I had a hard time sleeping after Misty left. I kept replaying our conversation over and over again in my head. I hadn’t meant to come off like I was accusing Sivene of anything. Still, it was undeniably strange that Lilly and Nicole vanished from Lake Carmi the same night Sivene did her own little disappearing act. Whatever the circumstances, four women went to Lake Carmi that night, only one came back. It was certainly possible that it was all a coincidence, but something told me that there was more to the story than Misty was letting on.

Misty had also gotten strangely defensive over someone she claimed to be done with, someone whom she said just a few nights before that she adamantly wanted out of her life. Being older now, I realize that love is complicated, and that was especially true for girls like us in small towns during the 1990s. At the time, however, it just felt like Misty was playing me. It was either that, or something had happened that night at Lake Carmi. Even if Sivene and Misty weren’t directly involved, they could have been the last two people to see Lilly and Nicole while at the lake. Maybe it was as tragically simple as the two drunk girls falling into the water, maybe it was something more sinister. Maybe it was nothing at all and Misty had been telling me the truth. My last thoughts as I fell into a restless sleep were vague imaginings of Misty shrouded in darkness.

I slept for four or five hours that night which, honestly, was only a little less sleep than I usually got. It was a Saturday and I didn’t have to work, but I didn’t really have much else to do either. I made a cup of instant coffee, threw on a sweater, and sat out on my pitiful little balcony to read over my notes from the day before.

I hadn’t thought about mytrip to the coroner’s office yesterday until I saw the last line I had written in the journal: Lilly & Nicole, accident? Murder?

As I hugged my steaming mug in my hands, I tried to picture myself at Lake Carmi on the night of Lilly and Nicole’s disappearance. I hadn’t been to the lake before, but I imagined its shore stretched out against the black curtain of the night sky. On one part of the lake, Sivene and Misty were in the car together having sex. Somewhere else, Lilly and Nicole had either driven the Senator’s car themselves to the lake, or someone else had, maybe even the Senator himself. That might explain why he hadn’t reported it missing.

I shut my eyes, hoping the truth of it all would rise through the confusion and surface clearly in my imagination. What had happened there? Had Lilly and Nicole been dragged from the car? Had they abandoned it willingly? Were they the victims of a crime? A random act of violence that had nothing to do with the fact that Lilly was the daughter of a controversial Senator?  Or were the girls themselves the perpetrators of a crime that hadn’t yet been fully revealed? Very little about the case was making sense but I had a strong feeling it was an important piece in a much larger puzzle.

Whatever You Do, Don’t Mention Vampires

I spent the rest of the morning scribbling in my notebook and tearing out certain pages. Some went straight into the garbage, others I taped to the wall. I put them up beside a visitor’s map of Lake Carmi, a small map of the Cold Hollow area, and newspaper clippings about Senator McClinton. I thought that, by taking it all in at a glance, I might see the bigger picture. It didn’t help. I realized then that I had to find out what Detective Owen O’Connor knew, and why he had been at the coroner’s office.

It takes a workaholic to know a workaholic, and I was fairly certain Detective Owen O’Connor would be in his office at the barracks even though it was a Saturday. I hit the road down Route 105 around ten-thirty that morning. Besides the occasional eighteen-wheeler, the road was more or less empty so I made the drive to the State Police barracks in under twenty minutes. When I arrived, the gate was still wide open, just as it had been the day before. I parked closer to the building this time and headed straight for Owen’s office. His door was open, so I took it as an invitation.

“Hi, Detective,” I said and grinned as I took a seat in the peeling vinyl chair in front of his desk.

Owen was filling out paperwork with his head down. He had a hard time hiding his disappointment when he looked up to see me.

“Oh, not you again,” he said, and put down his pen with a sigh. “You know, you really can’t just let yourself in like that. Did the receptionist not…no, I guess not.”

“It’s no problem,” I said, pretending that I didn’t pick up on his subtle way of telling me to leave. “I was in the neighborhood, so I thought I’d stop by again with my thoughts a bit more collected. I just had a few more questions—”

“Uh-huh, well, that doesn’t necessarily mean I’m going to be giving out answers. In fact, as I’ve already explained, you have to go through the proper channel, just like all the other reporters, Miss Kane.” He reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a stick of chewing gum. “Now, if you’ll ex—”

“Of course. I understand, but since this isn’t a formal inquiry – since I’m off the clock – this is all off the record,” I said, as if my investigation had ever been a part of my job at the Chronicle. I continued and spoke quickly. “I just thought I’d share a theory I have. You don’t have to confirm or deny it, but I’m just going to tell you what I think about the Lilly McClinton case.”

O’Connor smiled condescendingly. “Oh, you have a theory? Well, let’s hear it.”

“I think that one, or maybe both, of those missing girls is dead. And I think you were at the coroner’s office yesterday to take a look at one of the bodies.”

“I had the feeling you’d say that. I guess you thought I didn’t notice you following me?” He sounded annoyed and impressed at the same time.

I pretended his question was rhetorical and pressed on with my own line of inquiry. “That’s the only reason I can come up with for why the Senator wouldn’t want the story reported in the Chronicle. If I had a missing child, I’d want it plastered on the front page of every newspaper in the country. If I had a dead missing child, then... I don’t know. I can see the value of keeping that a secret as media coverage of a murder investigation might cause the perpetrator to run or go into hiding.”

Owen studied me carefully. I could tell he was trying to decide just what exactly he thought of me. At that point, he couldn’t figure out if I was just a nuisance or if I somehow benefit his work on the case in some way.

“Look,” I said. “I’m not asking you to tell me all the details but, c’mon. Am I close?”

Owen stopped chewing his gum for a few seconds while his eyes searched mine. He sighed and relaxed for an instant before his face seemed to harden again. He exhaled loudly. “Reporters tend to annoy me,” he said reclining in his chair. “But you don’t strike me as just another media vulture” He paused for a second as if second-guessing himself. “I’m going to go out on a limb here and say…”

I quickly searched my bag for my notebook and pen, suddenly realizing I left both at home. I grabbed a pen from Owen’s desk and readied myself to make notes on the palm of my hand. The room was tense.

O’Connor cleared his throat. “Nicole Spencer’s body was found at Lake Carmi,” he said, and I started writing. “I thought this was off the record.”

I stopped writing and shifted my eyes to him, smiling nervously before spitting in my hand and rubbing off the blue ink that had said “Nicole found at lake.” I then handed the detective his pen back.

O’Connor grimaced. “Keep it,” he said. “Now, it’s your turn. What do you know about the case?”

His question was unexpected and I didn’t really know how to answer. I stalled, trying to think of something to share with him while trying to decide if I should share anything at all.

“Okay, I see how we’re going to do this,” I said, nodding as I stalled. “What if I told you that I may have a lead on the last person to see Nicole alive, and it’s not someone from the McClinton party.”

“I’m listening,” O’Connor said, prompting me to say more.

Excited by the fact that I was getting somewhere with him, I had to stop myself from explaining everything I learned from Misty. Instead, I chose to use the information to get more out of him.

“Oh, no. It’s your turn now. What I’ve got deserves details,” I said confidently. “What was the cause of Nicole’s death?”

“We don’t know yet. All the coroner has confirmed so far is that the body had been entirely drained of blood.”

I scoffed, leaned back in my chair and rolled my eyes. “Alright, alright. I get it. You don’t want to share. Fine,” I said, and began to stand from my seat to leave. “Well, in any case, I appreciate your time––”

“Miss Kane, I’m telling you what I know,” O’Connor said, his face hard and emotionless. He was serious.

 “What do you mean?” I asked, my voice catching in the back of my throat. “Like... like she had a stab wound or something?” I slowly settled back into my seat, my heart thumping a little bit louder and faster. “Wh-what about Lilly?” I asked.

“Still missing,” he said, chewing his gum more slowly.

I felt stunned like I had been dipped into an ice bath. It was one thing to suspect someone was dead. It was something else entirely to know it with certainty.

“Can you tell me any more? About the-the blood? Or lack of it, rather?”

“Not much else, except there was no blood on the scene. Which probably means that whatever happened, didn’t happen at the Lake. Or, if it did, whatever killed her just…sucked up all the blood right out of her.”

My mind was reeling with horrifying images of what might have happened. I couldn’t decide what was more disturbing: the idea that someone might have killed poor Nicole and dumped her body at the lake, or that whoever left her there was sick enough to have some use for accumulating a large amount of blood. It must have been noticeable that I wasn’t ready for the information he’d given me.

“Well, you asked for it,” O’Connor said. “I’d never heard anything like it before, either. I’m sure the coroner’s office might have a few more insights for us after they get back some lab tests and finish all the…procedures.” Owen stood up and reached for his jacket from the coat rack behind his desk as a not-so-subtle way of letting me know he was done sharing.

I was starting to feel a little ill and sensed he didn’t want to tell me anymore, not necessarily because he was hiding something, but because he didn’t want to upset me.

In my effort to seem less unsettled than I actually was, I said something I regretted. “I’m guessing there involved vampir––”

“Nope. Don’t say it,” he said, in a tone that was strangely serious considering the question. “Don’t you dare say anything about goddamn vampires,” he warned, his face twitching a bit.

“Just trying to lighten the mood,” I answered and chuckled humorlessly as we exited O’Connor’s office.