Few Are Angels (17 page)

“Did you see that?” I asked, raising my voice over the music. I hoped Alex had seen the figure racing to keep up with the car, but at the same time, I prayed he was keeping his eyes on the road since we were going seventy miles an hour. Alex ignored me or didn't hear because he just danced and swayed to the music.

“Alex, I think you should slow down!” I yelped. The music was so loud he still didn’t hear me, so I reached over and turned it off. Alex looked over at me, surprised and puzzled. His face almost made me laugh, but my fear overpowered it. “Dude, slow down.”

“Fine, but you’re probably gonna be late for work.” He tapped the brakes.

“At least I’ll make it there alive,” I joked. Alex’s Acura was a manual, and I was going to have trouble driving it. My dad tried to teach me once, but that disaster ended up costing him almost two grand in damages. I hoped Alex and I wouldn’t have that same problem since I had been driving since I was sixteen.

“Don’t worry about my driving skills, kid,” he teased. “You just pay attention so you can drive this thing when I’m gone.”

I hated when he called me kid; he wasn’t even a year older than me. I peeked out the window again to see if I noticed anything unusual. “When are you leaving?” I tried not to sound too upset. The reality of Alex leaving soon pushed the concern of the dark figure out of my mind. Besides, it was probably just a deer.

“Tuesday night.” He glanced at me with inquisitive eyes. “Why are you thinking about me leaving already? I just got here,” he said with mock sadness.

“I miss the old times, you know? I want things to be like that again.” Warm summer nights with my parents and everyone else were memories that I wished could be reality again.

“Things will never be the same, Ella. That’s just the way it is.”

I wanted to be upset and tell him he couldn’t understand my need for the impossible, but I couldn’t. He and Eric were right. Things would never be the same and moving on was best, but it was easier said than done.

Chapter 17

“It is said that he and his men will smell of fire and ash; they have sold their souls to the devil for eternal life and will leave nothing but destruction in their wake.” —Grandpa Grey

Before I could reply to Alex, my cell phone jingled and I reached into my pocket to check it. I had a missed call and a text message. The missed call was from Sarah, and the text was from Mia.

“Sheriff is here to question everyone.”

I told Alex the sheriff would be at the store questioning everyone. I wondered if he’d want to speak with me even though I’d just started working there. I asked her what they wanted with me since I’d only been there a few hours yesterday.

“Nothing, Duh!”

Her parents really needed to teach her some freaking manners. I asked Alex if he knew her, and he told me he didn’t. The only person from Elmwood City he knew well was Jaime, and she’d moved to California with her dad years ago. I typed back that I was just wondering and there was no need to get testy. I was feeling a little weird with all that was going on, and I wondered if the police would question me about Kale or if they even knew about him. I’m sure they had searched the cemetery, but did they find anything? Had he left anything behind that would lead them to me?

“Whatever. Charlie is cutting your hours for the day.”

“Why? Thanksgiving is Thursday.”
I wasn’t too upset about it, but I wondered what was happening. I needed to get some reading done, and I wanted to hang out with Alex after work today, anyway.

“No business. People are nervous about the murder, even here in Cedar, but you still need to come in for two hours to train on register.”

“OK, Alex is coming too.”

“Hot or not?”

I ignored her last text. It was her attitude that bothered me, not that fact she was really hot and Alex would probably drool all over her.

“You finished typing?” he asked, sounding a little annoyed.

“Yeah, my hours have been cut for the day, so we only have to stay for two hours.”

“Hours cut? I can’t believe that. It’s two days until Thanksgiving and no one is shopping? Knope must be taking a financial hit,” Alex said as we cruised down the road at a much safer pace.

“I didn’t think of that.” I hoped Mr. Knope wasn’t in too much trouble. When we pulled up to the store, Alex told me he needed some new gloves and would meet me in the store in a minute. I was okay with that until I saw the sheriff’s car outside the store. I didn’t mention my apprehension to Alex because I didn’t think he would understand. He didn’t know about Kale and the mausoleum. Despite the warm air in the store, I felt cold and alone, a feeling that was all too familiar. Mia was at the register reading a Cosmo when I walked up to her to say hi.

“Jeez! You scared me. Make some damn noise when you walk, Ella!”

I stamped down my anger when I saw the look of fear and surprise on her face. I guess this murder could even scare the Wicked Witch of the West.

“Sorry. Are they in the back?” I craned my neck to see if I could see through the windows in the double doors leading to the back. Mia settled back down and starting flipping through her magazine again before answering me. The air was thick and smelled funny. I sniffed, trying to identify the smell.

“Yeah, they have been here for thirty minutes.” She muttered something under her breath about lip gloss as I walked to the back to put away my things.

The back felt different, colder, and I noticed the scent I couldn’t place was stronger in the back. I felt like a dog as I started sniffing around the room looking for the scent. It reminded me of burnt paper. I shrugged it off as someone burning leaves. I made sure my cell was in my pocket before I left for the floor, then remembered the missed call from Sarah. It would have to wait until my shift was over. She had left a message, and if it was important, she’d call again.

Back out on the sales floor, Alex hadn’t arrived yet and Mia was still reading her magazine, not paying a bit of attention to me or my useless small talk. Without customers in the store, I wasn’t able to train on the register, so I decided to walk around the store and get acquainted with where I would be stocking all the items. Ten minutes later, Alex walked in the store, and I was relieved and annoyed. Mia noticed him before I did and made sure to greet him with the biggest, rosiest, perkiest, and most annoying smile I had ever seen. She sauntered over to him and giggled. The girl actually giggled.

“Hey, you must be Alex,” she said, reaching out to shake his hand. Alex, the big, dumb, incredibly cute guy that he was, blushed and took her hand and gently shook it, but when he started to pull away, Mia held on tight, moving his hand to her face to inspect his class ring. “Nice, Cedar Grove Prep.”

Alex had gone to the only prep school in Cedar to better his chances at college and it had worked. He was really smart, but it seemed he was going to fall for Mia’s ditzy hot-chick routine. I walked over to where the two stood hand in hand. Alex looked up at me guiltily and a little embarrassed, but quickly recovered.

“Hey, my mom wants you to call her. She says she has some news about OT,” he said.

I knew OT meant Ocean Trace, and I was curious what the call was about. I was glad he used our code word for Ocean Trace. I didn't want Mia knowing I had spent time in a mental hospital.

“Okay, I’ll call her now since there’s no one in the store.”

Mia smacked her lips.

That, combined with the fact she still had her pink nail-polished hands wrapped around Alex’s hand, made me roll my eyes. “What, Mia?” I didn’t try very hard to hide my annoyance.

“You can’t use your phone out here. I usually go in the bathroom where I won’t be disturbed.” She turned her attention back to Alex. “So, why haven’t I seen you around here?”

I hurried to the bathroom to call Sarah. I knew she was home because her Thanksgiving vacation started today, so I called the landline at the house; she picked up on the second ring.

“Hey, you didn’t answer your phone,” she said, sounding a little upset.

“I’m sorry.” I wasn’t sure what I was apologizing for. Sarah sounded a little panicked, and it had me worried.

“Well, I called to tell you that Dr. Lithe called to reschedule your appointment for the first.”

I wondered why he had rescheduled. I mean, I hadn’t told anyone about the visions that I’d had, and I’d been acting as normal as one could in my shoes. Why was she so worried about me missing an appointment?

“That’s okay. We can just go another time,” I said, trying not to choke on the smell of burnt paper and ash that suddenly filled the room. I couldn’t tell where it was coming from, but I could smell it as if it were right under my nose. Just like when I was in the backroom.

“I know. That isn’t the problem,” she said softly, gearing up for the main event. “There was a fire in the file rooms in Ocean Trace.”

I could see why she was upset. The file rooms were located close to some of the patient rooms. The scent of smoke and ash was now overpowering and it took all that I could not to retch. An unfamiliar voice resonated from the other side of the door, and I leaned against it for balance and privacy. I could still hear Sarah talking, but I couldn’t understand what she was saying. My knees started to buckle, and I felt like I was going to faint. The last thing I wanted was to be found by Mia or Alex on the bathroom floor. The voice on the other side of the door receded and disappeared, and the burning scent seemed to go with it. Little by little I pulled myself up from the crouching position I’d slid into and cleared my throat. Sarah was still talking, and I didn't think she realized I hadn’t heard a word.

“…everything, Ella, they said all of it,” she finished.

“What?”

“I said all of their documents were destroyed. Can you believe that? I mean nothing is left of the patient or employee records. At least no one was hurt.”

I tried to quietly catch my breath and cleared my throat a few times for good measure. “That’s good,” I rasped. “I mean that no one was hurt.” It sounded like I had swallowed acid, and I could taste the burnt ash at the back of my throat.

Sarah asked if I was coming down with something, and I told her I was fine. When I came out of the bathroom, Mia, Alex, and Mr. Knope were all at the register talking. The sheriff’s car was gone. I looked around, hoping to find the source of the burnt ash smell. Maybe someone was burning a fire and it had gotten out of control. But after looking out the doors, I found nothing.

Alex noticed me and called me over. “Hey, what are you looking for?” He looked outside and frowned at the weather. “I think it’s gonna snow soon.” He sounded oddly defeated.

I followed his gaze to the sky and noticed it darkening as the clouds closed in.

“Yeah, maybe,” Mia replied, walking over to the doors to gaze at the dark sky with us. Her expression changed from her normal mean girl scowl to something of surprise as she looked at the sky. “Wow, it got dark out there fast. A storm is probably coming. Does that mean lunch is cancelled?” she asked Alex.

I spun around, shocked by the plans they’d made while I was in the bathroom for five minutes. Alex looked at me and smiled nervously, then added a chuckle; it annoyed me, and I knew my face showed it by the sudden change in his.

“I invited myself along, El. I hope you don’t mind,” Mia said, not taking her eyes off Alex.

“Sure, why not?” I asked through clenched teeth, pissed she was using the nickname Alex had given me. I turned back to the door, but not before I saw the apologetic look that poured off of Alex’s face and into my heart. He was too sweet and silly for his own good.

“Okay, ladies, back to work. Since no one is here today, you can leave in an hour, Ella. You too, Mia. Helen is coming in, and she and I will look after the store,” Mr. Knope said as he walked to the back, grumbling something about the sheriff and his weird partner.

“What’s he talking about?” I asked.

Mia and I walked over to the register. She pulled out her till and typed in a code that printed out the necessary paper for her to cash out.

“The ‘police officer’ that was here was in a suit. Police officers in Cedar Grove don’t wear suits, and they don’t call themselves police officers, but the one that just left did,” she said, counting the change.

“That is true. We have one sheriff’s station, and there are four deputies; I know them all,” Alex said proudly, sneaking a peek at Mia.

I wondered if he impressed Mia, but when I looked over, I saw the words had fallen on deaf ears because she was still counting out her till. I looked back at Alex and rolled my eyes. If he knew all the deputies in Cedar Grove, it was only because he’d lived here for nineteen years.

“So did you recognize the one in the suit?’’ I asked, annoyed by his flirting. “Since you know all of the deputies?”

Alex huffed and crossed his arms over his chest, then leaned against the counter. “No, I didn't know him. I think he was a detective from Elmwood.”

Mia looked up from her till with a bunch of dollar bills stuffed in her fist. “I can ask Brett.” She stuffed dollar bills back into the till and assaulted the calculator with her French tipped nails. “His father is the sheriff over there.” She pulled her cell out of her pocket and dialed.

“Brett?” Alex asked, his eyes searching mine for answer.

“Why do you care who Brett is?”

He looked away in what I took for embarrassment, which only made me feel bad. I didn’t know why I was acting like a jilted lover when he and I were just friends. I didn’t want Mia to get her claws into him, but it shouldn’t have really mattered to me. She may have been an annoying brat, but I’d only known her for a couple days, and that wasn’t enough for me to form a permanent opinion about her.

“Brett is her friend. They both live in Elmwood City.” I followed him over to the sodas.

Alex pulled out two sodas and handed me one. “Maybe he will know who the other guy with the sheriff was,” I finished. We walked back over to Mia.