And if he had crossed to the other side, was there a heaven just for them? And what would a dog heaven look like?
Too many unanswered questions. My brain overflowed with them. I left the shop with a bittersweet taste in my mouth, even more confused about how to proceed. Did I dare talk to the man Bobert was setting up a meeting with? I'd already told Ian. I'd set off the Vandenbergs's house alarm. Had I put them in even more danger?
Bottom line: I had to find his family, and I had a plan. Unfortunately, it would have to wait until that evening. Mr. V had several family photos, and they were all taken at the same cabin no matter how old his kids were when they were taken. Either he had a cabin or he knew someone with one. Maybe his captors found out and were holding them hostage there. It made perfect sense. No neighbors. Isolated spot. Well camouflaged with a plethora of trees and brush around. And easily guarded. They'd see anyone coming up the road for miles. Most of the leaves had already fallen, and though it wasn't officially winter, it sure as heck felt like it.
After that, the day progressed rather normally. If a buttload of women with love in their eyes was any indication of normal. We were swamped. Had been swamped since we'd opened. Reyes might be good for business, but he was bad for my bunion s. Or he would have been if I'd had bunion s. He was damned lucky I didn't.
"Sumi," I said, trying to get her attention.
I needed the orders for booth seven pronto. It was full of giggling preteens, and I needed them out. Every time they'd look in the rock star's direction, they'd burst into a fit of giggles and discuss his expression right down to the position of his brows. The tilt of his mouth. The implication of his glances. Did he like movies? Did he play video games? Did he like them?
Uh, he would if he were a child molester.
I wanted to say it but couldn't bring myself to break their fluttering little hearts. Especially since I'd been doing the same thing all morning. Chancing quick glances. Analyzing every movement. Wondering if he liked me.
I needed to nip a sticky situation in the bud. Reyes didn't need to be investigated because a kid declaring her love was taken the wrong way by an eavesdropper. If anything could go downhill fast, it was suspicion of pedophilia. It never ended well.
After Sumi snapped out of her latest fantasy and tore her gaze off Reyes, she nodded and got me the plates I needed.
I rushed them over, filled a few drinks, then went to the storeroom for more ketchup, where I came face-to-face with a departed woman. An agitated departed woman.
"Where have you been?" she asked, walking toward me, her strides angry and aggressive.
"Stay back," I said, my voice a soft hiss as I made a cross with my index fingers. I did not want a repeat of yesterday's fiasco.
"Oh, stop it." She slapped my hands away, her long red hair shifting soundlessly. "Rocket's really upset with you."
I could only assume Rocket was a guy. "I'm … sorry? Wait." I lunged forward and took hold of her shoulders. "Do you know who I am?"
"Duh. Took me forever to find your skanky ass. What the hell is up with your light? It's, like, everywhere. And Rocket is freaking out. Seriously. Like the world is about to end kind of freaking out. Something about the angels and how pissed they are. At you, naturally. And there's this god thing going on. You have to get back there and calm him down."
"Get back? Get back to where? Where am I from?"
"Oh. My. God. Would you stop already?"
I was a microsecond away from shaking her until her teeth rattled when a thick, billowing blackness rose behind her. I stumbled back. It grew out of the ground like an evil fog. Because only evil fog could be that menacing.
"Hey," the woman said, looking around, just as surprised as I was. "What the -?"
Before she could get another word out, the darkness covered her mouth. Her eyes rounded, and she looked at me as though asking for help.
I took a hesitant step forward, but the black smoke swallowed her before I could do anything. Then again, what would I have done? What could I have done? When the billowing smoke dissipated, she was gone.
"No!" I rushed forward, looking for her everywhere. In the mop bucket. Behind the storage shelves. Under the mustard.
What the hell just happened? And why did my skin burn as though it had been scorched by something powerful? Something angry? Whatever it was, it wanted to silence that poor woman who probably hadn't hurt a soul her entire life. Just to keep her from telling me who I was. Where I was from.
I sank onto a box. Was something keeping me here? Was I trapped? A prisoner?