It Never Rhines but It Pours (17 page)

“What does this have to do with the person we are going to talk to?” I asked.

“Because, I’m not really sure who we are looking for,” was the reassuring answer. “I was looking for people with reason to hate Pravus. That wasn’t hard. But when I narrowed it down to opportunity, it was a lot harder. About ten years ago, Pravus was sent out to investigate a supernatural creature spotting. He didn’t fill out any paperwork.” She did that dramatic pause again.

“So he didn’t find anything?” I guessed, knowing that was the wrong answer but just trying to keep her talking.

“No. Because, every year since then, he has gone back to the same town for a day!”

“Let me guess. Astor, Florida,” I said.

“Exactly!” she was pleased with her logic.

“I don’t get it.” I was confused. “We’re looking for someone who hates Pravus. Not just some creature that he failed to report.”

She grinned her shark grin. “That’s where it gets interesting. Four out of the ten times Pravus has visited Astor, he has visited the hospital afterwards with broken bones.”

I raised my eyebrows. “Okay, that seems promising.”

“Also, just think about it. Why wouldn’t Pravus report whatever it was he found?”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. “Laziness?”

“Try greed,” she said. “My guess is that he is blackmailing the creature in return for his silence.”

She could be right. I wouldn’t put it past Pravus to try and extort someone. And that would be a pretty good reason to frame him. Blackmailers are never very popular with their victims. If I was being blackmailed I could see how a permanent solution might be tempting.

“Hold on a sec,” I had a concern. “If you don’t know who we are looking for, how are we going to find this person?”

Cecily shrugged. “How hard can it be? The town only has fifteen hundred people in it!”

I glared at her, “That’s a lot when you’re going door to door in the amount of time we have! I would like to get home sometime before sunrise! Some of us may be able to sleep all day, but my kids will be up at seven-thirty regardless of what time
I
go to bed!”

“You worry too much, Piper,” Cecily yawned. “In a town that size I guarantee that people are talking about anything weird that is going on.”

“And what if there isn’t anything weird going on?” I snapped.

“Trust me. Pravus wouldn’t be going to the boonies for enjoyment. There is some sort of supernatural creature there. And the hospital record proves that it doesn’t think too highly of our witch friend.”

I rolled my eyes in frustration. It was going to be almost seven o’clock before we got there. I’d told Mark that I would be late getting back and not to wait up for me, but I really would like to be back on the road by midnight at the latest. That gave us five hours to probe the local populace, discover a magical creature, interview it, and decide whether it was responsible for the Kissimmee killings. Great. Just peachy.

Chapter Seventeen:

Rednecks at Subway

We got off I-95 and onto the smaller FL-40. Almost thirty miles later and we were in the middle of nowhere. It was typical Florida scenery, which is to say, not very scenic. Scrub brush, pine trees, palm trees, and swamp. I half expected to see alligators crossing the road. We had our share of alligators in Melbourne, but most of them preferred to stay in the swamps outside the city. A few of the braver ones would go for a dip in someone’s swimming pool, or even try to enter a house. If you don’t believe me, you can check out pictures people have taken and posted on the web of alligators standing on their hind legs up against a front door. You hear a noise at your door, go to open it, and wham! a six foot gator falls into your foyer.

Astor was giving me the creeps. We were deep in the middle of redneckville and Cecily’s cute Honda Civic was totally out of place. All I saw on the roads were trucks. Big trucks. Muddy trucks. And occasionally, one that
wasn’t
painted in camouflage.

Sarah took her earphones out and leaned forward. “What’s the plan?”

I was still driving down FL-40, now called Butler Street. Cecily popped her seatback into the upright position and was looking out the window. My stomach rumbled. “How about dinner first?” I suggested.

“Sweet, I’m starved,” Sarah chimed in. “We passed a seafood place back there.” She pointed the way we had come.

Now, I know this is odd for a native Floridian, but I don’t eat seafood. Any seafood. If it comes from the water I don’t like it. Fish, crab, lobster, shrimp, clams, they are all are on my no-eat list. I can’t take the smell, much less the taste. Once in a blue moon I will get the urge for tuna fish, but if I open that can and it smells fishy then my cat, Otis, gets a treat. Once I thought I liked mussels, but the second time I tried them I ate a bad one and spent the rest of the evening vomiting in the bathroom. So, no thank you, no seafood for me.

“No seafood,” I made a gagging sound.

“Oh, come on, Piper!” Sarah whined. “I feel like some shrimp.”

“The cockroaches of the sea?” I asked.

“Fine,” she crossed her arms over her chest and sulked. “Where do you want to go?”

We were getting deeper and deeper into the middle of nowhere. “Umm, I don’t think we’ll have many options,” I said.

“Look, there’s a sign for ‘The Blackwater Inn Restaurant and Lounge,’” Sarah pointed.

Cecily nixed it. “Too fancy. We need somewhere where the locals hang out and drink.”

“Uh, Cecily, there’s a problem with that,” I pointed out.

“What?”

“Someone in the car is underage.”

“Good grief, Piper!” Sarah complained, “I don’t look like I’m underage. I can pass.”

“No, you can’t.”

“Yes, I can!”

“That’s not the point! I’m not taking you into a bar!” I was getting upset.

“What? So, you’ll take me to decapitate someone but not to see people drinking beer? What kind of double standard is that? They let soldiers drink before they turn twenty-one!”

“What does that have to do with you?” I wanted to know.

“The rule is, if you are risking your life for your country you should be allowed to drink,” Sarah seemed to think that her logic was faultless.

“You’re not risking you life for your country,” I pointed out.

“Yes I am!” She was indignant. “Sort of.”

“There’s a Subway!” Cecily yelled, cutting into our argument.

“Subway it is!” I agreed, taking a sharp right into the parking lot. “Do you think this is a local enough hangout?”

Cecily shook her head. “Maybe we can find out where the local watering hole is here.”

“Watering hole?” Sarah asked.

I smirked. “She means the local bar.”

“What?” Cecily was puzzled. “You don’t call them watering holes anymore?”

“Not unless you’re my grandfather’s age,” Sarah commented.

Cecily sniffed. “I am considerably older than your grandfather.”

“And much better preserved,” I added, patting her arm. “Now let’s get some food and try to figure out what supernatural creature could possible want to live in this dump.”

Inside, the Subway looked just like the ones at home. Older, dirtier, but essentially the same. We got three sub combos and Cecily and Sarah threw in some large chocolate cookies as well.

“Do you want a cookie?” Sarah asked.

I glared at her. Yes. I wanted a cookie. No. I didn’t want my butt getting any bigger. How was it possible that two sisters could have such different metabolisms? She must have stolen part of mine when I wasn’t watching. That would explain everything. Maybe it was part of her memory abilities.

“Are you sure that memories are the only thing you steal?” I asked suspiciously. It was farfetched, yes, but I really wanted to know.

Sarah gave me a weird look. “I don’t
steal
memories, Piper,” she whispered, looking around to make sure that no one else was listening. “I just change them. You know that.”

I gave her a narrow eyed stare. Maybe she was telling the truth. It still didn’t explain how she could scarf down a twelve inch sub, a bag of Doritos, and a couple of cookies and still fit in her size four shorts. Granted, I was a size six, but I had to work for every inch of it. I’d have to keep an eye on her. If she’d really stolen my metabolism I wanted it back.

Cecily bumped into me from behind. I had been standing in front of the drink fountain, staring at nothing. “Piper?” she said softly. “You’ve got that weird look on your face.”

“What weird look?”

“That look you get when you are thinking something really stupid.”

“What!” I said a little loudly. “Take that back. I never think anything stupid.”

“Okay, what were you just thinking about?” She filled her cup with ice and coke and turned to me with one raised eyebrow.

I tried to look mysterious. “Nothing that concerns you.”

“Uh-huh. If you think that doesn’t prove my point, you’re wrong.”

“Whatever,” I shrugged past her and took a seat in the booth across from Sarah.

Cecily stopped to pick up what, at first glance, appeared to be a local newspaper. At closer examination it was merely two pages folded together with the main content being advertisements. We all ate in silence while Cecily read. For a vampire who gained zero nutritional value from human food, Cecily sure seemed to enjoy her Italian meatball sub.

“Mhgrhg!” Cecily said through a mouthful.

“What?” I craned my head around and tried to read what she was pointing at.

“Reward Offered for any Mysterious Sightings,” read the ad. I made a face. “Mysterious sightings? What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means that we’re on the right track!” Cecily sounded way too triumphant for someone who had merely proven something that we already knew. Mainly that there was some supernatural creature in the area.

Sarah gave me a wink and leaned over the seat behind her. “Excuse me,” she said, leaning over far enough that I was pretty sure she was showing more than just cleavage to the three rednecks in the booth behind us.

“Yes, ma’am?” one said. He took off his trucker’s hat and wrenched his gaze up a few inches.

“I just couldn’t help but notice this strange ad in your newspaper,” she cooed. “What in the world does it mean?”

One of the other men, who was wearing a camo jacket and full mountain-man beard, guffawed, “Oh, that’s just Floyd. He don’t mean nothin’.”

The third man, whose coveralls had the name “Cooter” sewed over the left front pocket, laughed so hard he choked on his coke. “Floyd’s crazier than a coon with rabies!”

“Really?” Sarah batted her eyes. “Why’s that?”

“Well, ma’am,” the first man answered, since his companions were both still laughing. “Floyd thinks he saw something out off Airport Road.”

“You have an airport?” I blurted out in surprise. I didn’t think this town rated even a Walmart.

“No, ma’am,” he nodded politely at me. “We just have a road named for one.”

Sarah glared at me to shut up and went back to oozing charm. “What did Floyd see?”

“Most likely it was a bear,” the man nodded sagely.

“Or a ‘possum!” camo jacket hooted.

“Or his own shadow!” added Cooter and collapsed cackling on the table top.

“Why the reward?” Cecily asked.

“Well, ma’am,” the polite man said, his mama had obviously raised him right. “Floyd imagines himself to be a reporter of sorts. He says that when he finds proof of whatever it is he thinks he saw, that he’ll get a job at some big newspaper in Deland, or maybe even Deltona.”

“Deltona, huh?” I kept a straight face.

“Where could we find this Floyd?” Sarah simpered, drawing all male eyes back to her neckline.

“Most nights he’s over at the
Steel Around Forest Tavern
, just down the road a ways. You just tell Rainie that Clyde sent you over and you’s looking for Floyd. Rainie’s the bartender there. She’ll point you out straight.”

“Why thank you, Mr. Clyde,” Sarah beamed, causing the poor man to blush bright red. “We appreciate your help!”

We gathered up our trash and headed for the door. Maybe we were getting close, or maybe we were just going to meet the local town nut. Either way, we had to do something and this seemed like the best lead at the moment.

Chapter Eighteen:

The Tavern

The Steel Around Forest Tavern
was just a few miles farther down the road. The sun had almost set when we pulled out of the Subway parking lot and the road cut straight through the middle of the forest. There were no street lamps, no houses, no buildings, only the glow from our headlights and the occasional truck that passed us going the other way. If I had been in a creepy mood, it would have seemed the perfect place for one of those horror movies where people go stumbling through the woods at night. Good thing I wasn’t feeling creeped out.

We finally passed a few houses and then an RV park. The
Tavern
was almost directly opposite an RV park. It had large triangle-shaped roof sections that started at almost ground level and gave the building an out-of-place alpine look. A large banner hung over the door proclaimed that this was “Steeler Country.”