18. Milo
Author’s Note:
So this chapter has been done for awhile, but I sort of forgot to post it.
There was this whole saga with the police, who apparently don’t like it when you’re kidnapped and you don’t tell them, even if the kidnappers have mysteriously disappeared.
They wouldn’t have even known about it if someone else hadn’t snitched on the kidnappers.
I guess it was a good deed for them, but it made my life difficult.
And despite all the trouble, I didn’t even get arrested, so I can’t even write about that with real life accuracy. What a waste of a few days.
MILO
Rowan’s phone rang. It wasn’t Riley’s ring tone, but it was someone he didn’t seem excited to hear from.
“You can take it, boo,” I told him.
“After the professor,” he murmured. “It’s family, and they’ll have three million questions.”
We made our way to the art building, which was surprisingly busy for the later hours. Although maybe that was normal for a building where the students used the workshop space. We didn’t find Professor Stopher, but someone did direct us to his teacher’s assistant.
“If you’re looking for Stopher, his TA might know where he is. The guy’s name is Sky, although I think he chose that just to seem artsy,” one student told us.
She didn’t say anything bad about Sky, but her disdain was evident in her tone. We ran into a few other students on our search, and the dislike of Sky seemed pretty universal. I was guessing he was a sketchy guy for so many people to be turned off by him.
“I thought art students would be more accepting of their peers,” Rowan commented after the last student grimaced over Sky’s name.
“Eh, I’d think they are. Sometimes people just aren’t friendly or don’t get along with others, and this Sky seems to be one of those people.” I shrugged.
I hated to make a judgement without meeting someone, but everyone was acting weird about Sky. The whole thing made me suspicious. After all, wouldn’t a TA also have access to all of Betsy’s work? And if he was pinging people’s radars, maybe he gave off stalker vibes.
We eventually found Sky in one of the art labs, sitting in the front while a few students worked at various tables with different materials. I looked at Rowan, who gave a subtle sniff and shook his head. Okay, so the guy wasn’t hellbound. Still didn’t convince me he wasn’t involved, though.
We made our way up to the guy. He had dark, spiky hair and wore a concert tee and ripped jeans. He was slim and tall, and he was pretty average looking overall.
“There’s a free table in the back if you guys have art to work on.
The pottery wheels are all taken, but there’s a sign up sheet if you want to wait,” he said as soon as we got to him.
He sounded vaguely bored, had a slight sneer on his face, and went back to what he was doing after he’d spoken, effectively dismissing our presence.
I understood why people got a bad vibe from him—he seemed a little snotty, like we were wasting his time. It wasn’t friendly, and it wasn’t shyness, either.
“Actually, we’re here to ask you some questions,” Rowan supplied.
That caught Sky’s attention, and he looked around shiftily, like he was seeing who could hear.
“Questions about what? Who are you guys? I haven’t seen you around before.” The sneer was still present, but it looked a little more forced.
I ignored his question about who we were, saying, “We’re here to ask about Betsy Jones, actually.”
Sky’s eyes darted to the side briefly, but he kept his body very still. “What about her?”
“Have you seen her lately?” Rowan asked.
Sky looked down at the desk and shuffled some papers. “I’m not anyone’s babysitter. I don’t know when she was last in the lab to get work done.”
“Yeah, but you’re also a TA in one of her classes, right?” I asked.
“Yes, I’m a TA. I’m sure she’s probably in one of my classes—the art department isn’t that big.”
Another student walked in, and Sky focused in on them, then turned to us. “If you guys don’t mind, I have a job to do here. If you’re not art students here at the university, you aren’t supposed to be in the lab anyway.” He stared defiantly at us. Rowan started to say something, but I took his arm.
“Thanks for your help,” I told Sky, then I guided Rowan out the door.
He stayed quiet until we were out of the building, then he said, “That guy knows something.”
“Yup. He totally does. I’d bet money he has Betsy somewhere or knows where she is, but obviously asking questions isn’t going to get us anywhere.
So we wait until his shift is over, and then we follow him.
I’ll find out how long his shift is, and I’ll have the crew check and see what his address is and if he has any other property nearby. ”
It turned out that his shift was until five in the morning—apparently the art workshop was open twenty-four hours a day.
The crew had found his dorm address easily enough, so Rowan and I went by, but there were no signs of anything, and I couldn’t imagine he’d be able to keep Betsy in a dorm anyway.
There was no privacy at all. They were working on looking into any other properties he might have, but for the moment, we were at a standstill.
“We should get some sleep, Milo,” Rowan announced. “I know you don't want to stop looking, but he wasn’t a rotten soul. I believe that Betsy is still alive and generally well, or else the mark on his soul would have been much blacker.”
“What if he isn’t even our guy? I mean, everyone has bad vibes from him, but that doesn’t prove anything for sure.”
Rowan hummed thoughtfully. “He’s not a rotten soul, but he’s guilty of something. I think he’s our man. We just have to bide our time.”
So we headed back to my place to take the kids out for a potty break and to catch some sleep. I filled Ethel and the crew in, and she graciously volunteered to take care of the pups during the day tomorrow while we followed the suspicious art student around.
Rowan and I tumbled into bed, and with a sweet kiss goodnight (we were too exhausted for much more), we were both fading into sleep.
The alarm went off while it was still dark out, and Rowan grumbled and growled. I popped out of bed, made coffee, and hopped into the shower, and by the time I got out, a very disgruntled Rowan was sipping some coffee.
“Hey, boo! Good morning! Ready to go kick some ass?” I bounced over and gave him a kiss.
He mumbled something unintelligible, pulled me into a hug, then went into the shower.
Rowan was not a morning person.
That was okay—I was morning person enough for both of us. He was, at least, quick at getting ready. Before long we were sitting in our car in the student parking lot that faced the art building.
“Do you think one of us should go on foot, and one of us should stay in the car? That probably makes the most sense, right?” I commented. After all, we didn’t know if Sky came here on foot or by car.
Rowan grunted.
“I know, I know—never split the party. But listen, there’s college security all over, and it’s not like either of us are helpless. We were both killing people long before we met each other.”
That didn’t seem to make Rowan feel any better, because he was just staring at me.
“How about you take the car, and I’ll follow if he goes on foot,” I suggested.
“Too dangerous. What if he jumps you?” Rowan asked.
I gave him my best death stare. “Boo, I know you’re overprotective, but I’m perfectly capable of taking care of myself.”
Rowan grunted again.
“Besides, he’s a scrawny thing. I could easily take him. You and I can even stay on the phone the whole time.”
“I’ll be on foot. I can go in my hellhound form,” Rowan announced.
I hummed, thinking for a moment. “Eh, I don’t think that will work.
First of all, no one needs to see a hellhound running around campus.
That definitely isn’t subtle, and if Sky catches sight of you, we’re likely to scare him into laying low.
Second of all, your hellhound form can’t stay on a cell phone, so I’ll have no idea where to go with the car. ”
Rowan grumbled again, and I leaned over and kissed him. “Trust me, boo. I got this. As much as I wanna be with you 24/7, we’re gonna have to split up sometimes. Sky is not a worrisome adversary—we’ll be fine. And I won’t engage until you get there, okay?”
With that, I gave him one more kiss and hopped out of the car. I dug my bluetooth earpiece out of my pocket, popped it in, and called him on my cell phone as I was walking toward the art building, just like I promised.
“Hey, boo,” I whispered.
“Hey, chaos demon,” he whispered back.
I chuckled lightly, then I hiked my way to the art building. I decided to stop one building away, and I sort of hung around one of the large columns that was there. I wanted to spot Sky, but I didn’t want him to spot me.
Sure enough, within ten minutes he was walking out of the building.
He looked around, but not very carefully, and then he started walking in the opposite direction from the parking lot.
I followed behind him, keeping a reasonable distance and staying close to the buildings in case I needed to duck out of sight.
He wasn’t running or anything, but he did seem to be in a bit of a hurry.
I followed him for about ten minutes, all the way across campus, occasionally whispering to Rowan.
“Should I pull the car around to that side of campus?” he whispered.
I thought about it, but the idiotic one way road around campus would take him a few minutes to navigate, plus, there wasn’t any place to park over here if you didn’t have a resident card. “Nah. He’s probably going back to his dorm. We’ll keep an eye on him.”
“Okay, I’m getting out and heading over,” Rowan stated.
I grunted in agreement, but as I watched, Sky walked right past his building.
“Hold on,” I said quietly into the phone. “He didn’t stop at his dorm. Shit—does he have a car over here?”
“I’m on my way to pick you up,” Rowan said, and I heard him getting back into the car.
As I watched, Sky walked to one of the closer parking spots, because of course it was close by, and got into a car.
“Shit. No, don’t get me. It’ll take too long to go around the whole campus. Head out and make a right onto College Ave to leave campus, and then make another right onto route 37. The other entrance is down on 37. Sky is driving a white Chevy Impala—follow him.”
“What about you?” he asked.
“I’ll call the crew and get a ride out to you. We can’t lose him, though.”
Rowan cursed, but I heard the sound of driving. Sky was long gone, and I just hoped Rowan got there in time to catch up to him.
It seemed like an eternity later, but Rowan announced, “Got him!” over the phone.
I breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. Text me when you get wherever he’s going. I’m gonna call Ethel for a ride.”
“I thought we were gonna stay on the phone?” Rowan asked.
“Boo, I’m not letting you have all the fun with Sky. Ethel can drop me off wherever you end up. I’ll be fine. I’m on a secure college campus. And I know how to take care of myself.”
Rowan grunted then hung up the phone, and I dialed Ethel.
“Milo, sweetie, what’s going on? It’s very early,” she answered.
Shit. I hadn’t thought about the time. “Shit. I’m sorry, Ethel. We think we found a lead on Betsy, but we had to split up, and Rowan has the car.”
“I’ll be right there. Send me your location,” she announced.
I hung up the phone and sent her the address, then I walked out toward the main road where she’d be able to pick me up.
It took a bit, but Rowan called to check in, and Sky was still driving, so I wasn’t missing out on much.
Rowan gave me a general direction to head, which was mostly back roads through the woods.
When I saw Ethel’s car, I texted Rowan that I was on my way.
We left the university and headed out onto the backwoods roads.
Ethel handed me a coffee, bless her soul, and we were chatting about the suspect.
A few minutes after we started, Rowan sent me his location, and I sent a thumbs up emoji.
It was still dark out, and when I looked out my window I had a moment to register another car without headlights on heading straight for us, then I was jarred to the side, spilling all my coffee before hitting my head against the side window.