The sour feeling returned to my stomach, twisting it up, and I realized that now would be a good time to make our escape, lest Deputy Bob decide to press charges against Gideon for traveling with a sixteen-year-old runaway.
“Sorry to interrupt, I just gotta get all these papers down,” the woman said as she slid in past me and plunked the stack on Deputy Bob’s desk. I’d taken a step back, but she turned her attention toward Gideon, alternating between speaking directly to us and the deputy.
“I’ve been going around collecting applications for the Summerfest in June,” she went on. “It’s been hard getting everything I need, since so many people went to the Equinox Festival over in Tangipahoa Parish. But you’re here, Deputy, so maybe you can start filling out the form, if you’re not too busy?”
Bob pushed aside our form and reached for the stack of papers the woman had set on his desk. “What did you want me to fill out?”
“Oh, just grab any old form in there as long as it’s empty.” She waved him off. Then she turned to face us fully. “I’m sorry, I’ve been rambling on and on, while you’re been standing here, looking lost. Are you new in town?”
“They’re with the traveling carnival,” Deputy Bob told her with a sneer.
“Oh!” she exclaimed, and put her manicured hand to her chest. “I’m so excited to have you here. I’m with the mayor’s office and work on planning community events, and I’m thrilled to have a fun attraction here like this to compete with all the hullabaloo going on in Tangipahoa Parish and down in New Orleans. I’m always telling the mayor, we gotta keep the excitement up if we wanna keep the kids here.”
“I’m sure these people have work they need to be doing,” Deputy Bob chastised her. “You should stop bothering them.”
She rolled her eyes, but offered us an apologetic smile. “He’s right, I’m sorry.” Then she stuck her hand out at Gideon. “I’m Della Jane, by the way.”
“Gideon Davorin,” he said gruffly, shaking her hand.
“Mara,” I replied when she took my hand. Her grip was soft but firm, and she smiled so brightly, her blue eyes twinkled. Della Jane reminded me of a less buxom Dolly Parton, and I couldn’t help but warm to her despite the unease in my stomach.
“Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you while you’re here,” she said when she released my hand. “Anything at all.”
“We’re actually looking for my friend,” I blurted out, causing Deputy Bob to glare at me. “Her name’s Blossom Mandelbaum, and she travels with us. She went out last night, and we haven’t seen her since.”
“She’s sixteen and she’s a runaway,” Deputy Bob interjected. “There’s not—”
“She didn’t tell anyone where she was going?” Della Jane’s brow furrowed with concern, and she moved so she was standing in front of Bob, blocking his view of me and Gideon. “Does she usually disappear like this?”
“Not really,” I said, feeling sheepish. But something about the way Della Jane was looking at me, so hopeful and worried, made me feel as if I had to be totally honest with her. “She did hang out with a commune once for a few days, because she liked the music. But she told us before she left.”
Della Jane snapped her fingers. “I got it. She probably went over to the Tangipahoa Parish music festival. They have all kinds of bands, going on for the next week to celebrate the equinox. Does that sound like something she would enjoy?”
“It does…” I admitted reluctantly. “But she would’ve told us.”
“Maybe she just hitched a ride and didn’t have a chance,” Della Jane suggested. “But I can see that you’ll be worried until she shows up again. So I’ll tell you what—”
Abruptly she turned her back to us and hurriedly wrote something down on the corner of a flier. Then she tore off the corner and faced us again, handing me the paper with Della Jane and her phone number scrawled in beautiful loopy handwriting.
“If you haven’t heard from your friend in the next day or two, give me a call,” Della Jane said. “I’ll look into it personally and see if we can’t find her. How does that sound?”
“That sounds great. Thank you.” I smiled at her, but it felt weak.
“Thank you again,” Gideon told her, and when I didn’t move, he put his hand on my back to gently usher me out of the police station.
As soon as we stepped outside, Gideon let out a sigh of relief. With the sun shining brightly above, it was a warm spring day, and thanks to Della Jane, things had gone better in the police station than I had hoped for. She’d given a logical explanation for where Blossom probably was—safe and sound listening to bands.
Despite all that, I couldn’t shake the chill inside my chest, like my heart had been encased in ice.
7. night terror
I had no idea where I was, since I was completely surrounded by black. And in that darkness, a face began to emerge. An old woman, her face gaunt, and the folds of gray flesh wrinkled and shriveled to the point of mummification.
She began to move toward me, as if gliding through the emptiness. Her gown billowed out around her, a dark fabric making her appear larger and more threatening. Not that she needed the help. Her gray hair stuck out maniacally around her head, like a crazed halo, and her eyes were black as coal.