Dead Is the New Black (12 page)

"Can I help?"

"It's really a one-person job." And I had no idea what to talk to her about.

"Why don't you pick out some music?" I pointed to the small player on the kitchen counter. "We can use this, but most of the CDs are in the living room."

"I'll go get them," she said.

I expected her to choose some trendy dance music, but she didn't. Instead, she put an oldies compilation into the CD player.

"Remember this song?" she said. "Your parents used to dance to it in the kitchen."

I snapped the stereo off. "That was a long time ago."

"I didn't mean..." She trailed off, and I was surprised to see tears in her eyes. "Daisy, I'm sorry. I'm sorry for everything I did that year, everything I said."

"Why'd you do it, Sam? Why did you tell everyone that my dad left my mom for another woman?"

"Because I thought it was true." Our eyes were locked, which is why I didn't realize my mom was home until I heard her long shaky breath.

Could it be possible that my mother had never heard the rumors? That she really didn't have a clue?

The look on her face told me she had heard every rumor but that she didn't expect me to believe any of them. And now she knew I did.

Chapter Fourteen

Samantha realized it, too. "I guess I should be going now," she said, after one look at my mother's stricken face.

Mom seemed to gather herself together, but there were purple shadows under her eyes. A visit to Grandma Giordano's didn't make her look like that.

"Oh, Samantha, don't go!" she said. "We'd love to have you stay for dinner, wouldn't we, Daisy?" Mom looked at me expectantly.

"Yeah, don't go, Sam," I said. "We were going to watch a movie, remember?" I was shocked that the words came out of my mouth.

"If you're sure?" Samantha asked, looking up at my mother.

Mom smiled at her warmly. "It's nice to see you back here, Samantha. And you're welcome anytime."

"Thanks, Mrs. Giordano. Why don't I set the table?"

"That would be very nice," Mom said, "but maybe you'd like to call your parents first?"

"They're out of town this weekend," Samantha replied quickly. "I'm home alone."

"Why don't you spend the night?" Mom suggested. "We'd love to have you whenever your parents are away." I gave Samantha a don't- get- any- ideas look.

"Mom, why don't you go put your feet up? I'll make you a cup of tea."

"I think I will," she said. "It's been a long week." She wandered into the living room while I put the kettle on.

Samantha stood watching me for a moment. "Is everything still in the same place?"

"Mom's rearranged things a bit," I said. I showed her where we kept the silverware and napkins.

I put a little honey in the tea and added a splash of milk before taking it to Mom.

"Thanks, Daisy," she said. She watched me for a moment, then said, "It's not true, you know."

"What's not true?"

"Your father didn't leave us for another woman. He was working on something—something secret—when he disappeared."

"You think his disappearance had something to do with his work?"

She nodded. "I had no idea you'd heard those awful rumors," she said gently. "You were so close to him. I know it was hard for you, but don't ever doubt that your father loved us. You especially."

"If he loved us so much, why is he gone?" The question burst out of me.

"I don't know, Daisy," she said. "But I know that if it was within his power, your father would be here with us right now."

"That's not what the rest of the town thinks."

"Is that why you stopped being friends with Samantha? I'm glad to see you've made up."

I stared at her. "Samantha was the one who
started
the rumors, Mom, so don't think that she and I will start being best buds again."

"Daisy, go easy on Samantha," she said. "Things haven't been easy for her."

I ignored her last comment. Mom had always had a soft spot for Samantha. But I was still focusing on what she'd said about Dad. "So where do you think he is?"

Mom's smile faded. "I don't know, Daisy, but I'll find out."

I didn't say anything else. I grabbed an afghan from the couch and put it over her shoulders. "Why don't you rest? We'll have dinner as soon as Poppy and Rose get back."

"I am a little tired," she admitted. "A nap sounds good." Her eyes were already closing as I tiptoed out of the room.

I checked on the calzones and then went to find Samantha. She'd finished setting the table and was standing motionless, staring at a spot on the wall. She looked alone.

"All finished here?" I said. I felt like I was interrupting or something.

"I don't have to spend the night," she said. "It was nice of your mom to invite me, but I can leave after dinner, if you want."

"No, that's okay," I said. "I want you to stay." I was surprised to realize it was true. "Are your parents traveling?"

She nodded. "Dad's work again. You know how it goes." Samantha's father was a professor at the same college where my father had worked. In fact, they had done research together—research that Mr. Devereaux had published to great acclaim after my father disappeared.

Poppy and Rose came through the front door. "Are you ready for a movie marathon?" Poppy called out.

At the sound of my sister's voice, Samantha looked strangely self-conscious, like she wasn't sure of my sisters' welcome.

Poppy walked into the dining room. "Is dinner ready yet? I'm starving." Then she caught sight of Samantha. "Oh, hi there. I didn't know we had company."

"Samantha's spending the night," I explained.

Rose appeared in the doorway. "Good," she said. "After dinner, we'll make popcorn and watch the movies."

"Sam brought ice cream," I said. "And I made tiramisu. You want popcorn, too?"

"Sure," Rose replied. "What's a girls' night in without junk food?"

The timer buzzed. "Speaking of junk food," I said. "I need to take out the calzone before it burns."

Poppy came to help me carry the food into the dining room, and then we sat down to eat. My mom looked better after her nap and even had a glass of red wine with dinner.

After the food had been passed around, Poppy said, "Where's Ryan tonight, Daisy?"

"I have no idea," I admitted.

"Why the sudden interest in Ryan Mendez's activities?" Mom asked.

For the first time, I was glad my mom's psychic abilities had limitations.

"Daisy and Ryan are dating," Poppy blurted out.

My mom reacted quite calmly to the news. "I wondered about that. I know I've been so busy with work lately, but the chief mentioned to me that you and Ryan have been spending a lot of time together."

She changed the subject quickly, to my relief. I didn't want my love life to become the topic of dinner conversation.

"Samantha, Daisy tells me you're the captain of the cheer-leading squad. Are you enjoying it?"

Samantha chattered away about the upcoming homecoming game, but I only listened with half an ear. What
was
Ryan doing tonight, anyway? And why hadn't he called me? Oh, no. Clingy girlfriend alert. I decided to concentrate on having fun with my family and Samantha, and tuned back in to the conversation.

After we'd stuffed ourselves silly, we moved to the family room for DVDs and dessert. Mom headed to bed, but not before she'd had a big helping of tiramisu.

I was glad Mom had stayed awake long enough to eat dinner. I hadn't seen much of her lately. And her smile had been missing even longer, at least the kind of smile she gave us tonight, the kind that actually reached her eyes.

Rose snagged
An American Werewolf in London
and popped it into the DVD player. Poppy and I had seen it a million times, and she had to keep hushing us as we talked over it, but Samantha was as enthralled as Rose.

The movie was almost over when the doorbell rang. "Are you expecting company?" I asked and got negatives in reply.

I went to answer it and found Ryan on my doorstep. He had a nasty-looking gash above one eye.

"Ryan, what happened?" He swayed a little and I realized I hadn't asked him in.

"Come on." I took him by the arm, just in case he fainted or something. He was looking a little green.

"You don't look too good, Ryan," Poppy said when we entered the living room.

Rose looked him over and clicked off the movie. "Get the first-aid kit, Poppy," she said.

"No, it's okay," Ryan assured us. "I've already been to see the school nurse. This cut isn't as deep as it looks."

Rose looked doubtful.

"Is your dad home tonight?" Poppy asked.

Ryan shook his head. "He's helping with a case over in San Carlos. Nurse said I shouldn't drive until tomorrow, so I walked over here."

"You can sleep here," Rose offered. "On the couch," she added, just in case he was getting any ideas. From the sickly look on his face, I didn't think ravishing me was the first thing on his mind. "Someone needs to check on you, just in case you have a concussion."

"Now tell us what happened!" Poppy said.

"I was at the library at school," Ryan started, but Samantha interrupted him.

"On a Saturday?" she said disbelievingly.

"I was doing research," Ryan said, "about ... my family. But I'd just found something that might help with your investigation. I had it in my hands and then, suddenly, everything went black." He stared at his hands for a moment.

Was Ryan trying to contact his mother? Everyone knew that she'd left Ryan and his dad and lived in San Francisco with her new boyfriend. It was one of the things we had in common.

"When did this happen?" I asked.

"After football practice," he said. "Luckily, Sean came looking for me to get a ride home. I think he scared off whoever it was."

"Why didn't he take you to the hospital?"

"I wouldn't let him," Ryan said. "I'm fine." He swayed as he said it. I rolled my eyes. Guys, always trying to act tough. "Honestly, Daisy, I'm fine," Ryan reassured me. "We ran into Nurse Phillips on the way out of school and she cleaned me up. She even kept an eye on me for a few hours until she was sure I was okay to go."

"Do you think someone was following you?" Rose asked.

"Maybe," Ryan said. "I don't know why else someone would bash me in the head, unless I had something he or she wanted. When I woke up, it was gone."

"What was gone?" I asked.

"The newspaper clipping. The one I wanted to show you. It was a photo of a woman who looks exactly like your cheerleading coach. And the caption identified her as Hannah Foster."

"A photo of Miss Foster?" It may have been all the carbs, but I was having a hard time following him.

"So?" Poppy said what we were all thinking. "What's the big deal about a photo?"

"So the photo was
old,
" Ryan emphasized. "From 1958, to be exact. There was an article too, but I didn't get a chance to read it before I was hit on the head."

I said, "Didn't anybody see anything? That's pretty daring to attack you in the open like that."

Ryan said, "I was in the back, where they keep all the old files."

"What were you looking for when you found the article?" I asked.

"I was looking for information about the history of Nightshade," he said. "For a school project," he added quickly. Hmm. Earlier he had said he'd been doing research on his family. Was Ryan trying to find out if his father was part of the council?

"Maybe the article was about Miss Foster's mother?" Samantha suggested.

"Grandmother would be more like it," Rose said.

"But if the woman was in her early thirties fifty years ago," I said, "she'd be over eighty by now."

"What's the big deal?" Samantha said. "It could be a relative of hers. Everyone says I look exactly like my Aunt Nancy. Besides, Foster is a common name."

"But if it's
not
a big deal, then why was Ryan hit on the head and the article taken?" I said.

There was silence as everyone absorbed the latest.

Samantha said, "You do have a point, Daisy."

"What if something was keeping her young?" Rose suggested.

"You mean like plastic surgery? There's not enough plastic surgery in the world," Poppy said.

"Not plastic surgery," I said slowly, finally understanding where Rose was going with it. "Something else. Something supernatural."

I shot my sisters a look of warning. I didn't want to reveal too much about the psionic vampire situation in front of Samantha. At this point, it seemed like the Divine Devereaux was innocent of any soul sucking, but I still had a nagging feeling that there was something she wasn't telling us. I looked over at her, curled up in the corner of the couch. Was that her normal couldn't-care-less expression, or did I detect a flash of worry in her eyes?

Chapter Fifteen

Sunday morning, I started down the stairs and then remembered that Ryan had spent the night on the couch. I went back up to brush my teeth and hair and put on some vanilla-scented lotion before I tiptoed into the living room.

What did he look like when he slept? I crept closer, only to find an empty couch. The blanket was folded, the pillows neatly stacked, but there was no sign of Ryan.

I told myself that he left early so his dad wouldn't worry, but I was miffed. I had left a brief message for Chief Mendez explaining the situation. Ryan could have stuck around for pancakes, at least. It felt like he was deliberately avoiding me. Boys were so complicated sometimes.

I wanted to complain to Samantha, but she was still asleep in the other twin bed in my room. I went back to bed, pulled the covers over my head, and went back to sleep.

Two hours later, I was up again and late for cheerleading practice. Samantha was already long gone. Miss Foster was going to kill me. But really, what kind of monster schedules practice on a Sunday? Sunday was supposed to be downtime. No homework, no school, no extra-curricular activities.

Instead of lounging, I was stuck hanging out with a bunch of cheerleaders, shaking my groove thing and trying not to snap when Samantha ordered me around.