Page 5

5

Lara

Officer Staley looks across his desk at me like I’ve just told him my lunch order and he isn’t impressed with my choice of a turkey club. There’s no sense of immediacy in his behavior. He heard me say someone is in danger out at that farmhouse and reacted with nothing.

No shock. No worry. Not even a widening of his eyes with a tiny bit of surprise.

All he can muster is leaning back in his chair far enough that I’m sure it’s going to topple over and dump him onto the floor. I say do it, chair. At least it would make me happier than I am now trying to figure out how the hell to get him to give a damn about what I heard out at that farmhouse.

“You’ve always had an active imagination, Lara. I bet it’s why you’re good at your job. Are you still at that online magazine? What was it called again?”

His transparent attempt at flattery in an effort to distract me does nothing but irritate me. I’ve known Dustin Staley since grade school. I even thought he was cute in the ninth grade and considered going with him to the fall dance. I didn’t because he came down with strep throat, but for a short time, I actually liked this person and considered kissing him.

Now all I want to do is smack some sense into him. This is what happens when you don’t leave the same small town you grew up in to go to college. At least if he had ventured out to the next county for a while, the nothingness of this town wouldn’t be so ingrained in his very marrow.

“You know full well I work at Good News, Dustin. Come on. I know you’re not completely brain dead like the rest of this police force. You know me. You know I wouldn’t come here to report something that I didn’t witness. Something’s going on out at that farmhouse. Can you just check it out? I think that Golden Light group is up to something there.”

Nothing I say sways him. With a shrug, he leans forward in his chair and says, “I’ll drive out there in a little while. That’s the best I can do.”

Truer words have never been spoken.

“Thanks, Dustin. You’re a real servant of the people. By the way, I don’t know how much good it will do to tell you this, but my sister is missing. I think that has something to do with that weird group.”

The mention of my sister perks him up, and suddenly, he’s writing down details of my report. “Rina? Where do you think she could be?”

I swear to God this man gets dumber every second I’m here with him.

“If I knew where she was, Dustin, she wouldn’t be missing. I found one of The Golden Light’s pamphlets in her apartment this morning. I’ve been calling her for two days but she isn’t home.”

He stops writing and looks over at me. “Any chance she went back to that boyfriend of hers? He does like to take her away.”

I hate this man for bringing up her ex-boyfriend. Everyone in town knows that Rina broke up with him when he threatened to kill her. She got a protection from abuse order from the court because she was so afraid he might follow through on his threat. Dustin knows all of this, and still he thinks she might have gone back to Jamie.

Standing, I turn to leave without bothering to say goodbye or thank you. Why would I bother? He hasn’t done a damn thing to help me.

“Lara, come on. Don’t go. I wrote down everything you said. I’ll drive out there. I swear.”

I wave his pathetic efforts away as I walk toward the door. “Whatever, Dustin. Keep serving and protecting.”

“As soon as something touches on religion, we can’t do a thing about it. You know that, Lara.”

Religion my ass.

When I step out into the afternoon sun and the day’s heat hits me, I almost feel like giving up. The police aren’t interested in what I have to say. I doubt Dustin will even drive by that farmhouse.

Blowing the air out of my lungs, I feel nothing short of defeated. I want to help whoever that woman is out there, but I have to find my sister. I don’t have time to do both.

Then an idea comes to me. My boss is always asking me if I’m going to take any of my vacation time. I’ve actually thought he might ask me to give him some of mine for his many breaks he likes to take from work. He hasn’t gone that far, but he has brought up my taking some time off on more than a few occasions in the past weeks.

Maybe it’s time I take him up on that much-needed break. I have two weeks of vacation due me, and I can use that to look for Rina. Hopefully, I find her easily and then we can goof around for a week or so getting tans and watching chick flicks.

I fish out my phone from the bottom of my purse and call Mario. He answers in a rush like he’s hurrying somewhere.

“Hello?”

“Hi, Mario. It’s Lara.”

“Hey, Lara. What’s up?”

“I need to take a couple weeks off. My vacation will start today.”

To my surprise, he isn’t enthusiastic about my news. “I don’t know, Lara. You know things get busy around this time. We’re planning the October edition, and I swear if I hear one more writer suggest a story about how Halloween costumes have grown into cosplay, heads are going to roll.”

“I already gave you my suggestions for articles, Mario. You loved them. Remember? Salem and the witch connection to this area of Delaware? There were others, but that was the one you thought would work best.”

He’s silent for a long moment before he hums and answers, “Oh, right. Still, two weeks is a lot, Lara.”

“You’re always telling me I need to take my time off, and when I finally decide to, you’re going to give me a hard time? You have my article pitch. I turned in my work the other day, so I’m not behind on anything.”

A heavy sigh comes through the phone. “Okay. You’re right. So why do you suddenly need to take a couple weeks off?”

“I have a family issue. I will say this, though. You might get the biggest story the magazine has ever had if things work out.”

“What does that mean?”

“I can’t really tell you right now, but let’s just say this time off might not be all about lying around at the pool working on my tan if things go south. Just trust me on this, Mario. I’ve never let you down before, have I?”

“Well, no, but there’s always a first time for everything.”

Always the optimist, this guy.

“That’s the way to think. Ever tried the glass half full vibe, Mario? It might make you a happier person.”

That gets me another sigh. “My ex-wife used to say that all the time. It’s just not my style.”

“It’s okay, Mario. We are who we are. By the way, you probably won’t be able to get in touch with me for the next couple weeks, but know that if I can use anything I find out, I promise to give you an article that will knock your socks off.”

“Find out? Find out what? What are you looking into?” he asks with a hint of concern to his voice.

“Not to worry. Talk to you in a couple weeks. Bye!”

And with that, I end the call and throw my phone back in my purse. The police don’t seem interested in my sister being missing, so it’s up to me to find her.

Remembering something Rina mentioned about meeting up with some new friends of hers, I think I know exactly where to look.