Page 68 of Rule the Night (Blackwell Butchers #1)

MAEVE

I spent the weeks leading up to Halloween planning an extravaganza of themed treats.

Meeting Poe’s grandparents and learning about his mom’s disappearance had made me feel closer to him.

I hadn’t told him I knew — that seemed better coming from him — but it made me feel like we had more in common than I’d thought.

And Remy? Well, Remy was Remy. Maybe I felt closer to him because of all the time I spent helping him clean up the messes that seemed to follow in his wake, like he was an ice breaker barreling through frozen seas, breaking stuff apart every step of the way, but he was pretty easygoing and surprisingly easy to get along with.

That left Bram. Other than the way he’d looked at me when I’d fucked Poe and Remy at the apple orchard, he was as untouchable as ever.

But I knew he had a weakness, and that weakness happened to be my specialty.

Which is why I stopped at Cassie’s Cuppa on my way home from work a couple days before Halloween. Today was the day I’d start prepping my cakes, pie crusts, and custards, and after a long day on my feet at Lushberry, I’d need all the help I could get.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t the only one in need of a late afternoon caffeine hit. The coffee shop was packed, and I got in line to place my order and flipped through my phone.

Bailey was still going strong with her new man and asking if I wanted to come along to a Halloween party, and Olivia had sent me a pic of potential Halloween costumes.

I replied to both (pass on being third wheel at a Halloween party, although I did want to meet Bailey’s new guy, no on the cat and Red Riding Hood costumes for Olivia, yes to Jessie from Toy Story 2 — June had loved Toy Story 2).

I was still only halfway to the register so I pocketed my phone and scanned the bulletin board on the wall instead. I’d never bothered to look at it before and now it seemed like some kind of archeological artifact from a town I hardly knew.

Apparently there were salsa lessons at the Senior Center every Thursday at 6pm? There was also a pancake breakfast hosted by the volunteer fire company and a spaghetti dinner hosted by the Foreign Legion, whatever that was.

Local teenagers had posted flyers for babysitting and there was even a psychic offering a BOGO reading.

Who knew?

The flyers were layered one on top of the other, a haphazard patchwork of announcements, lessons, and offerings.

My gaze snagged on the image of a dark-haired girl, half buried under other flyers.

I stepped closer and pulled it out far enough that I could read the headline.

Missing!

Rain Adakai

I pulled it down and read.

Missing!

Rain Adakai

Hair: Brown

Eyes: Brown

Height: 5’4”

Weight: 130 lbs

Last seen leaving Pink Adult Entertainment on Route 308 on March 6th.

REWARD: $1000.00 for any information leading to her return.

The girl was about my age, pretty, with long dark hair and a cheerful smile. My chest felt tight looking at her, and I scanned the bulletin board again, then impulsively started moving the first layer of flyers.

And Rain wasn’t alone.

Under the salsa lessons and babysitting, the pancake breakfast and spaghetti dinner, there were other girls.

Five of them to be exact, plus Rain.

They’d all gone missing in the last five years, and they’d all gone missing in and around Blackwell Falls.

The older woman behind me gave me a dirty look for holding up the line, and I waved her forward, letting her take my place as the line inched forward while I tacked the picture of the missing girls on top of everything else.

Then I stood back and took a picture of each one, my stomach churning with nausea.

Why hadn’t I heard about this?

I mean, it’s not like I read the newspaper or anything, and I’d gone to Forest Day instead of the public high school, but I lived here. Shouldn’t this be a bigger deal?

I’d started looking the girls up on my phone — Rain Adakai had gone missing just last year — when I reached the front of the line. I gave my order to the harried looking barista with purple hair and moved to the left to wait for my mocha latte.

And that was when I saw Bram.

He was getting up from the same table he’d been at the last time I’d been in Cassie’s Cuppa and sitting with the same redhead.

He crossed the distance between them to give her a hug before turning to leave.

I watched as he approached my position near the counter, and this time he looked right at me.

I offered him a weak smile, because that was the least you could do when you saw someone you knew out in public.

But he looked right through me, walked right by like he’d never seen me before in his life.