Trajectory

“Something is going on. I think Ash Manning killed Layla Adams and now he has Chloe.”

“Why would he have Chloe? Ash Manning doesn’t seem like the type of person who would just up and kidnap people,” Rickman said. He clearly didn’t want to listen to anything Brent had to say.

“It sounds crazy, but he did it. He killed Layla. I don’t know why, but Chloe was close to finding out it was him, so he’s taken her. Don’t you get it? If we don’t get there, he’s going to kill her.”

“You want to report her missing then?”

“Yes, can’t you understand me?” Brent was getting frustrated with the police. Why wouldn’t they just listen to him? It wasn’t like he wasn’t a good kid, he’d always obeyed the law, and he was old enough that they should be taking him seriously.

“You can’t if it’s not been twenty-four hours. Come back and report her missing tomorrow.”

“She’ll be dead by then,” he yelled, but the chief was already walking back to his office. It looked like they were on their own and he didn’t know what the hell to do.

He walked outside the police station and dragged a hand down his face. He got ready to go to his truck when he heard someone talking to him.

“Hey, kid, don’t look at me.”

He turned to see a police officer who looked close to his age standing on the corner of the building.

“I said don’t look at me, damn it.” The officer stomped his foot and Brent turned away from him. He could see out the corner of his eye that he’d flattened himself against the side of the building and was looking back and forth while he talked to him. It was really funny looking, especially since no one inside was paying the least bit of attention.

“Okay, I’m not looking at you.”

“This whole Layla case isn’t adding up. It reeks of magic, and not the fluffy kind, the dark shit.”

“Okay, so you know something about Ash?” He glanced over at the guy, who held up a hand.

“Don’t look!”

“Okay, sorry.” He walked a little forward and put his hands over his face so he looked like he was just hating life outside the station. Nothing out of the ordinary going on.

“You need to talk to Deidra Smalls. She saw something that morning that she can’t remember. It’s like her memory has been wiped. I know she’s a druggie, but she’d gone by Layla’s that morning, her mother’s house, to ask her for drugs. She was trying to score and she saw something out back. When she tries to talk about it, it’s like there’s a hole there. She wasn’t high, so it must be magic, but you didn’t hear it from me.”

The policeman inched back along the wall until he was almost at the edge of the building. He watched him. “Is that it?”

“Yes, that’s it. Get the hell out of here.” The policeman stayed flat on the wall until he got to the back of the building and then he leapt behind it. There wasn’t really any reason for it. No one had seen him that Brent could tell, but now he really needed to talk to Deidra and figure out what the hell she knew. He went back to the Barcade again, hoping she was still there.

He didn’t know that officer’s name but felt like he looked familiar. Maybe they’d gone to high school together. Luckily, Deidra was still at work when he got there. The place was still busy because it was almost dinner time and she was the only one working, so naturally most of the customers looked unhappy.

“Brent, did you find Chloe? Like what the hell. I’m not supposed to be working right now.”

“I need to know what you saw the morning Layla died, Deidra, and don’t try to say nothing because the police told me you were trying to score.”

“Look, I walked behind her mother’s house, I saw her with someone and then it’s blank. I don’t know who it was. I don’t know how I got back to my house. I just know when I next remembered something I was back at my house.”

“You went and you saw something.”

“I know and it scared me, apparently, because I’ve wiped it from my brain. I can’t help you. If I could I would, I don’t like that she’s dead. We were pals, but it’s just blank when I think about that morning. I can’t remember anything.”

“I know a way we can help you remember if you’d be willing to try it,” Brent said.

“Dude, I already tried taking acid, it didn’t help,” she said.

“No, I was talking about magic.”

“Magic doesn’t exist. It’s all drugs and special mirrors.”

“Will you at least try? It’s important. They’ve got Chloe now and that means you’ll have to work all her shifts.”