Vampire Beach: Initiation (14 page)

"What was taken?" Jason asked.
"A lot?"

"Just one thing.
An antique that's been in the
Lafrenière
family for hundreds of years," Brad said. "Zach's dad freaked out hardcore this morning when he realized it was missing. He called the school and had Zach yanked from class."

"That's asinine. What's Zach supposed to do about it?"
Harberts
asked.

Brad shrugged.

"All I can say is that Maggie Roy is not guilty," Kyle volunteered, joining the group. "I had my hands on her all night."

"
Priesmeyer
just wants to advertise that he finally got a little," Van Dyke commented with a laugh.

"Hey, we're talking Maggie Roy," Kyle said.

"Been there.
Done that,"
Harberts
told him.

"You lie. We all know you're on your way to being the next forty
-
y
ear
-
old virgin," Kyle shot back.

Ah, this was the locker room Jason knew and
loved.

"What kind of antique are we talking?"
Harberts
asked, getting serious again.

"A gold chalice.
That's a cup to you,
Harberts
," Brad answered. "The thief was smart, too. The chalice was locked in Mr.
Lafrenière
's
briefcase. I guess it's usually kept in a safe
-
deposit box, but he'd taken it out to use over the holiday. Anyway, the thief managed to crack the lock, and he left this glass paperweight in place of the chalice. Otherwise, Mr.
Lafrenière
would have realized something was wrong the second he picked up the case."

An image of Tyler suddenly slammed into Jason's head.
Tyler all twitchy.
Hoodie zipped up to his chin. Hands jammed in the big front pocket.
Because he was holding the chalice?
Hiding it under the baggy sweatshirt?

A year ago, it wouldn't have crossed Jason's mind. In fact, he'd have punched anyone who considered the possibility. But since his parents' divorce, Tyler had changed. And he was desperate for cash.

But
that
desperate?
Jason wasn't sure.

Then he remembered the phone call on Tyler's cell. The guy had mentioned a thirty
-
six
-
hour deadline. And Tyler had turned into an instant asshole. It had obviously been a threat. It might have been enough to make Tyler willing to do just about anything.

But the threat was nothing compared to what Tyler might be facing now. At least the guy on the phone was human.

"How can a place like the
Lafrenière
s' not have an extremely high
-
tech security system?" Kyle asked.

Brad turned toward Jason, even though the ques
tion had been Kyle's. "It does. There are cameras everywhere. By now, they probably know who did it."

Jason stared back at him. Was Brad trying to tell
him something? Had Brad seen something that made him suspect Tyler, too?

Was it a warning?

"Damn! I completely forgot I have a dentist appointment," Jason exclaimed. "My mom's going to massacre me. Tell the coach, okay?"

Brad nodded. And Jason headed out of the locker room, holding himself to a fast walk. The second he was through the doors, he broke into a run. He had to talk to Tyler. Jason just hoped he'd find him in front of the TV where he'd left him that morning.

Jason raced to the parking lot and over to the bug. He vaulted into the convertible without bothering to open the door and squealed out of the lot. He stepped on the gas as soon as he hit the PCH.
Seventy.
Eighty.
He needed to find Tyler fast.

Zach
Lafrenière
was a guy who took action
-
the other vampires counted on him for it. And Zach took care of problems
-
viol
ently
, if necessary. What exac
tl
y would Zach do to Tyler for stealing some
thing irreplaceable from his family?

Jason caught sight of a figure out of the corner of his eye and slammed on the brakes. He twisted around. Yeah, it was Tyler. His friend was staring at him from the edge of the cliffs overlooking the beach on the other side of the road. "Tyler!" he shouted. "Get in the car!"

Tyler waited for a Jeep to drive past,
then
jogged across the two
-
lane highway. "Hey. Decided to walk into town," he said cheerfully.

"Get in," Jason told him again.

"I was thinking of maybe renting a board.
Can't come all the way to Malibu without at least attempt
ing to surf.
Am I right?" Tyler asked.

"The
Lafrenière
s were robbed at the party on Friday," Jason told him. He locked eyes with Tyler. "I think it might be a good time for you to be at home. A stranger in town could be at the top of their list of
sus
pects.”

Tyler nodded wordlessly and climbed into the car.

"Did you do it, Ty?" Jason came right out with the question. He pulled back onto the highway. He wanted to get Tyler out of sight until he knew exactly what the situation was. "I don't hear you answering."

"You take me to a party with you and you think I
stole
something?" Tyler shook his head sadly.

"That's not an answer." Why couldn't Tyler just give him a
no
? That was all Jason wanted.

"You have a Bible? I need a Bible if you're going to put me on the witness stand," Tyler snapped.

Jason glanced at his old
friend. He looked as pissed off
as he sounded. And Jason began to doubt him
self. Maybe he'd jumped to a false
-
and insulting
-
conclusion.

"I didn't do it," Tyler told him, speaking slowly and carefully, like a kindergarten teacher giving safety instructions. "Happy?"

"Ecstatic," Jason muttered as they entered the Heights. "Sorry," he told Tyler. "I just..." He didn't go on. There was no explanation good enough for accus
ing his friend of being a thief.

"Forget it," Tyler said.

Jason pulled into his driveway
-
and hit the brakes fast. His stomach seized as he looked at the house. The front door hung open.

"Didn't my mom and Bianca say they had some kind of charity luncheon today?" he asked. "And Dani was going to go straight to Kristy's and stay there until after dinner."

"Yeah," Tyler said, staring at the gaping door. "And your father's at work."

Jason threw the car into park and killed the engine. He dashed to the door, Tyler right behind him.

Books, CDs, and DVDs lay all over the living room floor. The coffee table had been knocked over. The glass in his mother's curio cabinet smashed. The ottoman flipped and the bottom slit open.

Someone had come in and searched the place. And Jason knew exactly what they had been looking for.

J
ason
whipped around, grabbed Tyler by the shoul
ders, and slammed him against the wall. "Tell me again that you didn't steal an antique chalice from the
Lafrenière
s!"

Tyler didn't look pissed off anymore. He had gone pale. "I didn't know they'd do anything like this. If I'd thought it would som
ehow come back to your family..
."

But it
had
come back to Jason's family. Tyler had brought the vampires right into Jason's home. What would have happened if his parents or his aunt or Dani had been there? The thought made his body go cold, then hot with anger. "So you took it. Just admit' it," Jason ordered.

Tyler twisted away from him. "I had no choice."

"Bullshit."

"You're right."
Tyler strode into the living room and began picking up books and shoving them back on the bookshelf. "I had a choice. I could have let Russ kill
me.”

Jason followed Tyler, catching sight of the kitchen through the open door. The canisters of sugar, flour,
and coffee had been dumped. The floor looked like some kind of toxic beach.

"Who's Russ?" he asked, joining Tyler in gathering up the books. He almost didn't want to know the
answer.

"My dealer."

"And?
Come on, do I have to yank the whole story out of you word by word?"

"I stole from him, all right? I needed some Ritalin. I got addicted to it. I didn't have the cash. Russ wouldn't front me, so I took everything he had, even drugs I didn't want. I was pissed," Tyler confessed. "Like five thousand dollars' worth of stuff."

"Christ." Jason let out a long breath. "That call I answered? That was
-
"

"That was Russ. He's my new best friend. Calls all the time," Tyler said. "Thanks for telling him where I was, by the way." He jammed a book onto a shelf hard enough to make the bookcase shake.

"I'm not used to my friends being chased by people who want them dead," Jason countered. He moved toward another book and heard a sharp crack. He pulled his foot back. "Great! You now owe my mother a
Celine Dion's Greatest Hits
CD." He glanced around the room. "Among other things," he added under his
breath.

"Look, Russ gave me forty
-
eight hours to get him cash for what I stole,"
Ty
l
er said. "And I
wasn
’
t kidding about him sending somebody out here to kill me. Or at least seriously mess me up. I figured the
Lafrenière
s have insurance up the wazoo. I thought they'd just submit a claim. No harm, no foul." Tyler lifted his arms,
then
let them fall to his sides. "How was I sup
posed to know they'd do something like this? You saw their house. They have more crap than they could use in five lives. Why would they care so much?"

"You picked the wrong thing to steal," Jason told him. "That chalice has been in their family for gener
ations. That's why they care so much." A thought struck him like a knife in the chest. "Was it even here when they trashed the place?"

Tyler shook his head. "I sold it at a pawn shop."

"Then this isn't over. They aren't going to stop until they get it back. And, obviously"
-
Jason kicked the overturned ottoman
-
"they know you're the one who took the thing. We've got to go get it."

"With what?
I wired the money to Michigan already. I have"
-
Tyler pulled his wallet out of his back pocket and checked the contents
-
"fifty
-
four dollars tota
l
"

"We'll figure that out later. We've got to get to the pawn shop before they sell it," Jason said. "Because somebody else might be looking to mess you up if we don't" He hesitated. "It'll only slow us down if I call
Dad now and try to tell him some version of what happened. So let's hit it," he told Tyler.

"I'm surprised you actually managed to find a pawn shop in Malibu," Jason said as Tyler pushed the buzzer next to the door.

"Rich people probably need quick cash for their dealers every once in a while," Tyler said. "It's easy to spend however much money you have on drugs. And then some."

Another buzz sounded. Tyler grabbed the door
knob and pulled the door open. Jason followed him inside. One wall held TVs, DVD players, CD players, and computers. A selection of cameras hung from the ceiling. Glass counters held an assortment of jewelry, including a variety of diamond engagement rings. It was pretty pathetic.

"Back already?" the middle
-
a
ged guy behind the counter asked Tyler. "Got some more good stuff for me?" He gave his short, graying ponytail a tug.

"We need back the gold chalice he sold you," Jason said.

"Not possible," the clerk answered. "That thing flew out of
here. I only had it in the case for a couple of hours."

"Who bought it?" Jason demanded.

"This is the kind of place where people like their privacy," the man replied flatly.

"It's important," Tyler put in. "I'm kind of in a bad position."

The man shrugged. "It's also the kind of place where people are in bad positions a lot
.
I stay out of that."