Page 107 of Rule the Night

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 aftera 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.