Page 3 of The Elementalist
“You were a problem child,” I said.
She gave me a half smile. I had the feeling she liked to have fun, to enjoy life, but recent events had dragged her down. A murdered sister would do that to you.
“I was just being me,” she said, “but the Bradburys had a name to uphold.”
“Your father used to be the Mayor?”
“Yup. Mayor, asshole, you pick,” she said.
I recalled seeing him years ago. He’d smacked one of his sons, Arthur I think, over at the Pines Café. The boy had to be twelve or so at the time and a paparazzi caught the moment of the slap with near perfect timing. That photo was everywhere for months. Some called it the ‘slap heard ’round the world.’
“We shouldn’t speak ill of the dead.”
“And why’s that?”
“Because they can’t defend themselves.”
“Are you sure about that?” she asked cryptically.
“Umm...”
“Anyway, I told Dana not to go out there. I mean, who wanders off for a party deep in the woods around Shadow Pines these days? How many people have to die before people get the idea that it’s not safe here? If you ask me, it was a godsend that I was sent out of this town, even if the boarding high school had been more like a prison.”
“That bad?”
“Compared to what I’d been used to, it felt like prison. Ironside has been good to me. It’s kept me alive.”
She had a point. The sheer number of deaths in this town has been staggering, along with numerous supposed incidents of supernatural activity. Spontaneous combustion. Reports of hauntings. UFOs sightings up the wazoo. Of wolves running free in the streets.
And, of course, the daddy of all rumors...
Vampires.
Yup, vampires. As in bloodsucking fiends. Guess where my mind went while investigating the guy stealing blood from the hospital? Yeah… a rational person would’ve assumed some wacko with a vampire complex. Me? For some reason, as much as I couldn’t believe it, I half expected it to be a real vampire. Probably because the basement hallway, according to witnesses, always stank of rotting bodies whenever blood went missing. This town had a history of such crazy stories, and, with all the disappearances, I couldn’t help but wonder if the rumors might be more than a bunch of scared (and bored) locals running their mouths. Hell, the newspaper got a hold of the blood theft story and went crazy with it. People had been petitioning the mayor for years to make vampires illegal. You can’t make this stuff up!
Anyway, all were whisperings, of course. All were laughed off. Nervously, that is. Truth was, something was happening in this town, something damn strange. A lot went on just below the ability of most people to realize it. One would think that with all of the strange occurrences, I would actually be abusyprivate eye, but that wasn’t the case. Most people didn’t talk about the strange happenings, and fewer still hired me to look into them. Most people swept them under the proverbial rug. Most residents, in my view, were hiding a lot of secrets.
A helluva lot of secrets.
Then again, I could be wrong, too.
Over the years and decades, Crystal’s family had suffered some of the greatest losses. And the tragedy evidently continues...
I recalled the case since I’d seen a bit of it on the news, but not the details. A young-ish married couple slipped away from a party for a quiet walk in the woods and never returned. The authorities called it another random animal attack in the woods.One of dozens over the years. At the time, the names had been withheld. Truth was, I had forgotten about them until now.
“The police claimed a mountain lion attacked them,” I said. “What makes you suspect something else?”
“Because she called me and told me something was following them.”
A cold chill swept over me. “Something or someone?”
“She said something.”
“Did she happen to saywhatfollowed them?”
“No. She was too busy screaming.”
“You heard your sister die? Over the phone?”
