Page 26 of Vow of Vengeance

I leave Soren raking her hands through her hair and return to the living room, checking the sliding glass door. It's locked, and when I open it to step onto a small terrace, there's only a large chair and an end table with an empty wine glass on it. I'm just locking it behind me again when Soren throws the front door open, rushing to Chik's apartment and practically beating the door down.

"Open up, Chik!" She calls.

And he does, blinking like he's trying to push off the dregs of sleep.

“'Sup?" He yawns, glancing behind her to me.

"When was the last time you saw her?"

Chik rubs his blonde beard; it's barely more than a five-o clock shadow, but he strokes it with his palm anyway as he thinks. "What day is it?"

"Friday." I say, feeling like the only functional adult around here. We're in a lot of trouble if it's up to me to be the functional one, but I don't say that out loud.

"Sure it's not Thursday?"

"Positive."

"Hmm." He frowns. "Uh, I don't know. I guess Monday, maybe? She was coming home same time as me. I invited her for a drink, but she said she was tired."

Soren stares at him hard, and I understand her suspicions.

"Can I come inside?" She asks, suddenly.

I turn to her, surprised.

I'm not the only one.

Chik looks confused by the request, clearly not having gotten the hint that Soren thinks something nefarious has happened to her best friend, and that he's her only suspect at this point.

"Uh, yeah." Chik grins, stepping aside.

Soren doesn't hesitate, pushing past him to gain entry to his apartment.

Unlike Marissa's, Chik's apartment isn't just cluttered. It's messy, too.

A box of pizza is open on the counter, a two liter of soda without the cap lying on it's side, plastic cups everywhere. I follow closely behind Soren as she heads straight for the bedroom, ripping back the covers to find two girls in the bed. They groan and glare at her, offended by the wake-up call.

Neither of them are Marissa, and neither is the guy taking a piss in the bathroom or the couple on the couch or the figure passed out on the porch patio.

"Want a drink?" Chik asks, clearly not having realized we were here just to look for Marissa. "I've got all the things. I have harder stuff, too."

"No." I answer before Soren can, grabbing her by the back of the neck and guiding her to the door. "Thanks for your help, Chik."

"Anytime." Chik shrugs.

I don't bother giving him the key back, slipping it in my pocket as I guide Soren back to the hall. She fixes me with a desperate look; I can feel her frustration in the air, see it in her eyes.

"We have to go file a missing person's report."

Reporting Marissa as missing might be the best solution, but I don't want to go wait around at the station for some underpaid bitch who answers phones all day to tell us we have to wait twenty-four hours.

I can do one better.

fourteen

Soren

Declancalledinsomefavors. I don't know what those favors entailed, and I don't quite care. I can worry later about how my stalker has enough leverage to get the damn chief of police to come to my best friend's apartment and take her missing person's report on his own. Weirder still, he's not what I expected, listening to my concerns, jotting down details, assuring us that we'll find her.