Spooked (17 page)

Between blasts of luxuriously warm air, I shivered as I thought of how Fiona could’ve simply disappeared from a public bathroom in a very public place. Whoever took her was pretty cocky. But then, he’d gotten away with it at least three times before, if not more. I felt helpless, not being able to do a thing to help. I slunk down low and closed my eyes, trying to pick up any thoughts from anyone near the diner. The only thing I picked up on was alarm—buzzing, loud and hectic. It had happened again. No girl was safe.

The abductor was likely long gone, with Fiona.

How the hell had he done it? A gun? He would’ve had to walk her out of there.

Then a grim realization came over me.

Her ghosts would’ve been all around her, trying to protect her, hiding her from view as he took her away. Chances were that he was shielded, too.

Finally, after what seemed an eternity, Mick came out to the truck.

I looked at his pale face as he started the engine. “Jesus,” he breathed. “He took her with everyone around.” He looked back at me, his eyes wild and panicked. “How could he do that? How the hell did he get away with it?”

“He snuck her out the back door. The one near the restrooms,” I said. “Her ghosts might’ve hidden them both.”

“Wouldn’t people notice the ghosts moving around?”

“People often don’t see what’s right in front of them.”

He nodded as he navigated the truck out of the diner parking lot. “Yeah. It’s crazy.”

“Add to that the fact that everybody knows him, Mick. It’s the only way he’d get away with it. They are so used to seeing him that he isn’t even registering on their radar. He is completely nonthreatening and familiar.”

“Tanner. It has to be.” Mick’s gloved hands shook each time he lifted them from the wheel. “He was conveniently missing when Fiona vanished.”

“This can’t go on. What the hell are we going to do?” I sat up and forward, watching his face. Fear made me hyper and I felt as if I might jump right out of my skin.

He shook his head slowly. “Whatever it takes.”

As we drove, something gray and wispy moved in my peripheral vision. I followed it, and my heart sank.

Fiona’s ghosts were seeping through the cracks in the doors, moving in and around me.

I leaned my head back against the seat of the car and said a prayer that the reason they were no longer with her was for some reason other than the one that was in my mind.

That she was no longer of this world.

That she was dead. Just like them.

Chapter Sixteen

“There is only one thing left to do.” I pulled the paper that Mr. Tanner gave Fiona from my coat pocket.

Mick’s eyes were wide as he looked at me. “Are you out of your mind?”

“What else can we do before he kills her?” I said, looking down at the map and the phone number scrawled beneath it.

“Call the cops? Give them the map?”

I looked at him. “Mick. We can’t be sure he’ll be there. We know what Tanner likes. Young girls. I’m a young girl. I can get him.”

“He can get you, too.” Mick shook his head. “No way. It’s too dangerous.”

I dug my cell out of my coat pocket. “I’m not asking for your permission.”

“Oh, Jesus,” Mick muttered under his breath. He moved a hand over his face.

“We have to get him before he kills her. I have a feeling he likes to take his time with the girls, when he does get them alone. We may have some time. He just grabbed her.” I punched Edward Tanner’s number.

No answer. I waited for the tone to leave a voice message. “Mr. Tanner. This is Lorelei. I know everyone is looking for me, but I had to take off for a while. I couldn’t handle everything going on. But my cousin Fiona is missing now. I found your number on a piece of paper she had in her backpack. ” I let my fear and panic thicken my voice with tears. “I don’t know who to turn to. Please help me.” I rattled off my cell number, even though I knew it would come up on his phone anyway.

As we pulled into Mick’s driveway, I noticed his face looked so white he seemed almost incandescent.

“This is a really bad idea, Lorelei,” he said, glancing at me, his face looking stricken. “How are you going to explain how you knew she was missing so fast?”

“I heard a radio news bulletin.” I shrugged. “I want to get her back, Mick. I don’t want her to be one of the missing.”

He reached over and touched my face, his fingers trembling. “I don’t want
you
to be one of the missing.”

My breath had caught in my throat, my head dizzy. The intensity in his eyes reminded me that this was not a game. This was real, and I might not come back.

But if I didn’t do this, if I didn’t try this one last thing to get Fiona back safely, I wouldn’t be able to continue living. I’d be dead inside.

I’d be the walking dead. I’d never be the same.

***

Seventeen minutes later Mr. Tanner called me back.

“Lorelei!” His voice was breathy, surprised and pleased.

“Yes,” I said, my voice sounding small.

“Thank God you’re okay,” he said. “Tell me where you are.”

“I’ll meet you,” I said. “But I don’t want to be seen.”

He didn’t even pause. “I understand. Do you have the paper I drew the map on for Fiona?” His voice sounded too casual. It bothered him that I had it—it was evidence.

“Yes,” I said, my voice shaking.

“Good. Does anyone else know about it? I just want to make sure that you remain hidden, if that’s what you want.”

I just bet you do
. I couldn’t help grinning. He really was a slimeball. “No. I just found it and nobody knows about it.”

“Okay. After dark, meet me in the cemetery, behind the big angel. You know the one?”

I nodded my head, though I knew he couldn’t see me doing it. “Yes, I do. I’ll be there.”

“Seven o’clock?”

I nodded again. “Seven.”

He paused. “Don’t worry, Lorelei. Everything will be okay. I’m here for you.”

“Thank you, Mr. Tanner.”

“Call me Eddie.”

“Okay.” But I couldn’t bring myself to call him Eddie right then. Eddie the pervert? Eddie the abductor of young girls? Eddie the killer?

And his last words before he ended the call chilled me, stealing my breath. “Lorelei, I’ll keep you hidden. No one will find you.”

Just like the others.

***

Mick dropped me off a block away and I walked quickly to the cemetery. One gloved hand clutched the collar of my parka tightly while the other fisted a switchblade deep in my pocket. My hood covered my head and obscured my face, and I felt Fiona’s ghosts moving around me, but giving me plenty of room. I couldn’t help wondering whether Fiona had sent them to watch over me or whether they just had nowhere else to go and were familiar with me, having woven themselves around me at Brianna’s vigil.

I shivered, making my way steadily into the cemetery. A light snow flurried around me in the quiet. I knew that Mick was watching me, staying far enough away that he wasn’t being obvious—watching me from some side street or something. Still, my hands shook.

In moments Mr. Tanner came seemingly out of nowhere, walking toward me. His shoes were silent on the pavement, and it freaked me out that I wouldn’t have heard him coming had he decided to creep up behind me without warning.

Almost before I could blink he was in front of me, leaning in close, a hand on each of my shoulders.

“Lorelei,” he murmured, my name sounding slightly obscene on his lips.

I thought I felt his breath on my face, but I hoped it had been wind.

He hurried me out of the cemetery and to his smoke silver sedan—a Lincoln, a few years old. White hot fear pumped adrenaline through my blood, making my heart race as I sat on the black leather seats.

“These seats are heated, so you’ll warm up fast.” He patted my thigh. “Don’t worry. We’ll get you somewhere safe.”

I barely noticed the heated seat. My fight-or-flight instinct had kicked in and I had to grip the edges of the seat to keep myself from leaping out of the car.

“Where have you been, Lorelei? Everyone is worried sick.” He looked at me, his eyes intense.

“I can’t tell you that. Not yet, anyway.”

“Does anyone know where you are?” The concern in his voice sounded contrived. Saccharine sweet.

A chill moved over me all over again and I quivered. “No.”

I thought I saw something pass over his face. Relief? Satisfaction? “You poor girl.” He turned the heat up so the air blasted out toward me. “You’re freezing.”

“Thank you, Mr. Tanner,” I said, trying to keep the quiver out of my voice.

“Eddie,” he said. “Please.”

I tried to smile. “I’m not used to thinking of you as Eddie.”

He smiled back. “I know. It would take some time, wouldn’t it?”

“Are you taking me to the place on the map you drew for Fiona?”

“Yes. You’ll be safe there. And there’s a fireplace. You’ll be toasty in no time.”

I looked straight ahead, through the windshield at the swirling snow, and saw him looking at me again, a sidelong stare that made me scream inside.

I stared at the road ahead of us, dread moving through me, making it difficult for me to breathe.

“It’s not safe for you out in the world right now, Lorelei.”

He sounded so sincere that I looked at him and studied his face as he turned back to the road ahead of us. His eyes were not predatory, but he slid a hand over my thigh, and my senses were all confused. Fear was keeping me from being able to assess the situation properly.

“Mr.…E-Eddie…” I began, the stammer making me feel more anxious.

He turned his face to me, his eyes large, eyebrows raised. I wondered whether he even realized what he was doing.

“I’m uncomfortable with your hand on my leg,” I said, my voice sounding small and uncertain.

“Oh!” He removed his hand quickly, as if my leg had burned him through his gloves. “I’m sorry, dear. I didn’t mean a thing by it. I’m just…feeling protective of you. That’s all.”

I nodded. “It’s okay. I just don’t know who to trust right now. Like you said, it’s not safe.”

Edward Tanner was definitely a letch, but that didn’t mean necessarily that he was a killer.

Still. Three girls were missing. And he had a penchant for young girls.

“I just want to keep you…” he murmured, mostly to himself, it seemed.

He wanted to keep me?

My blood turned icy in my veins. “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you.”

My heart hammered so hard I thought I could see my coat moving in time with its frantic beat.

“Safe,” he said, softly. His face seemed a bit off. Like his features weren’t put together quite right. His eyes had taken on a wild glow. “I want to keep you safe.”

I nodded. “Thank you.”

Oh my God. Oh my God
. The thought was like a chant in my mind. I didn’t know how I’d get out of this. I searched the mirrors, and Mick’s headlights were nowhere to be seen. Where was he?

We rode in silence for a few minutes, the trees becoming blurry in the dusky light. The snow fell harder, but Edward Tanner didn’t slow down.

His fingers reached out and fumbled with the radio buttons. He found the oldies station and began singing with Jerry Lee Lewis. His gloved hands slapped the wheel in time with the boppy beat.

We were in the middle of nowhere. I dug my cell phone out of my pocket and flipped it open.

“Oh, you won’t get reception here,” he said. “There’s nothing out here.”

Shit.

“Oh. I just wanted to see whether Fiona texted me. See if she might have gotten somewhere safe.”

Shadows moved across his eyes when he looked at me. He nodded. “I sure hope she has.”

“Me, too.” I put my cell back into my pocket.

He turned in to a driveway that seemed to go on forever, and then parked in front of a quaint log cabin. Any other time I would’ve thought it was cool. But not this night.

“Okay, kiddo. Let’s go.”

We both climbed out of the vehicle, and I fell onto my hands and knees in the snow, my legs betraying my frayed nerves. I hadn’t put my gloves back on, and as soon as my fingers touched the icy cold of the snow, the wind stole my breath and I felt more than heard whispers float up around me.

“Lorelei, are you okay?” Tanner’s legs were in front of me, his knees moving close to my face as he bent and reached both large hands out to me.

I couldn’t make out what the whispers were saying—there were so many voices. Whispers of young girls. Urgent, panicked. Trying to warn me away.

Fiona’s ghosts came up around me then, mixing and merging with the snow, moving so fast they were a blur, trying to wrap themselves around me.

“I need to go home,” I said, my voice small.

His face was stricken. “No, no, no, no, no. No, Lorelei. It’s not safe there. Your Aunt Delia hasn’t been acting right. I think she needs help.”

I think you need help, you sick freak
.

Reaching shaking hands out to his, I allowed him to pull me up. “Needs help? Shouldn’t we help her?”

He shook his head, too hard. “She threatened to stab me to death if I went near her. Lorelei, she was growling at me through the door. And it smells bad. The whole area around the house smells horrible. I called Doc Griffith to check on her. He’ll take care of her.”

I barely heard my voice. “I should be with her.”

“No.” His grip on my arms became steely. “You shouldn’t.” He began pulling me toward the cabin. “You’ll be exposed.”

The whispers became louder, overlapping one another. I couldn’t hear the words but the message was clear.
Get away. Now
.

I pulled in the opposite direction. “Let go of me!”

I moved toward him and jammed a knee forward, but Mr. Tanner was too fast, moving backward. His grip on me didn’t loosen.

“Whoa! Easy girl. Easy.” He laughed, clearly amused.

“Let me go, you freakin’ pervert!”

He stopped pulling and stared, wide-eyed, as if I’d slapped him. “What? What did you say?”

Mr. Tanner blinked, stiffened, his eyes becoming huge. A dark circle appeared in the center of his forehead just before he fell forward, knocking me backward. A drop of his blood fell on my cheek. I screamed, shoving him off me and crab-walked backward. I kept screaming, my horror and terror complete as I watched him twitching in the snow.