Page 29 of Bourbon & Blood

I swear to God, if I had her father’s phone number, I would call him. I had a feeling they might move on it if they knew she was the daughter of a sitting city councilman. Then again, he might not care so much… according to Maya, he didn’t – but I was confused on the subject.

I mean, if he didn’t care, why did he let her stay here? She argued it was just to keep an eye on her and to make sure she stayed out of trouble but I don’t know.

I shut the water off when I was done and stepped out, wrapping myself in a towel.

I took a seat at the vanity we kept in here and stared at myself in the mirror.

On top of the mystery of Maya missing, I still couldn’t recollect what’d happened tomethat night. How I’d gotten home or how I’d changed… where my stuff went. Any of it. Still, the only thing I could remember was leaving the bar, then waking up in my own bed.

I picked up the patch from the vanity where I’d set it when I’d stepped in to shower.

I hadn’t let it out of my sight since I’d woken with it in my hand.

Silence is better than bullshit.

Was it a threat?I wondered.

Silence… but silent overwhat?Maya?

I didn’t know, but the creeping dread ticking up my spine like spider’s legs took hold and nested at the base of my skull. I swallowed hard and set the patch down, picking up my brush to run it through my long hair.

I sprayed my leave-in conditioner on and brushed it some more. I liked having my hair brushed, and I would often sit and think, brushing through my hair in long even strokes until it dried.

I didn’t have anything else to do tonight but fret, and so that’s what I did. I sat in the air-conditioned hush of our apartment, staring blankly at my reflection in the mirror, as I thought myself in exhausting circles while I brushed my hair dry.

* * *

The next morning,far too early, I rose and dressed in jeans, a sturdy pair of walking boots, and a clean white fitted tank top under a fitted country-green-and-white plaid shirt. I pulled my long, straight, copper hair into a high ponytail and I did my makeup natural and subtle. I stood in front of the mirror on the back of my bedroom door and took stock of myself.

I sighed and couldn’t help but worry that due to my petite stature, I would be dismissed like an errant child again; only now I would not be ignored. Even if I had to raise a ruckus.

I pulled on a light windbreaker and took an umbrella in case it rained. Slinging my purse over my chest, I took my leave and to the street.

The walk wasn’t an insignificant one, and it was in the mid-nineties today, the humidity ridiculously high. Thunderstorms were predicted, hence the umbrella, and I hoped against hope for one to roll on through because they tended to cool things down significantly.

I marched into the nearest precinct, my heart sinking when I caught sight of the same desk sergeant as the last time I’d been.

“You again,” he said by way of greeting and he sounded annoyed.

Seriously?

“Me again,” I affirmed, and if I’d been a cat, my ears would have been plastered flat to my skull. Firmly, I said, “And I’m not leaving until somebodytalks to me.”

I raised my eyebrows and planted my feet shoulder width apart to indicate I wouldn’t be budging. With an amused look that downright infuriated me, the man behind the counter fished a clipboard somewhere out from beneath the desk. He turned to the row of filing cabinets at the back wall, and opened one, running one of his blunt fingertips over the tabs and stopping at one to pull a stapled stack of papers out. He sighed an exasperated sound, and put the papers on the clipboard.

“Have a seat over there, fill this here out, and I’ll see if anybody in the back has the time to talk to you today,” he said. He shooed me off with the clipboard and the papers without handing me a pen. That was alright. I had one of my own.

I dropped into the seat he’d indicated and looked over the form and stewed in my rage. My best friend had been missing forover a week!You would think they’d maybe want to do some of that serving, seeing as it was way past time for them to do any protecting, dammit!

I filled the paperwork out to the best of my ability, which all things considered was pretty damn good. Maya and I werebest friends.We knew everything there was to know about each other and then some.

The first bit was straight forward enough –age, sex, height, weight, eye and hair color, skin color– that sort of thing.

The next was a bit trickier – what she was last wearing? I didn’t know. I know what she was lastseenwearing at the bar but I assumed she went home to get ready for her date, which meant she had changed.

If she even made it home, Alina…

It was a sobering thought. One I dismissed.

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