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  Anna frowned. “I guess.”

  “I’m just saying you can’t be sure it was you who fucked up. There’s no reason to jump to conclusions. Unless… your intuition is straight up telling you that it was all your fault.”

  This made her smile. “No, it’s not,” she admitted.

  “Then how about we talk to Sue and the other people I hired to follow Sam this week, and after that we can decide who exactly is to blame.”

  Noah had a few evidence bags in the back seat of his SUV, into which Anna threw the t-shirt, a few other clothing items, and an empty beer can. She wasn’t sure what would be helpful, so she opted to taking pretty much everything, save the tent. Getting Sam’s DNA off of the shirt of beer can wouldn’t prove he had anything to do with the murders, but if they could get a sample, that would at least mean it was in the system, and they can see if it matches the DNA that was found on the bloody knife from Valerie’s case.

  They called Sheriff Wells once they were back at the station and he came straight over to process the evidence and get the rundown on what they’d found out. Anna had told Noah everything she’d learned from Ellie on the car ride back, but as she repeated the story of Wells, she felt like he wasn’t nearly as responsive as Noah had been.

  “So the girl’s been having some nightmares,” he said after she finished the basic overview of her and Ellie’s conversation. “That isn’t very surprising considering the trauma she went through. Kids often let their imaginations run wild, I’m sure it’s easier for her to think of a monster with gray eyes coming to take her sister away than to face the truth.”

  “The truth is it was a monster who took her sister away,” said Anna. Noah gave her a look and she quickly clarified. “I didn’t mean it like that. Whoever killed her is a monster because he or she is a murderer, not because they’re a werewolf.”

  “Either way,” said Wells. “I don’t see how what Ellie told you is of any use to us. She probably made the whole thing up. She’s getting pressure from all sides right now, people desperate for her to remember something. Maybe she just took some ideas from her nightmares and pawned them off as memories.”

  “That’s awfully conniving for a thirteen year old,” said Noah.

  “Besides,” Anna added. “She doesn’t strike me as the lying type.”

  The Sheriff huffed. “If you want to chase down this fantasy lead, go right ahead. But you do it on your own time, understood?”

  Anna nodded. “Yes.”

  “Alright then.” He stood up from his desk chair. They had all gathered in his office to talk. “Thanks for filling me in. I’ll see you on Monday Deputy Arnold.” He tipped his hat as he walked out the door.

  “Now what?” asked Noah.

  “Now, we go home.”

  “You hungry?”

  Anna smiled. “Stella is probably whipping something up as we speak. I’ll eat at her place, thanks.”

  “Suit yourself.”

  They walked out of Wells’ office. “I’ll have my security team run through all the surveillance footage taken at the Oliver’s house. See if anyone with gray eyes shows up on camera.”

  “Sounds good. Let me know if you find anything.” She opened the door and stepped out, Noah following her.

  “Hey,” said Noah. “What do you know about vampires?”

  Anna frowned as she found the right key on her ring and locked up. “I know they don’t exist.”

  “And how do you know that?”

  Anna laughed. “Have you ever met one?”

  “No, but I’d never met and intuit before I met you.”

  “Fair,” said Anna. “But you can’t tell me you honestly think vampires are responsible for these crimes. There’s no evidence to back that up.”

  Noah looked up and squinted at the low afternoon sun. “I have a theory. Mind if I go with you to Stella’s? It will require some exposition.”

  “I’ll have to call Stella and see if that’s okay first,” she said, knowing full well Stella would be more than pleased to have company.

  “Of course,” he said, fishing in his coat pocket. “You can use my phone.”

  She called Stella, who told her she had already started on lunch and that there was plenty of food for the three of them. On the drive over, Anna pestered Noah with questions about vampires, every once in a while taking a break to tease him about his theory in general. He didn’t give her much in the way of answers. He kept saying he wanted to explain it once they were at Stella’s, otherwise he would have to repeat himself when they got there, so Stella wouldn’t be confused.

  “Why do you care?” Anna asked. “She quick, she can figure it out through context.”

  “I care because it’s rude,” said Noah. “It is rude to go over to someone’s house who has graciously prepared you a meal, and to spend the whole time talking about something the other person doesn’t know about.”

  Anna thought about this as she turned onto Stella’s street. In a way, Noah had just called her rude, in so many words, but he did have a point. Thinking about easily she had just disregarded Stella made Anna consider all the other niceties she’d taken for granted. She decided right then and there that she would do something nice for Stella. She would try to find some way to thank her for opening up her home and for being Anna first, and really only, friend in town.

  She pulled into Stella’s driveway and glanced over at Noah as he got out of the car. He was so polite, it was almost intimidating. But, Anna thought, it was also quite sweet. He thought about people in a way she never did, and it felt good, having him around to remind her every once in a while that it was nice to be nice.

  Most of Anna’s early suspicions of the man had dissipated, and she was even starting to warm up to him a little bit. That much she was able to admit to herself. There was an undeniable attraction as well, but those feelings she pushed far down inside herself. They would only get in the way.

  Master Manipulators

  “My older brother used to tell me stories about vampires,” said Stella. Noah had introduced the topic by asking what either women knew about the creatures. “He joined the army when I was just twelve, but before shipping out, we used to stay up late and he’d try to give me a fright by telling me scary tales of demons and monsters.” She slopped a spoonful of mashed potatoes down on her plate and continued. “But they were just stories. My brother had never actually seen one or anything.”

  “That’s because they aren’t real,” said Anna. She had opted out of the potatoes and instead just picked at the salad and bit off tiny pieces of her roll.

  “The bloodsucking, turns into bats vampires might not be real,” said Noah. “But I’m not talking about that kind.”

  Anna raised an eyebrow. “Then what kind are you talking about?”

  “Maybe vampire isn’t the right word,” he said. “But growing up in my werewolf community, there was often talk of the other magic users and non-human creatures who walked this Earth. My grandmother often spoke of people like you,” he looked at Anna. “People who had strong feelings and who could use them to seek out the truth. She also spoke of people who sucked the life out humans. She used the word vampire, but she never mentioned blood. These were not creatures of the night who could be burned with the touch of a cross. Instead, they were people who were, for all intents and purposes, human, but they had abilities. They could manipulate the mind. They fed off of people’s memories and emotions, their traumas.”

  “That’s creepy,” said Stella.

  “Did you grandmother ever say she’d met one?” asked Anna.

  “No,” he said. “But she was convinced they were real.”

  “What you’re saying, then,” said Anna. “Is that this vampire of sorts could have manipulated the children’s memories? Made it so they forgot what happened?”

  Noah nodded. “It’s just a guess, but given what Ellie told you, I’d say the man with the gray eyes was one of these things.”

  “Well that’s just great!” s
aid Anna. “Not only are we dealing with werewolves, we are dealing with werewolves who can control minds!”

  Noah and Stella didn’t offer anything in response. All three of them sat in silence, staring down at their plates.

  “But hey, what do I know?” said Noah. “It’s way more likely Sheriff Wells is right and Ellie just made the whole thing up.” He sounded unsure, but his voice grew louder, as if he was trying to convince not only Anna and Stella, but also himself, that this idea was simply too crazy to be true. “She’s a little girl for god’s sakes. We can’t stake our whole investigation on one little thing she says.”

  “She’s not just a little girl,” said Anna. She put her fork down and brought her gaze back up, glancing back and forth between Stella and Noah. “I wasn’t sure whether or not to tell you guys, seeing as I’m not one hundred percent convinced, but I think Ellie might be an Intuit.”

  “Why didn’t you tell Sheriff Wells about your suspicion?” Noah asked.

  “You know how quickly news travels throughout this town,” said Anna. “I didn’t feel like it was my place to go spreading rumors around about a thirteen year old girl. Besides, I could be wrong.”

  “If she is an Intuit,” said Stella. “That means we should trust whatever she says, right?”

  “Intuits can be wrong.” Anna sat back in her chair and sighed. “And we do have to take into consideration her age and the trauma she’s been through… If we had any other leads besides this man with the gray eyes, I would say we should chase those down first, but for now, it’s really all we’ve got.”

  “What about Sam?” asked Stella.

  “We don’t have anything yet to tie him directly to the crimes. For now, we are just going to have to wait for the DNA results to come back.”

  “That will probably take a few weeks.” Stella stood up and took her plate to the sink. “That’s one of the downsides to living in such a small town and having such a small police force. Nobody prioritizes us or our problems. I’ll betchu’ the Michigan state authorities put our DNA samples at the bottom of their pile.”

  “The Sheriff said he’d file the request form today, right?” Noah asked, looking to Anna. She nodded. “And he won’t be able to send the evidence over until Monday morning.”

  “I suppose not,” said Anna. “Why?”

  “I could have it sent back to my lab,” Noah suggested. “They can have it turned around in twenty four hours, forty eight max.”

  Stella half dropped the plate she was washing into the sink. It made a loud sound which made her jump and let out a small yip. “Sorry,” she said, wincing at the two of them over her shoulder. “Slippery hands.”

  “So,” said Noah. “What do you guys think?”

  Stella cleared her throat and put the plate on the drying rack next to the sink. “I don’t think it’s a good idea. It would be stealing, and if anyone found out that I or Anna had anything to do with evidence going missing, we’d be in huge trouble.”

  “She’s right,” said Anna. “It’s a bad idea. We need to let the Sheriff handle it. He is in charge after all, and it’s his job to protect the people of Idle Waters. I would hate to do anything to jeopardize his job or this investigation.”

  “Oh, c’mon, he’ll never know,” said Noah. “I could have the evidence back by Monday morning and Wells will be none the wiser.”

  “Then what are we going to do?” said Anna. “Lie to the Sheriff? Not tell him what the results said? That won’t work. We’d have to wait to take any action until after Wells got his results back anyway.”

  “Fine, then we tell him. We steal the evidence, send it in, and not only will it be returned before he even notices, but then we’ll tell him we already got the results. He’ll be so thrilled to have new leads, he won’t care how we came about getting them.”

  “It’s too risky,” said Stella. “And I don’t really like the idea of going behind the Sheriff’s back. This is the best job I’ve ever had. I can’t afford to lose it.”

  “I’ll say you two had nothing to do with it,” said Noah. “It will be all my idea, all my doing.”

  “No,” said Anna. “Don’t do that. Let’s just follow the rules, okay? I’ve stirred up enough trouble since coming to this town. In the meantime, we can work on figuring out who Ellie’s mystery man is. Look more into people who may have the ability to manipulate memories. Is your grandmother still alive?” Anna asked.

  Noah shook his head. “But my mother is, and she heard all the same stories growing up.”

  “Could you give her a call and ask if she remembers anything else about these so called vampires?”

  “Yes,” said Noah. “But I still think—”

  “Noah, we said no.” Anna lowered both her voice and her gaze, making sure there was no mistaking how she felt on the matter. “Please, respect our decision. It’s too dangerous and we have too much on the line.”

  Noah stared back and her for a moment, then broke eye contact and nodded. “Okay,” he said. “Whatever you guys want to do. I’ll call my mom first thing in the morning.”

  “Great,” said Stella. “I’ll take Anna to the public library, we can do some research on the legends of these mind benders, see if there have been any reports of people’s memories being messed with.”

  “Solid plan,” said Anna. “We can reconvene tomorrow night. How does that sound?”

  They decided on a meeting place and a time, Sal’s diner, seven o’clock, and then Noah excused himself from Stella’s house, saying he had work he needed to finish up at home. Stella asked whether or not Anna had anything planned for the rest of the afternoon and evening, to which she answered no.

  Stella’s face lit up as she started throwing out suggestions for what they could do. Anna stopped her mid-list and asked if it would be possible to just stay in the house and relax. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d just sat on a couch and watched a movie. Stella clapped her hands and jumped up and down.

  “Yes!” she said. “That’s a perfect idea. I have a lot of movies and it’s been forever since I’ve had someone to watch them with.”

  She pulled a bunch of extra pillows and blankets from the hall closet and she and Anna got comfortable on the couch. She put in an old action movie starring some guy with bulging muscles and bad hair.

  “This used to be my brother’s favorite!” Stella said, curling her knees into her chest and pulling a pink fuzzy blanket up to her chin. “I never really liked it, but now sometimes I watch it when I’m missing him.”

  Anna’s intuition was telling her to back away from this topic of conversation as quickly and as naturally as possible. Stella’s brother was dead.

  “I’ve never seen this movie,” said Anna. “But it looks… great.”

  “It’s a terrible movie.” Stella laughed softly to herself. “But he loved it.” She was quiet for a short while. The opening credits ended and the movie began with a shot of a humble suburban neighborhood where the houses all looked the same and a little boy was riding a tricycle down the sidewalk. “He’s dead.”

  “I know.”

  “He died his first year at boot camp.”

  “I’m sorry.” Anna picked some lint off the blanket in her lap. “That must’ve been awful.”

  “That’s okay,” said Stella. “It was a long time ago. Apparently he had some sort of heart condition our family doctor never noticed. One day while they were doing some strenuous physical training, he went into cardiac arrest and… that was it.”

  Anna sucked in a lungful of air and let it out slowly through her nose. Not knowing what to say, she did something a little out of character, but something she thought the situation warranted. She reached out and grabbed Stella’s hand. Stella squeezed Anna’s fingers in her own and the two women sat, hand in hand, watching as a fiery explosion engulfed a car on screen, the flames just barely missing the kid on the trike.

  It was early morning, Anna was at the office trying to get a head start on the mountains of pap
erwork she had to file that day. She heard the unmistakable beep of somebody using their key card to get into the main door of the office and she hoped to God it wasn’t her predatory boss coming in early. She hated when they were alone in the office together.

  She plucked a file from the top of the mountain and started flipping through it, keeping her head down so whoever it was wouldn’t think she was looking to engage. A man poked his head in and Anna glanced up for just a second.

  It was Noah.

  It felt like the Earth fell out from underneath her. Her stomach dropped as her corporate office began to transform in front of her eyes. The glass windows became dry wall and where polished mahogany desk used to be now sat a beat up hunk of wood sitting on two uneven legs.

  It was so disorienting and nausea inducing, Anna reached out for Noah who was there, wrapping her in his arms, as she tried to catch her breath. With his strong muscles pressed against her waist and back, Anna started to feel safe and like she was home. She pulled away just far enough to look into his soulful eyes and then she was kissing him.

  She pulled him closer, but still it wasn’t close enough. He picked her up off her feet and she wrapped her legs around him. His tongue explored her mouth and she ran her hands aggressively through his hair. He put her down on her desk and she hiked her skirt up while he pulled her cotton panties down.

  Anna went to take his belt off, but he pushed her hands out of the way.

  “Lay back,” he said. She did as he said, and he grabbed her behind the knees and pulled her closer to the edge of the desk. He sat in her desk chair and the next thing she knew, he was kissing her legs, working his down her thigh, until finally his tongue was inside her.

  She let out a soft, breathy moan as he—

  An owl screeched outside of Anna’s window and she sat up in bed, eyes wide, covered in sweat. She felt the sweet ache of desire still pulsating between her legs. She laid back in bed and tried to think about anything other than Noah. She forced herself to think about the case, seeing as that was the other most distracting thing in her life. It worked, in the sense that it kept her mind off of Noah, but it also kept her mind awake and she got barely a wink of sleep for the rest of the night.