The Lost Souls Dating Agency (7 page)

‘What things?' I asked suspiciously.

He did not reply. There was no use following him anymore. I wasn't going to get any answers. Frankly, I wasn't sure what I wanted answered anyway.

‘Good night,' I called gruffly as he walked away. He waved his arm casually without looking at me and disappeared into the night.

***

The next day, I went straight to the gym in the hope of meeting Fiona there. She didn't turn up. I finished my weights routine and left. I was in a rotten mood which I found hard to shake. Ironic, when my first case was proceeding so well.

As soon as it was dark, I rang Victor. He didn't answer his phone. I tried a few times with no success. I must have left him a zillion messages.

The next night, I rang again grumpily, half expecting never to hear from him again. He answered after three rings.

‘Before you ask, yes I did get your messages,' Victor said briskly.

‘Why didn't you ring me back then?' I jumped.

‘I was away,' he added slowly, ‘on business.'

I considered this. ‘Can I ask what business?'

Victor was silent.

I decided it was no use sulking and said instead, in a professional tone, ‘I'll keep it confidential of course, in case you are worried.'

‘I had to consult with a few people on a property I am selling in England.'

Likely story! ‘So you expect me to believe you flew overnight to England and back?'

‘Well I could do that, or I could just Skype and conference call,' he said sarcastically.

Idiot! Why was I being so accusatory? I would never get any information from him this way. I felt like a nagging mother.

‘Are you going to see Fiona again?'

‘Yes, this weekend,' Victor replied casually.

‘Can —'

‘And this time I'm not telling you where we are going.'

I pursed my lips. ‘That's fine, I wasn't going to ask.'

‘Shaleenee, you must learn to trust me.' Victor's voice softened. ‘I will do her no harm.'

I scowled down the phone. So this was it. I had finally reached it, my moral crossroad. It was my decision to get involved in this world. How could I have thought it would not present me with these dangerous choices? Choices I would make about other people's lives. Ultimately, there was not much more I could do but choose to trust the vampire.

For now.

I didn't hear from Victor for the next few weeks. I decided not to contact him, even though it made me uneasy. I had given him what he wanted, practically on a silver platter. Should I have been more prudent, more cautious?

In a bid to ignore my conscience, I focused on my lectures and course work. I was sitting in my usual spot in the university library when I heard a friendly voice. ‘Hey there, Shalini!' I looked up to see Will grinning at me. It was hard not to grin back.

‘How was your break?' he asked, placing himself on the seat next to me.

‘Uneventful,' I lied. ‘How was yours?'

‘I was up in Byron Bay scuba diving for shipwrecks.' Will shrugged, as if it was the most common thing to do.

‘Wow really?' I noticed he did look more tanned. His copper blonde hair fell neatly across his forehead and he had a hint of golden holiday stubble across his square jaw.

‘Yup.' He smiled. It was quite a nice smile.

‘And what was the purpose of this shipwreck investigation?' I asked.

He leaned back on the seat and cracked his knuckles comically. In a deep, serious voice he began, ‘Well, young lady, I'm thinking of doing my honours project next year on a study of the underwater shipwrecks along the coast of Byron Bay.'

‘How is that related to anthropology?' I interrupted him.

‘It isn't,' he shot back quickly. ‘You know my major is environmental science, don't you?'

‘Then how come you're in my new media class this year? And the religion class last year?' I was puzzled. For a science major, he sure took a lot of social science classes.

‘Oh I can choose a few electives from the Arts degree,' he said clearing his throat. ‘It helps to broaden my horizons,' he concluded vaguely.

‘I see.' I nodded and left it at that. All of a sudden I felt a little shy around Will.

As he bent his head to reach into his bag for his laptop, I saw another familiar face appear behind him. This face had the signs of a dark thunder cloud about it.

‘Shalini Gupta.' Megan glared at me. ‘I thought I might find you here.'

Oh no. I had avoided her for weeks and I knew she would be furious. She made a motion to come sit near me when Will looked up from his bag and gave her a smile. That took the edge off Megan's fury. Thank you, Will!

She gave him a cursory smile and turned back to me. ‘We need to talk.'

Will looked at her and then at me. He shoved his laptop back in his bag and stood up. ‘I'll catch up with you some other time, Shalini,' he said. Why did I only just notice the dimples that ran down either side of his face as he smiled at me?

‘Sure, you know where to find me.' I smiled back, sans dimples.

He winked and left. I watched him walk away and noticed that Megan did as well. She plonked herself on the spot where he had been seated.

‘Who was that?' she asked, momentarily forgetting her anger at me.

‘That's Will! The guy I told you about. We took the religion class together last year remember? We met so often in the library that we got to talking and studying together.'

‘You didn't tell me study Will was so cute.' Megan gave me a look which I knew meant,
where have you been hiding him?

‘He's okay I suppose.' I felt my cheeks warm.

Megan stared intently at me. ‘You can tell me about Will later. Right now I want to know about Lost Souls. What happened? I've been trying to ring you. You disappeared after the advertisement thing. I mean if it hasn't worked…' Her voice trailed off as she gave me a sympathetic look.

‘It did!' I whispered the details of my dealings with Victor to Megan. It was funny watching her face change from surprise to shock to utterly perplexed. After I finished, I knew it was time to tell Neha.

Megan rang her and we told her to meet us at the warehouse. I felt such a surge of cathartic release as I talked to them. Seated around the sofa in my office, I wondered why I had waited so long to confide in my friends.

‘Gosh I don't know whether I want to meet this Victor or not,' Neha gushed, after I concluded.

‘Are you kidding me?' Megan looked at her incredulously. ‘I don't want a vampire anywhere near me!'

‘But he's a good guy,' Neha said hopefully.

‘We don't know that,' Megan said seriously. ‘What do you think has happened to Fiona?' she asked me.

‘I don't know.' I really didn't.

‘Do you know where she lives?' Megan asked curiously.

I shook my head. ‘No, I just met her at the gym and I haven't seen her there for weeks.'

‘What about where she works?' Megan persisted.

A light bulb went off in my head. ‘Of course! She is research assistant at Victoria Uni for a…' I tried to remember the name of the professor she worked for. ‘Fergusson? Pearson? I think his name sounded like fearsome or something.'

Megan nodded. ‘Easy enough to find out with a quick online search.'

I jumped up from my seat on the sofa. I wanted to hug Megan. I would circumnavigate Victor totally, and track down Fiona instead.

Two days later, I sat waiting in an open meeting area near Professor McPherson's office, at the Footscray campus of Victoria University. I hid behind a large book which I carried with me when Fiona walked past. She didn't even glance at me. She looked terrible! Her usually rosy cheeks were replaced by skin that looked almost as sallow as Victor's and her eyes were distant and puffy. She looked like she had been crying for days. As soon as she went past, I tiptoed to the edge of the corridor wall and saw her walk into an office four doors down. I went back to my waiting spot. What had Victor done to make her look like that?

I sat in the meeting room all day, and when Fiona went past carrying her bag to go home, I waited a few seconds then followed her. She walked to the train station at Footscray, where it became easier for me to meld with the crowd. She changed trains at Flinders Street and I nearly lost sight of her at one point before I quickly jumped into the same compartment in her departing train. I don't know why I bothered to be so careful about not being discovered. Fiona seemed to be in a distant trance. She barely looked up or around and her entire gait was sorrowful.

It was dark by the time the train pulled into Windsor station and I followed Fiona out past the bright lights of the shops near the station, and into a dimly lit back street lined with rows of Victorian terrace houses. I tried not to think about the night and the many creatures that inhabited it…rather one creature in particular.

When she reached close to a little cottage, I saw her stop abruptly. I did too, a little distance away. It looked like she was staring at something in her front yard. I noticed a tall slender shape protruding noticeably from behind her wooden fence, its outline faint in the moonlight. It looked like a letterbox. Only, she already had a letterbox, right next to the taller one. With paint peeling and rotting wood, it looked rather pathetic next to its lofty neighbour. Fiona quickly opened her gate and walked into the house. I drew closer as the patio lights came on. A circle of bright light flooded her front yard. I hurled myself behind a nearby bush. That was close!

Fiona walked out more confidently into her front yard. She stood close to the shiny new letterbox and investigated it. From behind my shrubbery, across the road from her house, I itched to get closer and investigate it too. The new letterbox looked exquisitely made, the outside reflecting an ivory shell in the bright light that hit it. It was seated on an ivory pole at Fiona's exact height. I saw Fiona open the box and peer in cautiously. She hesitated for a second, put a hand gingerly in and retrieved a sheet of paper. It looked like a note, made of heavy card.

I saw her stare at the note for a few minutes. Were those tears that she wiped away? She moved her hands, as if to shred the note, but she merely wrestled with it. The heavy paper must have refused to split. Instead she crumpled it into a small ball and threw it on the damp grass in front of her.

‘You bastard! This is not going to convince me,' she said aloud, looking up and shaking her fist at the trees that lined the sidewalk. The venom in her voice gave me a start. I looked up in the trees involuntarily. I saw them sway gently in the breeze. She turned, marched back into the house and slammed the door shut. I heard her move noisily about.

Gees, what had Victor done to upset her so?

As if on cue, I heard a whoosh behind me. I didn't even have to turn around to know who it was.

‘What are you doing here, Shaleenee?' Victor asked. For the first time, his voice sounded cold and menacing.

I looked over my shoulder and stood up. I kept him in sight the entire time. ‘More to the point, what are
you
doing here?' I asked.

‘I didn't think I was hiring a detective when I came to your dating agency,' he said sarcastically.

‘Consider it a bonus,' I shot back.

I heard the noise of a door slam from inside Fiona's house. Victor looked up at the house and a pained expression flashed across his face.

This was my chance. ‘What have you done? Tell me.'

Victor gave me a gloomy look. ‘Not here. She might hear us. I'll meet you at the warehouse tomorrow. I have a few things to take care of tonight.' Before I had time to say anything he was gone. His whole body dispersed into the dark around him.

The gall of that man…that, that creature! I hated the way he disappeared on me all the time.

***

The next morning, I deposited myself and some books in the warehouse. I could study while I waited. Victor probably wouldn't show up till late evening, but I decided to wait in the warehouse anyway. A few hours later, absorbed in my readings, I heard a loud knock on the main door. I looked at my phone, it was eleven in the morning.

I sprang two steps backward when I opened the door. Victor stood close on the other side.

‘Bloody hell, Victor, you scared me! It's daytime! How are you here?'

‘I drove.'

‘No I mean, how is this possible? The sun…?' I was astonished and more than a little alarmed.

‘The sun is not harmful to me. Neither is garlic for that matter.' His expression told me he was enjoying this.

‘I just assumed that…well I never saw you at any other time than at night…so…'

‘So you believed the old superstition.'

‘Well can you blame me?'

‘No, it has actually saved my kind many times, people lulling themselves into a false sense of security at daylight,' he said roguishly.

Incredible!

I stood aside as he came in. I almost expected to see him sparkle, and watched closely as he came in from the sunlight. His skin remained pallid and he caught me staring at him. I felt like a fool.

‘Why didn't you just whoosh into the room as you usually do?' I asked as I quickly looked away.

‘I was trying to be polite,' he said slowly.

Just as well, I would have a minor coronary if I saw him suddenly appear in the room in daytime. ‘Well thanks,' I exclaimed lamely.

He sat down on the sofa and I remained standing. ‘First, do you have anything to do with that box outside Fiona's house?' I was curious about it.

‘Yes,' he replied curtly.

‘What is it?'

‘A letterbox,' he replied plainly.

So exasperating! ‘Yes I know it's a letterbox. But what does it
do
?'

‘It enables me to leave messages for her and,' he hesitated, ‘other objects I would like her to have.'