A Shimmer of Angels (20 page)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Allison’s wake sucked. The funeral parlor had been a wash of black clothes and tear-stained faces. Most of the floral arrangements were predictable, scent-less white Calla Lilies. It reminded me in every way of Mom’s funeral. Allison’s friends whispered about me being the one to find her body, and Dad kept patting my knee, annoying the hell out of me. I’d caught a glimpse of Cam’s wings near the back of the room, but he was gone by the time I was able to break away and look for him.

That night, I fell asleep with my pen in my hand, furiously scribbling in my secret notebook everything that had happened at the diner.

The next morning, I bolted out of bed, raced through the shower, and swept the books off my bed and into my backpack. It killed me a little inside, knowing what a mess my books must be in and that I didn’t even have a minute to make my bed. Wet hair dripped down the back of my sweatshirt as I raced down the Powell Street hill to meet Lee at Roxy’s before school. I’d called him on my way out the door, but he hadn’t picked up. He hadn’t picked up the dozen times I’d called him over the weekend, either. I left him another message, along with my cell number. Just in case he’d lost the other six messages I’d left with it.

I pushed through the door of Roxy’s and claimed our booth. Daphne took an order from a couple in their forties and nodded to me. The other waitress, a girl I hadn’t worked with yet, stepped from behind the counter and headed my way with a pencil and pad in hand.

“Need a menu?” she asked.

I shook my head and ordered two hot chocolates, one with extra whipped cream. Lee was a sucker for whipped cream.

While I was waiting, I dug through my backpack for my secret notebook. My fingers bent against my Science book, a couple of spiral-bound notebooks, and my iPod. The notebook wasn’t there.
Shit.
I rummaged frantically through the bag.
It has to be here
,
it has to.

But it wasn’t. In my rush to get out the door, I must have missed it. Which meant I’d left it at home. Out in the open.

I checked the clock, trying to figure out if I had enough time to run home and grab it before school started. I’d be cutting it close, but if I left now—

Someone slid into the seat across from me.

I zipped my bag closed. “Lee, I—” Only when I looked up, it wasn’t Lee sitting across from me, drumming blunt fingers against the tabletop like I was already boring him. Someone much darker sat in his place.

“Lee, huh?” Kade’s voice slid across the table, burrowing beneath my skin. “You must be pretty popular with the boys at school, what with them starting to drop like flies and you seeing angels and all.”

“Wow,” I said flatly. “You’re just full of tact. Only one boy is dead. And for your information, I don’t go around announcing my …”—insanity, madness, curse—“…
issues
to people. Now if you don’t mind, I’m expecting someone.”

The waitress returned, sliding the hot chocolates across the table. “You two enjoy,” she said with a wink at Kade.

Hmm. Guess all it took was a pretty face to put her in a good mood.

Before I could stop him, Kade grabbed Lee’s extra-whip H.C. and raised an eyebrow at me. “Sweetheart,” he pushed the drink away and flashed the waitress a wry smile. “No self-respecting man drinks this crap. Could I get a cup of coffee, please?”

Her smile shot to life, awakening her slim face with beauty. “No problem. Be right back.”

I turned to look out the window, watching the corner Lee usually rounded.

“If your Lee was smart, he’d stay away from a girl as crazy as you.”

His thoughtless comment bored through me. “Why don’t you take that cup of coffee to your usual stool and leave me the hell alone? I’m sure you’d prefer that, anyway. You have to be used to it by now. Being alone, I mean.” It was a low blow, but I had no doubt that his sole reason for sitting with me was to ruin my day. Or to collect on the agreement I’d foolishly made in exchange for information.

“Ouch,” He pressed a hand against his chest in a gesture of mock pain. “Teenage angst cuts the deepest.” The dryness in his voice was palpable. “But I’m not the one being stood up.”

I reached for my bag and slid out of the booth. It was after the time I usually met Lee anyway, and I was going to be late for school.

“Rayna, don’t go. I was just having some fun with you. Teasing. Isn’t that what humans do?”

“I doubt that. And you’re not human.” I kept my voice tight and low while remaining on my feet. “Tell me more about Az.”

“Sit down and have breakfast with me.”

“I thought you didn’t eat.”

“I don’t, but you should. You’re too skinny.”

I looked down at my stomach, my belt cinched to the point I’d had to pierce an extra hole into it, and remembered the blonde he’d soul-sucked in the back alley. “I thought you liked skinny girls.”

“No, I like thin women. Now sit down and order something.”

Eat breakfast and try to get information out of Kade, or sit awkwardly next to Cam in first period trying to figure out what the hell I felt for him?

“Would this be the payment for our agreement yesterday?”

“No, this would be breakfast.”

I hauled my bag to my shoulder and moved for the door.

“With information,” he added.

I stopped. He was playing with me, like I was a shiny new toy, but it didn’t matter. What he had, I needed. It was as simple as that.

Irked, I scooted my bag over and plunked down in the booth. “I eat, you talk.”

***

I made it to school at the tail end of lunch. Lee wasn’t at our usual table. I glanced around for another familiar face. Luke sat with Gina Garson and a few of his buddies. The billowy top Gina was wearing didn’t do anything to help with the rumors. At least Az hadn’t gotten to Luke yet.

The lunch bell rang, and I fumbled my way through the rest of the day. Cam and I didn’t have a chance to talk during History thanks to a pop quiz that spanned the entire period.

After school, I hung around outside for a few extra minutes, waiting, hoping Lee would show up. He didn’t.

Worry bit at me like a pesky mosquito. Lee was the only person in this world I could trust—with everything but the angel thing; no one would believe that. Except, well, the angels. And to repay his kindness, I’d gone and twisted myself up with Cam and Kade, leaving him high and dry. What a spectacular friend I was turning out to be. No wonder he’d missed school; he was probably avoiding me.

Although, missing school just because he was pissed at me didn’t sound like something he’d do. Lee could be mad at me at school, and he could avoid me at school. He knew that I’d never push him into talking to me if he needed a few days to blow off steam.

Now I was beginning to think Lee wasn’t just angry at me, but so fed up with my craziness that he didn’t want to be my friend anymore. I should have seen something like this coming. Sure, we’d had fun together before the angels showed up, but I’d been a walled-off nut-job since then.

Maybe he’d even caught a glance at my secret-notebook ramblings. Or seen the drawing. Wind blew dirt and small yellow leaves up from the ground, swirling them around. I swallowed and headed back inside, needing a moment to think without the chatter of students waiting to board the yellow school busses.

I turned the corner to bypass the stairs and slammed into someone. Not just someone. Cam.

Annoyance furrowed his features. He steadied me and held me at arm’s length, his anger dissolving when he realized I was his collision partner. “I’ve been looking for you.” A few boys in gym clothes trickled down the stairs. Cam took the sleeve of my sweater and towed me toward the first floor hallway, which was empty.

He dropped my sleeve. That annoyed look returned to his face. “I can’t believe after what happened Friday you’d actually go back to work at the diner. I didn’t think I’d have to tell you to stay away from there. What were you thinking?” The growing worry inside me must have shown in my face. “What’s wrong?”

“I don’t know. Lee wasn’t in school today. He hasn’t been answering my calls or meeting me for breakfast. I don’t know. I think he’s … this is stupid, I know.”

“Do you think he’s in trouble?”

“Trouble? Like … like the
Az
kind of trouble?” I stared at him, desperate to know if that’s where he was going. In the window behind him, darker clouds rolled over the fog.

A group of girls passed us, and he lowered his voice. “I don’t know. It’s a possibility, I suppose.”

I ran a hand through my hair, taking in the casual way he’d just told me my best friend could be in serious angel trouble. “He hasn’t been himself lately. Not since all this angel stuff started. Not since Allison’s death. He’s never ignored me this way before.” I shook my head. “Now I’m really worried.” I yanked my cell phone from my back pocket and called Lee again. I bit my lower lip harder with each ring. “He didn’t answer. Should I be worried? I mean, what guarantee do you have that Luke’s going to be the next victim?”

“There are never any guarantees in these situations, but if they sent me here to watch Luke, then there’s a reason.”

“I have to go check on him.”

“You can’t go alone. If Azriel, or whoever is taking lives here, finds out you can see us …”

He didn’t need to finish that sentence. Suffice it to say, if that happened, I was in deep crap.

“Then come with me.”

Cam glanced down at his watch. “Now? I can’t. I finally found an in with Luke. He’s probably waiting for me outside right now.”

The more I thought about the possibility of a soul-sucking, suicide-inducing angel anywhere near Lee, the faster my fear rose.

“Lee’s my best friend—my only friend. And something isn’t right.” My voice lifted high above the remaining students.

Cam led me farther back into the hall, away from the front door and main stairwell. “It’s going to be okay.”

“You can’t guarantee that, you said it yourself.” I slapped his hand away. “These people, every single one of us except for Luke, we mean nothing to you. You’ll go on whether you save us or not when you’re called away to your next mission. But Lee means something to me!”

Cam fired back at me so fast I didn’t have time to brace myself for it. “Don’t ever say that. They mean
everything
to me.” My heart beat faster against my ribcage. The tension in my fists slackened.

They
mean everything to him, not
you
.

I swallowed back the rejection I hadn’t expected to feel. Determined to go before I said—or did—something I’d regret, I stepped around him, ignoring the brush of his wings against my shoulder.

“Rayna,” Cam called out calmly, but I didn’t hear him come after me. Good. That would make things easier.

Before I reached the stairs, my phone vibrated against my thigh. I pulled it from my pocket and pushed the green button to answer before thinking to check the caller ID.

“Hello?”

“Ms. Evans, Detective Rhodes.”

I stopped.

“Ms. Evans, are you there?”

“Uh, yeah. Sorry. I thought you’d be my dad.” I worked hard to keep a tremble from my voice.

“He and I just spoke. He was kind enough to pass along your cell number.” In the background, I could hear him tapping on computer keys. “The reason I’m calling is to give you an update on Allison Woodward’s case. Your art teacher corroborated your story from last Tuesday.” A man’s voice called for the detective. “Ms. Evans, can you hold on?”

“Sure, I guess.”

At first the detective’s words were too muffled to make out, but the longer he kept me on hold, the clearer his conversation became. I turned the volume on my phone up all the way. Eventually, I could make out entire sentences.

“The medical examiner placed the time of death within the time Allison Woodward left class and when the nine-one-one call was made.”

I swallowed and listened harder.

“Now here’s where the discrepancy comes in. According to the medical examiner, the twenty to twenty-five minutes Allison was unaccounted for and the cuts on her wrists don’t line up. Jim said she shouldn’t have bled out before the paramedics arrived.”

I reeled, placing my hand on the locker door beside me. Cam circled in front of me, though I had no idea how long he’d been there. He was too distracting to look at, so I turned, leaning my backpack against the row of lockers instead.

“Under normal circumstances …” His voice died off for half a second before I could hear him again. “… Should have taken closer to forty minutes to bleed out from those particular cuts.”

The other man asked something I couldn’t make out.

“No. Negative for drugs or alcohol. Jim confirmed there’s no medical explanation that he can find… I know, and he’s the expert. When you’re done writing that up, get me a burger, will ya?”

“Miss Evans? You still there?” His voice blared in my ear. I jerked the phone away and lowered the volume.

“Hello?” I tried to pretend I hadn’t just heard his very his-ears-only conversation, or that I forgot I was on the phone at all. I probably failed at both.

“Sorry about that. I was just calling to let you know we’ve been looking into the Allison Woodward case, and due to the nature of her death, we’re labeling it an official homicide investigation. Just thought I’d let you know, since we may need to call you in to ask you some more questions. Thanks for your time.” His end of the line clicked as he hung up on me.

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Cam caught me as I sank to the floor. He didn’t ask what was wrong; instead he helped me shed my backpack and sat on the ground beside me while I processed Detective Rhode’s conversation.

“The police think Allison’s death wasn’t a suicide. They’re opening an investigation.” A nuclear blast went off in my stomach. “I found her, so I’m probably near the top of the suspect list.”
Plus I just left a mental hospital three months ago, so rocket me up to suspect number one
.

This couldn’t be happening. I wanted to stand, to pace, but I stayed where I was, hiding my shaking hands behind my back. What was going to happen when the evidence led the police to a Fallen angel? Nothing, because that wouldn’t happen. More likely, I’d become the scapegoat.