Fifty Percent Vampire, #1, page 11
My heart sank even further. Astrid Sonnschein, the soup-flinging star of the Chalet. Lydia had reminded me of the ‘visa problem’ last night and I was forced to admit it had previously slipped my mind. Beads of sweat began to roll down my forehead. “I’ll drop by Rosenberg High first thing in the morning and speak to her,” I said. “I promise.”
The captain looked at me strangely. “Mike, are you okay? It’s not like you to forget things. Your concentration seems to be slipping again. Maybe you should take another month off.”
“My concentration’s fine,” I replied, frowning and wiping away the sweat. “It’s just ... Never mind, I’ll have the report on your desk by midday tomorrow.”
“Make sure you do,” he said, scribbling one more note on his long to-do list. “I need good news for Immigration the next time they call me.”
I wondered once more why Immigration couldn’t get off their asses and do their own dirty work, but I knew better than to initiate a pointless discussion with the chief at this time of night.
The moon was at its fullest, so I left my car on the station parking lot and strolled home through the slumbering streets. I stretched my arms to the cloudless sky and yawned loudly. A good night’s rest was what I needed too. Naturally, I didn’t get it. My phone jerked me awake at a quarter after one.
Lydia. “Hi there, lover boy,” she crooned in my ear. “Did I spoil your beauty sleep? I hope you were dreaming of me.”
I was on the point of telling her no, the girl in the dream from which she’d shaken me was several years younger and a redhead, but she cut in. “Anyways, we have a problem, so you need to get that cute little thing you sit on over here double-quick. Milord Exmouth just phoned to tell us his daughter hasn’t come home and that we should go out and find her.”
I rolled out of bed in an instant. When a respected (by some) local personage’s child is missing every lawman knows the score. You get going or you get flagged or worse.
By the time I arrived at the station I was out of breath from running. A dozen or so men, about half of them police officers, the others concerned-faced townsfolk, were drinking coffee with Lydia in the conference room. Chief Frank read out Mr. Exmouth’s statement. Zoe had come home from school around 4 pm, helped her mother prepare dinner and clean up after, and then begged a ride to the boarding stable on Red Creek Lane where she intended to exercise her pony over the indoor jumps course.
She’d told her father he didn’t need to fetch her; she would come home with her friend Andy Patterson at 11 pm. But when she hadn’t reappeared by midnight and wasn’t answering her cell, Mr. Exmouth had phoned first Andy, then us. Andy hadn’t seen Zoe leave. Mrs. Scott, the boarding stable owner, sent her sons out with flashlights to check the paddocks and pens but they hadn’t found anything.
So we paired up, each officer with a civilian, and set out to search the areas the chief had assigned to us. Mrs. Exmouth, distraught, had told Lydia what Zoe was wearing (dark gray jeans, black leather riding boots, a navy-blue rain jacket and the pink scarf Evan Montclair had bought her a couple of weeks previously, while they had still been dating).
As I gunned up the hill to our first designated search area, Lookout Point, and we passed the sign for the Chalet, I prayed none of us would find the missing girl, that she would make her own way home, unharmed. And for some guilt-provoking reason I felt glad we weren’t out hunting high and low for Astrid Sonnschein.
CHAPTER 22
(Astrid)
Halloween
“So Astrid, who are you going as tonight? You’d make an excellent Count Dracula,” said Brady. Halloween had arrived and as we awaited the start of first period we talked excitedly about the outfits we were wearing to Rachel’s party. This was my first Halloween among humans, and I was curious to find out how my friends would celebrate this ancient festival I knew by its old name Samhain.
Mom had warned me things might get a bit crazy and we’d end up at some haunted barn or other where costumed actors would leap out of their hiding places and scare us. I’d told her not to worry, as I didn’t think any human could come close to imagining frights like those Angus had perpetrated on me over the years. Her response had been to shoot me the evilest of her grins. “I wouldn’t be so sure,” she said.
Anyway I was happy we had something to look forward to and that the girls had taken my mind off Zoe. I was glad she wasn’t in class that morning.
Rachel was mean and wouldn’t tell us what her costume was. “It’s a secret,” she teased.
“If it’s the same as mine, you’ll be mortified,” said Brady.
“If it’s the same as yours, it’ll be smaller,” said Rachel. “Don’t worry, you’ve never seen anything like the one I’m getting.”
I told them I’d decided to be really boring and dress up as a Goth girl.
“What, with red hair?” laughed Rocio.
“It won’t be red tonight,” I promised. No sooner had I closed my mouth than I had a horrible thought. In my heavy mascara, black-as-midnight dress and boots, not to mention the torn fishnets, I was in danger of turning up to the party looking like my mother. And that was way scary. It was too late to change my mind though. I didn’t have time to go to the mall to find a better costume.
While Tricia was signing to her sister what she was planning to wear, the PA burst into life and interrupted her. “All students from ninth grade and above report to the assembly hall immediately. Ninth grade and above only. Quick as you can.”
“What now?” groaned Jenny as we trooped out of the classroom. “Don’t tell me they’ve canceled Halloween.”
As I entered the murmur-filled assembly hall, the atmosphere tense and agitated, I noticed at once that Mike was standing on the stage in conversation with Principal Jones. My heart missed a beat or two as I wondered why he was there. Maybe this time he was intending to denounce me as an illegal immigrant before all my fellow students. His eyes were red-rimmed and his face was unshaven and haggard, as though he’d been awake all night. I stared guiltily at him, and his tired eyes caught mine and lingered thoughtfully for a few seconds, until Principal Jones said something and he turned away to answer. I couldn’t hear what they were saying over the buzz of excited students, but neither of them was smiling.
Principal Jones switched on the microphone and winced when the loudspeakers shrieked with feedback. “Good morning, ladies and gentlemen,” he boomed, solemn of face, looking round at us all, one arm raised. “Please settle down. I have an important announcement to make.”
The last few students filed in, the doors were closed and the room became very quiet.
“Some of you may have already heard,” continued Principal Jones, “that yesterday evening your colleague Zoe Exmouth was reported missing.”
I gulped.
“Officer Hanson here and his colleagues have been out all night searching for her, but she hasn’t returned home or been found. So we’ve called you in this morning to ask whether any of her friends know where Zoe might be, or whether she told any of you where she was going.”
All around me I heard the shuffle of nervous feet, including mine, but nobody spoke. Principal Jones handed the microphone to Mike. “We know Miss Exmouth was at Mrs. Scott’s boarding stable between eight and eleven,” he said. “Did anyone see her any later?”
Still no answer.
“Is she dating anyone? No secret assignation?”
Two boys behind me laughed. Rachel span round and shushed them fiercely.
“C’mon, you guys. This is a small town, you all know Zoe. Where are her friends?” asked Mike. “Give me a show of hands.”
Nobody moved. I bet several people in the hall were thinking ‘good riddance.’ I was half-thinking it myself.
Mike shrugged and passed the microphone back to Principal Jones.
“You may return to your classes,” said Principal Jones. “All of you except Evan Montclair and Jonah Sotiropolous. Officer Hanson and I expect you two boys outside my office in five minutes time.”
Immediately I craned my neck to look for them. I didn’t spot Evan, but Jonah had been standing a few rows in front of me, and I detected a hint of alarm on his face as he pushed his way past.
That Evan had been called to the office I could understand. The police must have found out from Mr. and Mrs. Exmouth that he’d been dating their little angel and they’d recently broken up. But why on earth had Jonah been summoned?
Aha. I remembered the events of yesterday morning. Jonah’s chivalrous defense of me, and Zoe’s vicious response. Maybe the pair of them had continued their argument after school. Which wasn’t my business.
I was relieved Principal Jones hadn’t demanded to interrogate me too, as half the school knew Zoe and I weren’t exactly best buddies. I kept my head down and hurried from the assembly hall before he or Mike had a chance to change their minds.
CHAPTER 23
(Mike)
Girlhunt
It crossed my mind I should have asked Principal Jones to call Astrid Sonnschein to his office as well as the two boys. I could have cleared up her visa issue this morning as I’d promised the chief I would. But given we were now concentrating one hundred and fifty percent on the Zoe Exmouth case I figured my boss would have forgotten about something so trivial.
My interviews with Evan and Jonah concluded, I thanked Principal Jones for his time and the use of his office and headed out to rejoin the search. The boys had told me nothing new. Evan had denied vehemently he’d been anywhere near Zoe since they’d broken up two weeks previously. Jonah looked sick and didn’t say much. He confirmed he and Zoe had exchanged rough words recently, but that wasn’t unusual, he said. Zoe wasn’t the easiest person to like, ask anyone in school. I had gotten a similar impression from Evan.
We searched fruitlessly all morning, but just after midday the chief radioed to say one of the sniffer dogs had found Zoe’s body, about fifty yards inside the woods behind Wicket Lane. I drove over there fast. Wicket Lane? What was she doing over there? Her home and the boarding stable were on the opposite side of town.
I parked next to the Power house, because that was the only space curbside remaining, and followed the line of police and medical vehicles to the entrance to the woodland path, where crime scene tape already flickered in the breeze. I ducked under the tape and eyeballed the chief up ahead, talking on the radio. He spotted me and pointed further into the trees, where a couple more of our people shuffled along the leaf-covered path, searching for footprints.
Lydia had already arrived, and she was standing in a supervisory manner over two CSS guys as they squatted beside Zoe’s body, one of them clicking away with his camera. I joined them and looked sadly down at the girl.
It was her alright. Gray jeans, navy blue coat, unzipped, pink scarf wrapped around her neck, her eyes closed as though she’d just fallen asleep. Some place to fall asleep, sprawled in a damp leaf-filled ditch next to a well-used woodland path. Whoever had killed her hadn’t bothered to hide the body. Pretty sure of himself. Or maybe he’d wanted her to be found here. With houses only fifty yards away, whose occupants presumably weren’t all hard of hearing, it was also possible she’d been killed elsewhere and dumped here. “What’s the cause of death?” I asked.
“We’re coming to that now,” said the CSS tech without the camera. He reached over and with difficulty unfastened the scarf and loosened it from Zoe’s throat. “Boy, that was tight,” he said. “So, what do we have? The marks here and here would suggest strangulation. Probably with this scarf.”
The other guy moved closer and snapped more photos of Zoe’s corpse-pale face and neck.
Lydia crouched down beside him. “Look there,” she said, pointing. “Those aren’t strangulation marks. Those are bites.”
“Bites?” I asked. “How do you mean? Mosquito bites?”
Lydia looked up at me with a strange look in her eyes. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d say this girl had been bitten by a vampire.”
I leaned over her shoulder to see. Sure enough, close together on the left side of Zoe’s bruised throat, two small dark punctures were clearly visible. The wind rattled the bare tree branches overhead and a chill ran through me. “Some sicko’s idea of a Halloween joke?”
“It would appear so,” remarked the CSS guy. “But a day early.”
“Besides, if this were a real vampire bite, she’d be walking, right? I’ve read Dracula,” I said.
“If you’d read it properly, bozo, you’d know they only walk at night,” said Lydia. “And they hide up during the day in coffins. Unless their last name’s Cullen.” She paused. “Or maybe Sonnschein.”
“Sonnschein?” I snapped. My sleep deficiency was beginning to show. “What are you getting at?”
Lydia stood up and brushed soil from her hands. Her face looked weary too. “Hey, I’m just trying a little word association here. Dracula–Transylvania. Transylvania–Romania. Romania–Astrid Sonnschein. Bingo.”
I held her eyes with mine. “Ridiculous. Vampires don’t exist.”
Lydia’s mouth grew tight. “Yes, Mister Voice of Reason, I know that, but our special guest exchange student lives right back there,” she said, indicating with an outstretched thumb. “With the Powers. Not a hundred yards from our crime scene. Maybe this is how they celebrate Halloween in Romania. With a human sacrifice. Shall I go ask her?”
“No,” I said. “Leave it to me. I need to talk to her about her visa anyway.”
I stayed until Zoe had been bagged up and carried to the ambulance. The chief waylaid me on my way back to my car and told me I’d been volunteered to drive over and break the bad news to the Exmouths. I don’t know why he hadn’t volunteered himself; he moved in the Exmouths’ social circle and knew them much better than I did, but hey-ho, he’s the boss.
As I unlocked the car door I shot a glance at the upstairs windows of the Power house. There were no twitching drapes on this occasion, but then Officer Tafani’s prime suspect vampire wouldn’t be arriving home from school till past four o’clock.
“Oh Miss Sonnschein,” I muttered to myself. “You’re becoming a teeny-weeny bit too interesting.”
CHAPTER 24
(Astrid)
Public Enemy Number One
“Astrid, did you do it?” Aunt Jean leaned across the kitchen table. Emma and I had been home fewer than fifteen minutes, and were still in deep shock at the sight of all the police cars parked in our street. Uncle James put his arm round Emma’s shoulders and escorted her to the den.
“I saw her in school yesterday afternoon,” I stammered. “And now you’re telling me she’s dead?”
“Astrid, I want you to be honest with me.” Aunt Jean took my hand in hers. “Did you kill Zoe? Did something happen and you lost control?”
“No!” I shook my head. “I swear, Aunt Jean, I’ve never killed anyone. If you imagine that’s why I came here ...”
She sat back and regarded me warily, ready to pick up the phone, call Father O’Hare, and ask him to bring over his exorcism kit.
Holding up a finger I pointed it at my nose. “Do you see this getting any longer?”
“Astrid, you’re part of our family so I’m going to try to believe you this time, but, please, you need to tell me if anything’s wrong,” she said. “Emma told me Zoe had been giving you a hard time and if something … I’ll try to understand.”
I fixed her with a steady gaze. “It’s true Zoe and I didn’t get along, and I admit we had a hell of a bad argument yesterday, and I was angry at her all evening, but I swear nothing happened. I hated her, but I’m as shocked as you are that she’s dead.”
Aunt Jean’s expression told me I hadn’t convinced her yet.
“I’m not a monster! I would never kill anyone! I’m trying so hard to be a normal teenage girl. You have to believe me!”
She continued to study my face, searching for an admission of guilt. We sat in silence for a minute and then she stood up and came round to pat me on the shoulder. “Okay,” she said gently. “I believe you. Now go to your room. I need to spend some time with Emma.”
I sat at the table, at a loss for words, while she hurried away to fetch her daughter from the den.
Upstairs I leaned out of my window with a tissue in my hand and gazed over the forest to the fiery orange clouds beyond. I was tired. Tired of my whole life. Yesterday I’d wished Zoe the worst possible fate, true enough, but only while I’d been overcome by anger at her persistent torments. Now she was really dead, and had been found out there, in the trees just behind our house. Someone had ripped away her life right there, so close to us, late last night, yet none of us had heard a thing. No screams. No struggle. Nothing.
And now Aunt Jean suspected she had a killer living under her roof. All the kids at school who had laughed at me yesterday would be whispering too. That weird new foreign girl, they would be thinking, she could have done it. She and Zoe hated each other. And remember what she did to The Whale.
As I stood mired in worry a raven swept down from the roof above me, cawing loudly and making me jump half out of my skin. I watched it glide toward the forest, its long dark wings glistening in the late sunlight. Go on, I said to myself bitterly. Fly away to Mom and George and bring them the bad tidings. But maybe they already knew.
Interview with the Half-Vampire
Next day we had no classes. Instead we sat around getting hot and sticky, and gabbled like nervous turkeys until the police arrived. Each student was called individually and taken away to be questioned. I was the last to be summoned, with nobody left in the room to whisper to except the strict-faced guard, who kept himself to the far side of the room. The expression on his face told me he thought I was some kind of ultra-contagious disease.
Increasingly fearful of the significance of being left till last, I all but collapsed with relief when Officer Tafani appeared at the door to collect me. She escorted me in silence to the teachers’ lounge and, with an arrogant wave of her hand, ushered me into a small side room, whereupon I turned pale. To my horror and, at the same time, joy, Mike Hanson was sitting behind the desk, busy sharpening a pencil with a pocket knife. I’d been dreading he would be the one to interview me, but I’d been dreading even more being grilled by his sour-faced girlfriend, and was glad when she left and shut the door.
