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Finally, there was the question of Ronnie’s seven friends. Where had they gone? I had an answer for that, too.
After Sheriff Idiot tracked down this Ronnie guy’s address, we discovered that he’d never shown up to his wedding, and neither had his posse of groomsmen. The families filed missing persons reports, and that was when they discovered the last place the eight men had been seen alive: the Flaming Rooster, where Ronnie sexually assaulted one waitress and then returned to kill her, murdering another woman in the process.
After that discovery, the families went silent, and the search for the missing men ground to a halt.
Jimmie figured that the families didn’t want to tarnish their good names, and assumed the men had taken off to Mexico or somewhere until things cooled down. In short, the other seven men were probably still alive.
When I really mashed everything around in my head, I’d found plausible explanations that were a hundred times more rational than vampires being real.
“You ready to go?” Ashley asked, picking up the last chair and flipping it upside down on the table so the floors could be swept by the new cleaning crew tonight. Jimmie didn’t want us working alone late anymore since he believed Ronnie was still out there.
Today, though, we were closing early due to Deedee’s funeral. Because her death had been a homicide, the county had taken extra time to collect evidence before releasing the body.
A sad knot formed in my stomach.Her poor parents.
“I’ll see you over there,” I told Ashley. “I have to lock up.” Jimmie had already left to ensure everything was in order. He’d insisted on paying for the funeral on top of making the arrangements. He was a good man.
I glanced at my watch. It was nearly three o’clock, but the church was only a minute away. After the service, we’d all go to the cemetery.
I locked the front door, grabbed a heaping pile of napkins—aka free Kleenex—from under the bar, and went to retrieve my things from the back. I filled my purse, preparing for the second-worst day of my life—the first being Daddy’s funeral.
I set the new alarm system, complete with a panic button under the bar, and went out the back door to my powder blue truck. My heart felt like it had a million porcupine needles poking at it. I hated funerals, but this one would be impossible to get through with dry eyes, even for me.
I hopped behind the steering wheel, and my phone rang. Caller unknown. “Hello?”
“How have you been?” asked the gruff voice.
I froze with fear. The tornado had finally touched down. “What do you want?”
“I understand your friend’s funeral is today. Sorry I cannot accompany you, but the sunlight and I do not get along.”
Sure. Right.“What do you want?” I growled.
“You did well, lying to the police and everyone else.”
“How do you know what I did? Maybe I told them everything. They might be lookin’ for you right now.” I hoped my words might ward him off.
He laughed. “If that were true, I would have been made aware. I have many friends in this town, Masie. Never forget that.”
Liar.Who the heck would want to be friends with him? “Again, what do you want? I have a funeral to get to.”
“After our last encounter, I realized that I need to make a grand gesture in order to win your trust.” He paused. “I like that about you. Any woman of mine should be skeptical of everyone—see the world as their adversary.”
“I amnotyour woman.”You crazy asshole.
Sorry, Mamma. I just can’t stop the bad words.
“But you will be after you see how sweet life is when you share it with someone who understands you. You will never have to hide your dark soul from me, Masie. I will embrace it.”
Dark soul, my ass.For heaven’s sake, I was still a virgin—not that being a virgin indicated saintliness or purity of heart, but it spoke to how I lived my life. I only did things that felt right. I lived a good, honest, and wholesome life. Well, as best I could. Nobody was perfect.
“You will meet me tonight at Deedee’s grave. One o’clock. Do not be late,” he warned.
“’Scuse me? Absolutely not.”
“Do you not wish to see my gift? It is an atonement for not saving her.”
I scoffed. “What? You gonna bring her back from the dead with your vampire sauce?” That was how they did it in the movies. The vampire made a person drink their blood, and then they woke up all pale and fangy.
