8. Chapter 8
Chapter 8
Dylan
“ T his is not music; this is torture,” I groaned.
Except for a raised brow, Elise ignored my suffering. How could anyone stand to listen to music that never said anything for this long? The hum of violins combined with the smothering heat in her non-air-conditioned car was turning my brains to mush.
I joined Bessey in sticking my head out the window and gulping down fresh air. If Elise’s phone was right, we were two minutes away from our destination and sweet freedom.
“You’re the one who said you wanted to come with me,” Elise called over the roar of air rushing through our windows. “When we get there, do me a favor and try not to be too obvious. Don’t stare at anything or anyone. We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves. It might help if you put a shirt on.”
“I didn’t bring one,” I shouted back. “Besides, it’s hot enough without one. Do you want me to get heat stroke? I mean what kind of a car randomly stops cooling? You should really get that checked out.”
That earned me another eye roll. Elise pulled into an almost deserted parking lot, surrounded by aged trees whose roots broke through the asphalt. The strip mall was a line of empty buildings with full length windows. Most of them were broken. Classy place.
Two other vehicles sat on the far side of the lot, one with a flat tire and a bunch of bullet holes and the other covered with a tarp that was sagging beneath dead leaves. Broken beer bottles and other garbage surrounded the cars.
“Well, this place is creepy,” I said.
Elise shushed me. “Pretend to be looking for something on your phone. Remember, we want to look inconspicuous.”
I pulled out my phone and tapped the blank screen. “You know, if Dracula is hiding in one of those buildings, he’s not going to care whether we’re on our phones or not,” I whispered. “We’ll be dead either way. Speaking of dying, if I don’t get out and get some fresh air, I’m going to melt into a puddle.”
I opened my door, still staring at my screen. Elise did the same, then opened the back door for Bessey. I walked around to them and offered the dog a drink out of my water bottle.
“Which unit number was it again?” I asked.
“Suite C.”
“This whole place seems abandoned,” I whispered.
“I know, but I still want to be careful. Let’s pretend we’re stretching to go on a run, and we can jog around to the back.”
We both did some pretty pathetic stretches—I don’t know about Elise, but my muscles weren’t in the mood to relax— then took off at a trot to the far side of the strip mall.
Elise ran without even a hint of a limp. Interesting. And she was fast; I had to almost sprint to catch up. Was that just from the adrenaline?
We wrapped around the back of the building and found nothing beyond empty trash cans and a few rusting metal chairs.
“How can we tell which one is suite C?” I asked.
Elise pointed to the third door, and we headed toward it. The handle was bent at a weird angle. Maybe that was how Dracula had busted in here, murdered everyone, and turned this place into his sanctuary of death.
After checking over her shoulder, Elise pulled on the bent metal. With a groan, the bulky door slid open.
We both glanced behind us, checking to make sure no one was watching, before stepping inside. Our feet crunched on the broken glass that was scattered across the tan carpet. Instead of asking and wasting time on a pointless argument, I grabbed Bessey around her middle and hoisted her into my arms. She wriggled, and I shifted until she was settled across my shoulders.
Elise first glared at me, then shook her head. “Fine, you can hold her. Just don’t let her eat anything,” she whispered.
“You mean besides my hair?” The pup was already gnawing at the back of my head.
“That’s your problem, not mine. Maybe she’ll get rid of that nasty blue, and you can start fresh with your natural color, whatever that is.”
Before I could argue— blue is not a nasty color; it’s cool— she spun to face the long dim hallway. We checked each open doorway along the hall before continuing on but found only empty rooms with tipped over chairs and scattered papers.
“Looks like either someone ransacked the place, or Dracula isn’t a very good housekeeper,” I whispered.
Elise shook her head. “You’re not being funny.”
“Hey, I’m just reminding you to keep your guard up. If the guy comes for us, my neck is covered. You’re the one who’s totally exposed.”
Our shoes continued to crunch on the glass-covered carpet as we crept forward.
“Do you ever take anything seriously,” she hissed.
“Being serious is depressing. Life’s a lot better if you can laugh along the way.”
Bessey gave an extra tug on my head, and I tried to move her so she didn’t have such easy access to my apparently delicious hair.
I bumped into Elise who had suddenly stopped in front of me. She rocked forward, then caught her balance. We’d reached the front of the office, which opened to a tall desk and what must have been a waiting area. Pages of magazines were torn and scattered everywhere, along with strips of travel posters.
Carefully balancing Bessey, I reached down and snatched one up. On the front of the scrap were palm trees and the words “Find your paradise.”
Elise moved to the desk to sort through the drawers. A breeze fluttered through the two shattered full-length windows, shifting the torn papers on the ground. Some of the junk looked like pages of contracts, a few with signatures on them. Others held pictures of vacation-themed settings like snowy mountains, colorful coral reefs, and busy cities.
H’mm, was anyone still paying the bills around here? I flicked a nearby light switch. Nothing. Whoever abandoned this place probably hadn’t paid for utilities in a while.
“What are those?” I asked Elise who bent to study some papers she’d found in one of the drawers.
When she didn’t answer, I moved closer. Leaning over her shoulder, I read the words “Timeshare Agreement” at the top of the page.
“That looks exactly like the rest of these,” I said, pointing to the cluttered floor.
Elise jumped at the sound, falling against my chest. She pushed away, but her hands hovered a second longer than needed on my bare skin. Electricity shot through my nerves while the warmth from her fingers made me shiver.
“Don’t sneak up on me like that, especially not right now,” she hissed, her cheeks turning a dark red.
“Yeah, you’re right.” I took a step back, even though all I wanted to do was pull her in. “Sorry.”
Shaking her head, she returned to searching the desk. I leaned against it for a better view as Elise flipped through a stack of what looked like more contracts.
I whistled at the number of zeros behind the dollar signs on some of them. “Do you think this was some kind of a scam?”
She shrugged. “All of these agreements were signed between February and mid-April of last year.”
“I wonder what that had to do with your dad…I’m also wondering if we should’ve worn gloves. Our fingerprints are all over this place now. That’s not going to look very good when we turn that note over to the police. We are going to turn it over to the police, aren’t we?”
“Of course we’re going to turn it over to the police,” she growled.
“I guess that means we’ll also have to tell them we came here before sharing the evidence. That’s not going to look good.”
“I’m aware of that,” Elise said through clenched teeth.
“Look, I’m just stating the obvious now before it’s thrown on us at the police station.”
“Thanks. You’re a gem.”
Making sure to touch only the paper, she spread the contracts out on the desk and took pictures of them with her phone. Then, she gathered them up and returned the contracts to the drawer.
“Do you think they can test paper for fingerprints?” she asked as she stopped to eye one of the torn pages scattered on the floor.
“I have no idea, but there’s tons of broken glass down there, so be careful.”
While Bessey licked dried sweat off my shoulders, Elise kicked over the bigger scraps of paper with her shoe, then took pictures of them.
I was completely soaked with spit by the time she finally stood and announced that we could go.
“What do you plan to do with those pictures?” I called after Elise, who was already halfway down the hallway. No answer.
Sigh. Why was this girl so determined to go at everything by herself? If she wasn’t careful, she might wind up just like her dad.
I couldn’t let that happen.