Dead Is the New Black (11 page)

"For what?" I asked. Giving her my guy, not drop-kicking her across town, what?

"For saving my life," she said.

"Daisy, this is Cassandra Morris," Ryan said.

Cassandra? Why did her voice sound so familiar? Then I remembered the voice echoing in my mind.

"The girl you saved at the Black Opal," Cassandra chirped.

I thought Rose flinched when she mentioned the name of the club, but I couldn't be sure because Cassandra was bouncing in her seat.

I introduced her to my sisters and then called out, "Flo, can we get a couple more menus, please?"

To Cassandra I said, "Order anything you'd like. My treat." This technique was called greasing the witness. Cassandra ordered a banana split and a Coke. Ryan asked for coffee.

"Cassandra was just released from the hospital, so she was down at the station answering a few questions for my dad," Ryan said pointedly.

Interesting that Cassandra was already out of the hospital but Rachel was still stuck there, growing weaker day by day. Which meant that the vampire, whoever it was, was still feeding off Rachel. Who'd been to the hospital to see her? Practically everybody at Nightshade High.

Then I realized Ryan was still standing, so we all scooted over to make room for him. He sat across from me, next to Rose. He tried to catch my eye, but I ignored him. He wasn't completely off the hook yet. Lead or not, Cassandra was still a gorgeous redhead.

I waited until they'd placed their order and Flo was out of earshot.

"Can you tell us what happened that night?" I asked.

"You sound just like Chief Mendez," she said. "Side Effects May Vary is my favorite band," Cassandra explained. "I never miss a gig. Unless I have a tournament or something."

"Tournament?" Poppy said.

"I'm a cheerleader for the San Carlos Squids."

Poppy made a face at the name. "Who wants to be the
Squids?
" she said.

"Nightshade High doesn't exactly have the best mascot in the world," I said. "We're the Sea Monsters, remember?"

"And UC Nightshade's mascot is the Slug," Rose added.

"So you were at the Black Opal to see the band?" I prompted, trying to bring the conversation back to the night in question.

"Were you alone or did you have a date?" Poppy asked.

"I went alone," Cassandra said. "I like to keep my options open." She elbowed me in the ribs, just in case I didn't get it.

"And is that what you were doing that night? Keeping your options open?" I sounded a little sour.

" Trying," she said with a mischievous glint in her eye, "but there weren't many likely prospects."

"Then what happened?" Ryan asked.

"Well, the band took a break and I went down the hall. I was going to try to sneak backstage and meet them," she explained.

"How did you know where to go to get backstage?" Rose asked.

Cassandra giggled. "This guy I know works there. We've hooked up a couple of times and he told me."

Rose didn't say a word, but I knew she was wondering if the guy was Nicholas.

"Then what happened?" I asked.

Cassandra thought for a moment. "I don't really remember much after that. I think I saw a white light or something and then
bam,
I woke up in the hospital."

She took off her cowboy hat and fanned herself with it. That's when I saw it. There was a long white streak in her hair, just like the one Rachel had.

I nudged Poppy, who asked Cassandra, "Did you get your hair highlighted recently?"

Cassandra looked puzzled. "No, but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Maybe nothing, but maybe something," I replied. "Do you know where you got that streak of white in your hair?"

"Not a clue," she said indifferently. "I like it, though," she said. "It makes me stand out from my twin."

"You have a twin?"

"Yes, her name is Chelsea," Cassandra said. "We're not identical, but we look enough alike that people still get us confused sometimes."

Chelsea? Chelsea Morris, the dead girl from the morgue, was Cassandra's sister? Oh, no. I knew there was something familiar about Cassandra besides the voice and the cowboy hat.

I exchanged a glance with my sisters. Should we break the bad news to Cassandra? It didn't seem right to keep the information from her, but it would sound absolutely crazy to tell someone that her dead sister was running around Nightshade. Oh, and we thought she was a psi-vamp.

"Maybe we could talk to your sister," Rose suggested.

"I haven't talked to her lately. She's staying with our dad right now in Los Angeles. She and my mom got into this huge fight," she said.

I grabbed a napkin and wrote down my name, phone number, and e-mail address. "If she gets in touch with you, have her call or e-mail me, okay?" I had a dreadful feeling we wouldn't be hearing from Chelsea. I hoped I was wrong. I hoped it was like in the movies. Maybe if we found the head vampire before Chelsea sucked the life out of someone, it wouldn't be too late for her.

Cassandra shrugged and put the napkin in her purse. "Sure, but she's pretty mad at Mom. Chelsea hasn't even been returning my phone calls."

Ryan looked at his watch. "I should get Cassandra home."

"Why?" she said. "I don't have to be home for ages. I thought we could go somewhere and talk."

Poppy rolled her eyes at that one. I could almost hear her thinking,
What a lame-ass line.

"You don't have to be home," he said, "but I do. Daisy, are you ready to go?" His eyes pleaded with me to say yes. Since I didn't want Ryan to be stuck fending off Cassandra's advances, or even worse,
not
fending them off, I said yes.

We made it to the door before Poppy called out, "Be good, kids!"

Ryan and I both blushed. Cassandra looked from Ryan to me and said, "So you two are a couple, I guess." She sounded disappointed.

Ryan grabbed my hand and held on for dear life. "Yeah, we're a couple," he said. It was news to me. Dating, yes, but to me,
couple
meant something more. I just hoped it meant the same thing to Ryan as it did to me.

We dropped Cassandra off at her house, which was a cute little bungalow in the pricey part of San Carlos.

"Maybe I'll see you around at the Black Opal," she said. "Side Effects is playing another gig next weekend."

"You're going back to the club after what happened to you?"

"Sure, my dad always says you gotta get back on the horse, you know." She tilted her cowboy hat at a rakish angle. "Thanks again for everything."

"Cassandra," I called as she walked to her front door, "do me a favor and don't go anywhere alone, okay?"

"Will do," she said.

We watched from the car to make sure Cassandra made it inside safely, and then Ryan drove me home.

This time, he parked away from the streetlight and cut the engine. And when he kissed me, I didn't worry anymore about vampires, or beautiful redheads, because his kiss told me everything I needed to know.

Chapter Thirteen

That week, I didn't make much progress with the psionic vampire case. But in my defense, Samantha scheduled practice every single night after school, which definitely cut into my sleuthing time.

By Friday, every muscle in my body ached. It had been a long time since gymnastics. So I had to repress a groan when Samantha announced that we'd have a Saturday-morning practice as well.

"Bright and early," she said. "I expect everyone to be there."

"But we have an away game tonight," I protested. "We won't be back until late."

"Suck it up, Giordano," she said. "You need to toughen up if you're going to be a cheerleader."

Miss Foster smiled at me sympathetically but didn't override Sam's order.

"You're doing a great job, Daisy!" she said.

It was a drag to practice on Saturdays, but the football team practiced then, too, so I was looking forward to hanging out with Ryan afterward.

But I never even saw him after practice. I loitered outside the boys' locker room, but he never showed. Finally, I started feeling like a football groupie, so I gave up and walked home alone.

As I left the school, a car pulled up and honked its horn. "Hey, Daisy," Jordan called from the driver's seat, "do you need a ride?"

"No thanks, Jordan," I said. "I'll just walk, it's no biggie." I wanted some time alone to mull over the case.

I still liked being alone more than the average Nightshade cheerleader, but it was nice to know I had options. The old Daisy would have
had
to walk home by herself. Now I had friends. The thought made me smile the entire way home.

As soon as I got in the house, I checked the machine to see if there were any calls. There weren't. Evidently, having a boyfriend was suspiciously similar to
not
having a boyfriend, but I refused to sit around moping.

I went into the kitchen and inspected the cupboards. I felt like cooking something special. The kitchen was completely stocked, for a change.

In the living room Rose was studying as usual, while Poppy painted her toenails and watched television.

"I thought I'd make calzones if everyone will be home tonight," I announced. "And maybe we can rent a movie."

I looked at Rose, but Poppy answered. "I was going to go out with Candy, but her grandparents are in town. A night in sounds good, especially if it includes calzones."

"Maybe I'll make a tiramisu, too," I said, peeking at Rose. Tiramisu was her favorite. The book she was reading concealed her expression, but I thought I detected a twinkle in her eyes.

"Mom will be back from Grandma's in a little while," Poppy said. Mom usually spent Saturday afternoons with Grandma Giordano. "I'm sure she'll be glad to have dinner ready when she gets home."

"Great," I said, restraining myself from pointing out to Poppy that she never made dinner for Mom or anyone else. "You and Rose can go to the video store while I cook."

"Maybe we can rent
An American Werewolf in London
" Rose said as she and Poppy left. It was her favorite movie, and now I knew why.

I decided to make the tiramisu while the calzone dough rose. After I soaked the ladyfingers, I whipped up fresh cream and shaved a slab of dark chocolate. I put everything together in a trifle bowl and put it in the fridge to set.

The bread dough for the calzones was ready. I checked the clock—5:00
P.M.
and Mom still wasn't back from Grandma Giordano's—
if
that's even where she'd been. I wasn't sure about anything since Poppy revealed her suspicion that Mom was still trying to find out what had really happened to Dad.

The phone rang right when I was kneading the dough. I grabbed it with one gooey hand.

"Hello?"

"Daisy, it's Samantha." Perfect timing. And what did she want now?

"Can I call you back? I'm in the middle of something."

"Is Ryan there?" she asked. "Is that why you're busy?" She put a particular emphasis on busy. She had a dirty mind.

"I'm cooking, Sam," I said. "Ryan's not here." I wasn't going to tell her I had no idea where Ryan was. It wasn't like we were glued at the hip or anything.

"Then I'm coming over," she said.

"But..." Dial tone.

I was surprised at how fast Samantha got to my house. Right after I finished the dough, I heard a car pull up. I peeked out the window and saw Samantha's cute little BMW convertible in the driveway.

I didn't give her time to ring the doorbell. She was already standing on the stoop, carrying a bag of groceries. Her hair was in a ponytail and she wore black designer sweats with pink trim. If DEAD was stamped on her butt, I was so going to kick her out of my house. Instead, her butt read DIVINE in pink letters.

"What's so urgent?"

"Daisy, are you going to invite me in or what?" Hmm. Did she
need
to be invited in? Sounded vampy to me.

"You don't need an invitation," I said. I watched her closely, but she just pushed through the front door and headed for the kitchen.

I trailed after her. She put the groceries on the counter and took an appreciative sniff. "It smells great in here. What are you making?"

"Calzones." Samantha used to love those, back when we used to be friends.

"Oh, fabulous! I'm starving." Starving? I thought cheerleaders didn't eat. Except me, which explained why I wasn't going to be climbing to the top of the pyramid any time soon.

I stared at her. "Samantha, what are you doing here?"

For a minute, her bright expression dimmed. I had sounded harsh. "I mean," I hastily continued, "it's Saturday night. Don't you have a date with Sean?"

"Oh, I told him I needed a girls' night out."

"What are you and the rest of the squad going to do?" Samantha only hung with other cheerleaders.

"I thought I'd hang with you tonight."

"Me?" I was surprised.

"You
are
a cheerleader, Daisy," she reminded me.

Oh, yeah. But not a
real
cheerleader. I had only joined the squad to investigate. Even so, I was kind of having fun.

"But I'm hanging out with my sisters at home tonight. Movies and junk food. Not very exciting."

"It sounds perfect to me," she said. "I brought ice cream." She gestured to the brown paper sack.

"I'm making a tiramisu," I said, and then realized my reply sounded less than gracious. "It's Rose's favorite, but Poppy loves ice cream."

Samantha looked around the kitchen. "Where are they?" she asked.

"Video store," I said. "Rose wants to see
An American Werewolf in London.
"

"That's still her favorite?" Samantha asked.

"She always did have a thing for the furry ones," I said.

We both giggled and our eyes met, both of us remembering how we used to be friends. Part of me was hoping we could be again, but I wasn't going to admit it to Samantha, at least not until I knew if I could trust her.

"I'd better finish preparing the food," I said. I took the calzone fillings out of the fridge and started to grate the cheese.