Authors: Yvonne Bruton
****************************************
“I’d forgotten all about that” said Jay felling a little bit lighter. “I remember that Amy chick being really freaked out.”
They continued to drive along in silence, listening to the soft purring of the engine, each alone in their thoughts. Kevin had told Jay that the Dean of Claremont college had decided to close it for the next few days, in view of Amberlee’s disappearance. The police department were also going to interview all the kids who had attended the dance.
“Hey, I almost forgot, you dog, how did it go with that hot new chick?” Kevin hadn’t really forgotten about Lia, he had just been waiting for a chance to mention her.
Jay had not forgotten about her either. He wished that he was still in Westport with her now, holding her in his arms, their lips locked in a passionate kiss.
“She’s really something” he replied and fell silent again.
“Yeah Jay, she is really something, I could see that, but I’m gonna need more than that” said Kevin, he had been waiting to hear about her for almost two days now!
“I’ve never met anyone like her before.”
‘Come on baby give it’ thought Kevin but instead he said:
“Well what’s her name man, where’s she from?” Jay had never been much of a talker, and he knew that he would have to force him to give him all the details.
“Her name is Lia, Lia Beauchamp-Malenkov, she didn’t actually say where she was from but she’s living in a house in Westport, nice place.”
“And?” Kevin wanted Jay to stop talking like a girl and get to the interesting part. So he did a little probing.
“So you took her back to her place right? And then what, did you....?”
“No we didn’t” said Jay smiling and shaking his head at Kevin’s usual one track mind. “But we are definitely going to see each other again.”
Kevin marvelled at his buddy’s self control as he told him how he and Lia had just sat and talked, like they had known each other forever. Jay described how they had gone for walks, and how they had explored the area near to her home. He forgot all about Amberlee for a while, as he remembered in detail the time he had spent with Lia. Kevin was a little disappointed, in fact he felt cheated. He had expected a much steamier account, that girl had looked so hungry for Jay, and he for her. Well at least he had some information to relay to Libby, and it was the sort of mushy stuff that only a girl would want to hear.
“How did it go with Libby?” asked Jay, when he had finished describing his weekend of heavenly bliss with Lia. He asked the question with genuine interest though, and thought that Libby and Kevin had looked very good together at the dance. They were very comfortable with each other, and seemed to have a lot of interests in common.
“Yeah great, she’s great” replied Kevin happily, and Jay noticed that he had blushed bright red! Jay pounced on the opportunity to tease him.
“Dude you’ve still got lipstick on your mouth, it’s not really your colour!”
“What?” Kevin, forgetting that the dance had been on Friday evening and he had washed his face since then, started rubbing his mouth vigorously, then stopped and laughed when he saw the smirk on Jay face.
“I take it you two kids are going to see each other again?” he asked already knowing the answer to that question!
“You got that right buddy” said Kevin regaining his cool, and he pulled the car up outside Jay’s house.
Both boys could hear some sort of commotion going on. It was shouting and the raised voices were coming from the direction of Jay’s house. They jumped out of the car and saw Alexis Robinson arguing with Jay’s mother.
“He must have something to do with it” screeched Alexis. “He was with that poor Hudson girl when she disappeared, a bit of a coincidence don’t you think?”
“Don’t be ridiculous Alexis” said Cora in her son’s defence. “Jay has always been a very gentle boy, he wouldn’t harm a fly, I’m sorry that Amberlee has gone missing I....”
But Alexis was looking for a fight, and she would not let Cora continue. She didn’t want to hear any platitudes, she wanted to know where her daughter was, and what had happened to her. The real truth was that she thought that she herself, may have been the cause of Amberlee’s disappearance. However, she wanted to blame someone else rather than face self confrontation.
“Cora I have spoken to the police and your son, who you say wouldn’t harm a fly, dumped my Amberlee in front of the whole of Claremont college for some other girl.” Alexis’ tendency to be melodramatic was by far one of her strong points.
Cora Patterson momentarily faltered. She did not think much of Amberlee Robinson, and had felt that like her Mother, she needed to be taken down a peg or two. However she did not approve of her son’s treatment of her. She still wasn’t aware of all the facts. Jay had not been very forthcoming about the events of that night, but Cora had gathered that it had been very humiliating for Amberlee.
“Well Alexis I do understand how you feel and I can only apologise on Jay’s behalf. But I will tell you what I do know. Jay thought that he was just there to make up a foursome so that his friend Kevin could get to know the other girl. It’s clear to me that it was Amberlee’s own stupid fault for thinking that she and Jay were on a real date.”
“How dare you, how dare you blame Amberlee for what he did. Your son humiliated my daughter in public and now God only knows what has happened to her.”
Cora Patterson was a very nice woman, she had a very kind heart and was generally sorry that this woman’s child had gone missing. However, her patience did have its limits, and she was not going to stand there being berated on her own doorstep by Alexis Robinson.
“Dare I? You’ve got some nerve lady, why don’t you cast your mind back to that young man Tom Harrison. Your precious Amberlee tried to get her claws into him too, don’t you remember, no, and why is that Alexis? Is it because you’ve got your head stuck so far up your own ass that you can’t see what your brat of a daughter is really capable of?”
Alexis reeled backwards as though she had been struck hard in the face. Her lips started to tremble as she turned away from Cora and ran back to her car, without even noticing that she had passed by the two boys. When she drove off the tyres screeched in protest, as they burned dark marks onto the road.
****************************************
Lia had waited until everyone was in bed this time. She had made sure that when she slipped out of the house, that she was still carrying Elena’s handkerchief between her breasts. The vampire wanted to see Jay, her human object of desire as soon as she could. It had been a struggle not to tell her Mother and Kathrin about him. She had, more than once, caught them looking in her direction, with puzzled expressions on their beautiful faces. It was as if they had been trying to read her mind, but had found it too difficult. Lia knew that she was arousing suspicion within her family. She knew that she had to be more careful in her manner, if she wanted to keep her secret. Vampires were notoriously inquisitive, especially her father.
Her time spent with her family was brief, but she had really enjoyed being with them. When she had returned from her lone hunt, she had joined them in the music room. Her father had recently purchased a beautiful piano, it had been a surprise gift for her mother. It was of unspeakable beauty, the craftsmanship was stunning, and Arabella had willingly entertained them all, by playing the beautiful music that she had learned as a child back in Surrey.
Lia didn’t bother taking anything from the house that could be sold to Abe and Dalia Jackson. She still had plenty of money, but she had made a mental note that she would return to the little antique shop. She hadn’t forgotten that Abe Jackson had said that there would probably be some extra funds to collect. He had seemed very excited and enthusiastic about the prospect of selling her English grandmother’s, artist signed, portrait oil painting through a prestigious auction house.
The moon was complete in its fullness, as she walked purposely towards the thick cluster of trees that obscured her secret portal. Lia did not look back at the house, so she was totally unaware of her father, watching her leave from his bedroom window. He made no attempt to follow her but slipped back into his bed, next to the now sleeping Arabella, and as he closed his eyes in slumber Lia walked through the portal and once again froze the time space reality of the nineteenth century.
****************************************
It took exactly forty three minutes to fly from Portland to Philadelphia. Amberlee had booked herself into an inoffensive, airport motel, before she had taken the plane in the morning. The young girl had felt really deflated by the evening’s turn of events. She felt like a total loser. Amberlee had convinced herself that Jay Patterson had wanted her, and only her. She just couldn’t understand how some other girl could just turn up and steal him away like that, right from under her nose. Amberlee had turned to go in the direction of the restroom but had changed her mind and decided to leave the dance. As she had walked to the exit she had seen Jay and her, that girl. They had been kissing passionately, in the way that he should have been kissing her. She had waited for that moment for so long, she had fantasized about it, willed it to happen with all her might. She had admitted to herself with much reluctance, that the girl was hot. ‘Smoking’ was the word used by a group of boys to describe her, as Amberlee had hurried passed them with her head held down. The pain that had weighed down heavily in her heart had helped her make the decision, to go away and start a new life elsewhere. Amberlee had stolen money from her stepfather’s wallet, before she had left to go to the dance. She had stolen from her parents before, the last time was to buy some designer clothes that her mother had made her return to the store. She had not predicted however, that she would be using some of her stepfather’s money to fly to Pennsylvania. The money had been for something very different. Amberlee had intended to book herself and Jay into a hotel for the night, after the dance. She had decided on a luxury riverside hotel, and had imagined them being there, all night, alone, and together. She had imagined their naked bodies, entwined under the cotton crisp sheets of the luxurious hotel bed. The heat of their passion had grown and expanded in her mind, but she had sadly spent the night alone in a cheap motel room, while the boy who held all the strings to her heart, had been basking in the arms of another girl.
After a cup of strong coffee, Amberlee Robinson had taken the first flight out to Philadelphia.
Chapter S
ix
Lia decided to buy some more food and have her kitchen fully stocked, for when Jay visited. She went to the same row of shops, that he had taken her to before. After looking around a supermarket she bought a selection of things, that looked very strange to a vampire girl from the nineteen hundreds. Nevertheless Lia had fallen easily into her new role, as a teenage girl of the 21st century, and she was enjoying her double life.
“That’s seventy five dollars please honey” said the cashier after she had scanned Lia shopping, and placed them into the store’s own plastic carrier bags. Lia was glad that there had been no queue, there was only a few people in the supermarket that day and Lia had been able to look around at her leisure. She gave the plump and pleasant looking cashier eight ten dollar bills, and waited for her change. Lia’s eyes suddenly fell onto a poster, displayed on the cream coloured wall opposite. She looked around and saw that there was quite a few of them in the supermarket. Lia had been so engrossed in her shopping that she had not noticed that they were there. The friendly cashier followed Lia’s gaze and shook her head saying:
“That poor girl’s family, I just can’t imagine what her Mom must be going through.”
Lia looked closer. She saw that it was a ‘missing person’ poster. She recognised her straight away. It was a picture of that girl Amberlee Robinson, who had been Jay’s date for that college dance.
“Hasn’t she turned up yet?” Lia was very surprised. She had thought that the girl would have just gone off somewhere, to sulk and stroke her wounded ego for a short while. She hadn’t given much thought to the matter, but it appeared that Amberlee had decided to milk it as much as she could.
“Nope, the police don’t have any leads either, but my friend Marylou, her husband works for the police department, told me that he says that they may have a suspect!”
Lia’s ears pricked. She wondered what the cashier was going to say next.
“Really?” she replied innocently, “how come?”
“Well” the cashier leaned towards her voice lowered as if in a conspiracy. “It turns out that this Amberlee girl was on a date with some boy when she went missing.”
“But how does that make him guilty of anything?” asked Lia. She was careful not to seem too curious, or have any knowledge of the people in question.
“When they left the dance he must have taken her home surely?”
“Oh no” said the cashier emphatically, “She left on her own, the police say that they had a fight, or something happened and she stormed out and he stayed at the dance.”
“So why would he be a suspect if he didn’t leave with her?”
“Well Marylou says that the police think he may have an accomplice” answered the cashier dramatically. “You see not too long ago the same sort of thing happened. He was with a girl at a party and she also disappeared. Now that really was awful. She turned up stripped naked and dead.”