfit I should wear. I tuned her out and watched the guy hurry over to the sidewalk and then into the bar. Would he disappear like the rest? Heck, he had a fifty-fifty shot. Okay, I was being silly, no one had really disappeared. I was watching too many episodes of Murder She Wrote, or reading too many mystery novels in my spare time. What little spare time I had.

“Listen, Kitty, I’m sitting here in front of the bar, I need to go home and rest a bit.”

“How did things go this morning, by the way? I would have stopped by, but you know.”

“I know. You don’t have to come and support me all the time. I know you’re trying to be a good friend, but it’s not necessary.

“I know it’s not necessary, but I want to, okay?”

“Okay. Well, things went fine.”

“You hesitated. You wouldn’t do that unless something was wrong. What happened? Don’t keep any secrets from me.”

“I’m not keeping things from you.”

I hesitated again; I couldn’t help it.

“Spill it.”

“Well, this morning I think I saw Buzz in the park. Wait, let me back up. Last night when he followed me home, he kissed me.”

Kitty sputtered, choking on something.

“Are you okay?”

She coughed a few times. Finally, she said, “Sorry, I choked on my Diet Coke. I wasn’t expecting that. What? No, I take that back. I totally knew that would happen. You two have this thing zinging between you. You can’t deny it.”

“I don’t know why he kissed me or why I let him kiss me.”

“You make a cute couple, you know?”

“I’m not dating band members. I told you that, and I told him that.”

“Yeah, whatever you say.”

“I mean it, Kitty.”

“Okay, but how was it?”

I sighed. “It was wonderful.” Was I swooning? That sounded like a swoon. Next thing I knew, I’d call him dreamy. I looked around at his bike still parked in the same spot. Chrome and black metal shone in the sunlight. Where could he be?

“Tell me more.”

“It was delicate. He just pressed his lips to mine and they lingered there for a few seconds. His lips felt cool, in spite of the night heat.”

“Wow. What are you going to do?” she asked.

“About what?”

“About him.”

“I’m not getting involved, that’s what I’m doing. Now back to the story, he was in the park this morning, which wouldn’t be a big deal, but when I looked out the window I saw him talking to someone in a car that’s been following me.”

“My gosh, Veronica, someone is following you? Did you tell the police?”

“Yes.” Good thing I didn’t tell her about Pierce wanting me to help find the killer. She’d completely flip her lid. “But I’m sure it’s nothing to worry about.”

“You can’t be too careful. After your apartment was broken into, don’t you think it means something?”

“I do, but I don’t want to stop living my life because of it. I’ve been hoping all of this would go away. Just somehow cease, and then I can go back to my normal life.”

“Sometimes things change, you know that. You’ll have a new normal now. Just like when Teddy died.”

I didn’t want to talk about my brother; I didn’t want to cry.

“I don’t want the new normal to be filled with chaos. I like my old normal.”

“It won’t be filled with chaos, but things have to settle down first. You discovered dead vampires. Things will be different for you now. You’ll always have the memory of it, but it’ll fade over the years.

“It wasn’t just a dead vampire; it was Johnny, someone who I worked closely with. And then Janey.”

“I know, listen, promise me you’ll be careful.”

“I will, I promise.”

“And call me when you get home safely.”

“You’re not going to make me do that every time I go somewhere, are you?”

“Until mysterious cars stop following you, yes.”

“I asked Buzz why he was in the park and he denied being there.”

“Really? Are you sure it was him?”

“I’m positive. How many guys that look like him are walking around in the park next to my place?”

“Good point.”

“Okay. Listen, I have to go. I’ll call you.”

I hung up and backed the car out of the space. The thought of home had never sounded as good as it did now. I glanced in the rear-view mirror too many times to count. The ride home didn’t produce any car chases or any other weird incidents, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that it was the calm before the storm.

Before anything else, there was one thing I needed to do.

I picked up the phone. After enough rings that I thought I wouldn’t get an answer, she picked up. “Hi, Grandma Annie.”

“Oh, Honey. You lost the book.”

“What? How did you know that?”

“Sweetie, I could tell by your voice.”

“Well, do you happen to know where it is?”

“I’m a witch. I can only do so much with magic. If I knew where it was, I’d be psychic. If I were psychic, I’d pick the lottery numbers and be rich.”

“I’ll find the book, Grandma. I promise.”

“I have faith in you. But do try to hurry, Honey.”

“Okay. Listen, Grandma, I’ll call you later. I have a gig tonight with a record producer. Right after that, I’ll find the book.”

“Call me when you have it.”

After the call, I made a sandwich and skimmed through a magazine, then took a nap. Well, if you consider twenty minutes a nap. As I slipped in and out of sleep, another dream crept into my head, but I’d woken just as the dark shadow began its chase. The figure was after me, only I wasn’t me, I was Kitty. I didn’t know what it meant; the dreams and visions didn’t make sense. If only I had a way to decode them.

Having yet another dream was too much. I felt as if the whole situation was out of my control. I had to do something, so I decided to try magic—again. I might not have Grandma’s book, but I had some books. I’d tried magic so much I had a ton of spells memorized. Reciting them from memory was a piece of cake.

For the spell I’d attempt, I didn’t need a book. I might not be good at witchcraft, but no one could say I didn’t try. I was persistent, if nothing else. Since apparently I’d picked up some kind of psychic ability, I thought I’d give scrying another chance. I’d tried in the past, but nothing had happened. Zip. Nada. Perhaps this time would be different. Basically, it was like fortune-telling. Looking into a crystal ball, but it didn’t have to be a crystal ball, and in this case, my medium of choice was a mirror. I attempted to remove all unwanted thoughts from my mind; I wasn’t sure that was even possible, but I digress.

With any luck, I’d see the exact location of the spell book. Using this method to out the killer would have been great, but baby steps for me. Baby steps….

Grabbing a mirror from the bathroom, I sat on the bed, and placed it on my lap. I closed my eyelids and took a few deep breaths. Once I opened my eyes, I asked for information leading me to the book. My reflection stared back at me. I tried to guide my mind to the psychic light deep inside me—well, supposed to be deep within me. I waited for an image, an impression, or something to appear. I’d take whatever I could get at the moment. As with every other time in the past, I felt my magic, but instead of a strong vibrating hum, it was more like an annoying mosquito buzzing around my head.