“Actually . . .” Both Alex and I looked to where Will was standing. A floor-to-ceiling bulletin board was in front of him. He plucked a single photo from the collage and held it out to me. I took it, and everything inside me stopped. “This is Lock and Key Club. From this year.”
“And Fallon’s in it.” Will squinted at the photo. “Alyssa, Kayleigh—that Miranda bird. And the advisor there, isn’t that the geezer from the principal’s office?”
“Heddy’s not a geezer. And Miranda told me she wasn’t in the club.” A cold stripe of fear shot down my spine. “The uniform downstairs could be hers. Fallon and she were constantly at each other’s throats.”
“I’m going to go downstairs to check on the girl.”
“Ask her where Bud is.”
Alex’s lips went into a pale straight line. “Lawson . . .”
“Do it, Alex. I don’t care if he was alibied or not. Fallon is in on this and she’ll know where Bud Hastings is.”
Alex eyed me. We were face to face, but I had my shoulders thrown back, my fists on hips, and was ready to shut down anyone who tried to placate me.
“You want us to go after Hastings on a hunch?”
“You want two girls to die because you were too proud to follow a hunch?”
I squared off my hips and kept Alex’s gaze. Finally, he broke. “Yeah. Okay.”
I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket while Alex left Will and me alone in the bedroom.
Will’s eyes narrowed as he considered. “So you think Fallon did this? She made the pentagram, got nervous when the candle caught the drapes, then called the police?”
“She didn’t have to make the fire to toss in Miranda’s uniform.”
I dialed Miranda’s number and listened as it rang repeatedly. I frowned, hung up, and tried Vlad.
“Direct to voice mail.”
Will’s eyes locked mine. For the first time, there was real concern in them. “You can’t find Miranda?”
“Let me try Nina. I’m sure she’s talked to Vlad.”
Nina picked up on the second ring.
“Hey, it’s me. Is Vlad there?”
“I haven’t seen him all night. Your little friend came back though.”
My heart stopped. “Miranda, really? Is she there? Let me talk to her.”
“She’s not here anymore. She just forgot a coat or something and took off.”
“Without Vlad?”
“She said he peeled off for Poe’s or something. She got in a car downstairs. Some guy was driving, but it wasn’t Vlad. Although the car looked like something from our era.” She gave a small, snorting chuckle at her own joke. “Anyway, I wasn’t completely paying attention because I was on the phone with Scorsese’s assistant.”
“Wait—Martin Scorsese’s assistant?”
Because even in the midst of peril, I could be not only horny, but starstruck.
“No, Neil Scorsese. He runs the soundstage down by the Presidio. Werevamp. Nice guy.”
“Look, if either Miranda or Vlad come back, keep them there.” I hung up my phone.
“Miranda took off with some guy who wasn’t Vlad.”
“Young love burns fast and hot, but fades fast.”
“Nina said the car was old.” My skin started to prickle. “What if the guy was Janitor Bud?”
“So, Fallon is working in cahoots with this janitor bloke. She sets fire to her own house so the police are tied up here, so Bud can go out and get Miranda?” Will shook his head. “Something’s not adding up. The police had already cleared Bud.”
I paced, stringing a piece of hair around my index finger. “Maybe she sent Bud out to get Miranda while she set up the sacrificial altar downstairs. She really did knock over a candle and a neighbor called the police and fire department. She probably heard the sirens and intercepted Bud.”
“Kind of a stretch. What about Alyssa and Kayleigh? Why would he—or even Fallon—suddenly start collecting the girls rather than killing them? It can’t be easy to hide one teenage girl, let alone three.”
“Remember what Vlad said? Maybe he just hasn’t found the right girl.”
“But to deal with three?”
My stomach was leaded and my saliva bitter. “We don’t know that he hasn’t killed the other girls yet.”
I took the stairs two at a time, Will following close behind. I pushed the front door open only to see the taillights of the ambulance fading into the darkness, the squad cars falling into line behind that. Alex was leaning into the open window of a squad car, and Fallon was gone.
“Alex! Alex, where’s Fallon?”
Alex looked around as if just noticing his surroundings. “We were able to reach her mother. She gave permission for the girl to go with the neighbor.”
My heart started to thud.
“Which neighbor?”
“I’m not sure. Wasn’t my jurisdiction. What’s going on?”
“She’s the one you’re looking for,” Will spat.