The name Molly never left her lips.
Chapter Fourteen
Max
We couldn’t stay at the gas station. Aside from the body in the bathroom, the windows had been smashed open and the store was in complete disarray. It wasn’t a good idea for any of us to stay there, especially with how bad off Dana was. She had fallen asleep when we put her in the backseat of the car, and I figured as long as she was breathing, we’d let her get some rest.
Daggett told me all about the diner and the man that claimed to have seen Cora, but before I could even feel any form of relief he filled me in on the rest of the story. The bloody steak, the discreet way she wanted it given to her, the impression he got that she was on the run.
The worst part was, as he told me this story, I had that ominous voice from the forest playing in my head. Someone was out there waiting for me, letting me know that they knew Cora was missing, and the sick shit was laughing about it. Before I came to the city, I still had that small hope that Cora was here willingly, but that hope was quickly stomped out. I had never been much of a worrier, but the last several hours left me feeling sick inside.
I didn’t know what else to do other than to go straight to the diner so I could talk to the man myself. I brought everybody inside with me so we could rest up and get some food in Dana’s system to bring her back to life. Daggett and I had to practically carry her in, and Priscilla was no help. We slid her barely conscious body into a red seated booth and let her lean against the window beside Daggett.
I then left to get the server to tell me everything he told Daggett and more. Unfortunately, it was more of the same. Cora came in, she ordered a steak, she was fidgety, and then she left. I even made him explain what she looked like in the most detailed way possible and I knew, without question, it was her. It was at that point that my hands began to shake. I don’t know if it was from nerves, worry, anger, or frustration. Fuck, maybe it was all of the above. I just knew Cora was out here somewhere, and yet I couldn’t find her. It killed me.
When I got back to the booth, everyone ordered something to eat except for me. My stomach was in too many knots to feel hungry.
Daggett, from across the table, leaned forward and hushed his voice. “What’d he say?”
I rubbed my fingers into my forehead and muttered, “Nothing new.”
“Sorry, Max.”
With her mouth full of a cheeseburger, Priscilla said, “It’s not like his story was going to change.”
I dropped my hands from my face and glared at her. The mixture of her lips smacking together and her casually being a know-it-all made me want to put her in the car and drop her off somewhere. “How can you eat that shit right now?” I spat.
Priscilla swallowed. “Excuse the fuck out of me. I almost died, all right? I need food.” She wiped the corner of her mouth with the back of her sleeve and added, “You all brought Tiny Tim over here to get something to eat.” She meant Dana. “Why can’t I eat?”
“You can eat,” I scoffed. “Just do it quietly.”
“Dana isn’t, like, dead, is she?”
“No,” I grumbled.
“Then I guess I’m not gonna worry. She did try to kill me, after all.”
“She had no control over that,” Daggett informed her. “You weren’t in her head. She hated what was happening just as much as you did.”
“Then why was she a werewolf? I thought you guys turned under a full moon. Last I checked the moon was at Pringle status.”
She meant a crescent moon, and she was right.
I looked at Daggett and asked, “You sure she’s not able to shift at will?”
“Positive,” he answered. “Dana gave up trying a while back. Even if she could, why would she do it now?”
“Maybe she saw something that spooked her and she wanted to fight it off.”
“Did you find any trace of a fight in the woods? Any blood?”
“Nah.” I suddenly remembered the necklace in my pocket, and I placed it on the tabletop. “I did find this, though.”
“What is it?”
“Cora was wearing it the night she went missing. For whatever reason, she was out in the woods and she dropped it.”
“That’s good, right?” Priscilla asked. “Finding a trail is good?”
I stared at the surface of the table, unsure of what to say. “I don’t know,” I admitted.
“Don’t sound so gloom and doom. If she was out there, that probably means she’s moving around the city, and we’ll find her.”
“Or someone wants me to think that.”
Both of their eyes got big. “What are you talking about, Max?” Daggett asked.
I exhaled loudly. “Somebody was out there when I went looking for Dana, somebody who knows who Cora is and my relationship with her.” They stared at me, listening, but clearly confused. “A woman asked where my girlfriend was, and then she ran off laughing.”
“You didn’t see her?”
“No. It was like she was in the trees or something. I could hear her voice in my ear, but I couldn’t find her. A part of me wants to believe I’m just going insane.”
“So, what? You think whoever this is planted Cora’s necklace there?”
“Maybe.”
“What for?”
I shrugged. “To throw us off. To confuse us.”
Priscilla raised a cup to her lips and sipped. “Yeah, well, it’s fucking working.”
