Читать книгу Black Blood - Dyvina Sollena - Страница 12

Chapter 6

Rebecca

I took Hanna to work at Moonlight for the evening shift.

Josh was waiting for us at the entrance, we had arranged to meet with him and spend the evening together.

«I can stay a bit longer with you, I have still time before starting», Hanna said sitting near us.

I begged my best friend not to say anything to Josh. Nothing regarding Sebastian or my strange unwarranted reactions in his presence.

She promised me she would not mention it.

Josh studied us for long moments, shifting his gaze from one to the other.

«There must be something you two are denying», he declared.

I ignored him, awed by the turn that this conversation could have taken.

Instead, Hanna reached Josh across the table and grabbed him by the shoulders.

«We made a sensational discovery today», she exclaimed as if holding back those words with all her might.

Josh blinked in confusion.

I motioned Hanna to sit down and tried to keep order.

«Quiet! It's confidential information», I yelled nudging her.

She pouted and ignored me.

I hoped she could really keep my secret, I trusted her, but I knew her well and I knew how much she loved talking.

«What have you discovered?» Josh asked, intrigued by our friend's statement.

I quickly checked the surrounding environment to make sure that no one was listening to us.

«A couple of days ago I managed to speak with Frank Weather. He made coming back to my mind some episodes happened in the past. I don't know if you can remember, but those disappearances have already happened and, as a teenager, I had kept the Hazy Daily's articles. I could have searched online also, but I thought it would have been easier summing up those clippings that were left at my parents' house.»

Then, Hanna didn't let me finish.

«Three missing girls exactly ten years ago. And this is not everything: in 1998 Reb wrote about another girl that had disappeared, another ten years before. Those events have happened in a cadenced way», she enthusiastically finished. She decided to help me even though facing the truth had scared her to death.

«It is the same year... of Lily», Josh mumbled as he looked down at the table. As a child, he was very attached to his sister, it was an immense pain to bear that loss for him.

«Exactly that», I didn't know what else to say.

«Don't you think that maybe Lily might not have died in an accident?» Hanna spoke a bit carelessly.

I wanted to break her head.

A tactless question that would have inflicted further pain on Josh. But she didn't realize it, she was spontaneous.

Josh slammed his fist on the shiny table's surface.

«What are you thinking of?» he blurted out with a grim expression on his face.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath to keep calm. That was the beginning of a no holds barred war, when Hanna and Josh argued, because that's what was going to happen, there was a need to take cover.

First, I had to calm myself and then I could calm them.

«Think about it», she objected.

It was necessary to stop them immediately.

«The inseparable ones, full tonight!» an unpredicted voice said.

The appearance of Gregory Tanner and Tina Harper broke the growing bickering between the two.

They were all righteous people.

Greg was the son of the inspector and Ginger.

We were born on the same day and our families often forced us to organize children's birthday parties together.

Despite the whims, in the end, we always had fun and as we grew up, we became friends.

Greg was an accomplice who deserved absolute respect. He liked technologies and had access to information that were often confidential. He had lent me his help on several occasions, he was on my side, I knew it.

Tina, on the other hand, was a quiet girl, she was the elder sister of the missing Claire Harper. The two did not get along very well, I had already spoken with Tina recently on the occasion of that tragedy.

She was sunny by nature, she faced the days with a smile, but her face didn't lie. She was hiding behind her sand-colored bangs not to show her eyes. Reddened, swollen and adorned with two purple dark circles that not even makeup could completely cover.

I thought it was hard for her family and I was sorry for their pain.

Tina and Greg had met at school, he had completely lost his mind for her and after an infinite courtship, he had managed to conquer her. They had been together ever since, having just celebrated their ninth anniversary.

«How is it going guys?» I asked acting indifferently.

Hanna stood up in a hurry, giving them the place.

«I got to go or this time your mom could threaten me with a kitchen knife», she squeaked to Gregory, winking at him.

«What were you guys talking about?» he asked us after greeting her.

I knew I could safely talk to them.

I wanted to express myself freely on the researches I was leading but I was worried about Tina, talking about the police investigations meant raising an issue in which her family was involved.

I didn't want to cause her any more pain. It wasn't necessary.

Even if...

I looked at her with a frown, she seemed to notice and smiled at me.

«Oh dear! Don't worry, Reb. I know what you're working on. We have already talked about it», she said, putting a hand on her chest.

I listened to her and told them the correlations with old cases that occurred decades ago.

«Does my dad know that you are investigating so deeply?» Greg asked, mulling over my story.

I raised an eyebrow and looked into his thin eyes turning my back towards him.

«No... and he shouldn't know», I declared, resting my chin on the closed fist of my right hand.

A crooked smile broke out on his thin face.

«He won't know. Don't worry.»

«I need some more information. Do you think your old man is willing to chat with me?» I asked Greg, who knew his father better than anyone else.

He made a mop.

«You will hardly get what you are looking for from him. Assuming he decided to listen to you, you will get nothing from him except what he chooses to tell you. He's very secretive about police investigations, he'll never talk to a reporter, even if that reporter is you, Reb.»

The commissioner was a tough man, he knew how to be respected and he managed to maintain discipline in the city. He took his job seriously and did it perfectly.

He was in charge of the small local police district; he represented the law in Hazycreek.

Greg was right, I would have just aroused suspicions and I had to be invisible.

«You could try with Father Dorian, he knows both Claire and Rose, his information will probably not be as thorough as those of the police, but you could get definitely something useful out of it», Tina suggested, looking for her fiancé's approval, he nodded his head.

«Right. My uncle is more open to communication. But be sweet and don't push your hand too hard, he's a sensitive person. If you approach him properly, he will help you», he agreed.

«What is your opinion?» Josh, who had stood silent for a long time, intervened.

«I honestly think I've been affected by popular rumors. But I can't stop thinking about the Thirsty», Greg whispered, lowering his head to the table.

But seriously?

«What you have found out makes me just more suspicious about them. Yes, well, there is no evidence, but we grew up listening to those ancient stories. Everyone in Hazycreek is afraid of the Winterbournes. Maybe there is a pinch of truth», Tina asserted, expressing the same opinion.

Everyone talked about it, but no one made himself heard.

It was no longer clear where fantasy began and reality ended.

If everyone suspected the Winterbournes, then why not go and get them?

What was holding them back?

«It is too easy to justify with a legend what you cannot explain»,

I argued firmly, always supporting my position.

The Thirsty didn't exist, they were just bullshit.

Greg began handling his smartphone, plugged in two Bluetooth headsets, and handed one to me and one to Josh.

«I want you to listen this», he said with a serious face.

I motioned him to start the audio:

«We can't go on like this forever. Here young girls disappear and people ask themselves questions.»

«We have ties with them. We'll find a solution.»

«We have to get them away. I don't know how, but sooner or later the situation will get out of hand.»

«No way. It would be suicide. These are the agreements.»

I was amazed, it was a conversation between two well-known voices to me.

The first was that of James Tanner, the commissioner, while the second was that of Alan Ryder, Hanna's father, the mayor of Hazycreek.

«Why do you have this recording?» I asked, confused.

It could have meant anything, but those short lines confirmed the presence of something unspoken, masked.

«Tina and I wanted to look for the truth on our own, we had the feeling that there was little clarity about these recent disappearances, so I inserted a spy software into my dad's smartphone and discovered that he has secrets and he is not the only one», he paused briefly, during that time he looked at me in the eyes. «We also thought someone in this trade could help us. You, for example.»

The request caught me off guard. And I couldn't refuse their cooperation, it would have been stupid.

«Yeah, but I can't understand the meaning of recording one of your father's conversations», I insisted, I was trying to understand to what extent I could count on their help.

«I have often doubted him. It happens that he is introvert, that he says things in half, and there seems to be always something tormenting him. I just wanted to find out about the ongoing investigation, but I have found out more.»

«Do you think he is hiding something?» I asked, being even more careful.

«I think it's pretty obvious. As indecipherable as the conversation is, it is clear that something is happening.»

I was impressed.

How long have Greg had doubts about his father?

Was the appearance deceiving so much?

And if the mayor was also involved, what was there so obscure that had to be hidden?

Maybe I was traveling in my fantasy, building only paper castles. But I have had a hunch.

I was aware that curiosity was sometimes paid dearly, however, I did not expect to find out so many skeletons in Hazycreek's closet.

What was I supposed to expect?