Morganville (Justin Bieber)

Chapter 36

There was no sign of Justin's dad or the bikers. In fact, it was very quiet in Morganville, despite my fears. Travis Lowe and Joe Hess dropped by early the next morning to deliver no news is good news party line to Eve and the house in general; they were polite and kind, and generally seemed okay for cops, but they made me feel scared and paranoid. I supposed all cops were like that, when they were on official business.

It didn't seem to bother Eve at all; she was up, bleary eyed and yawning, fresh out of the shower and still wrapped in a hello kitty bathrobe, free of the goth make up. Justin was, predictably, asleep, and who knew where Micheal was? Watching, I thought. Always watching. I supposed that could be creepy, except in Micheal's case it was comforting.

"Hey, guys" Eve said after wandering down the stairs into the living room. She plopped on the couch, bounced, and yawned again. "Coffee. Need coffee"

"I made some" I said, and went into the kitchen to get it. Travis Lowe followed me silently and carried the cups back out. He and his partner drank it black; I could barely even stand it with milk and sugar in. Eve was cream only, no sugar, she sucked it down like Gatorade after a hard workout, then collapsed against the couch again.

"Morning, officers" she said, and closed her eyes. "It's too early for this"

"Heard you got a job on campus" Hess said. "Congratulations, Eve"

"Yeah, me" she made a lazy woo-hoo gesture. "You come all this way to say that?"

"Not a long way in Morganville" Hess shrugged. "But no. Like I told Anastasia, there's no sign of your intruders. So I think you're in the clear on that. Hope that makes your day better"

"Sure" she said. "Um..about..the other thing..?"

"You want to talk in private?" I asked, and stood up with the coffee in my hand. "Cause I can go on to scho-"

"Sit" Hess said. "You're not going anywhere yet. And you're not going anywhere by yourself"

"I'm...what?" I ask.

"We're giving you girls a ride to school" Lowe said, and sipped his coffee. "And a ride home when you're done. Consider us your Thin Blue Line Taxi Service"

"No!" I blurted, appalled. "I mean, you can't..you shouldn't...why?"

"Eve knows why," Hess said. "Don't you, Eve?"

Eve put her coffee cup in the side stable and crossed her arms against her chest. "Jason"

"Yeah, Jason" Hess cleared his throat, glanced at me, and continued. "We found Karla Gast late last night. Well, actually, some of our more night inclined colleagues found her. Dumped in a vacant lot about six blocks from here behind some piled up lumber"

In a flash, I remember walking past the empty lot on the way to my visit with Amelie. I'd event smelt decay. I put my coffee cup down, my hands coming over my mouth.

"You think-" Eve looked tense and pale. "You think Jason was involved"

"Yeah" Hess said softly. "We think. No proof, though. No witnesses, no forensic evidence, but she was definitely not killed by a vampire. Look, Jason's been spotted in the area, so I don't want you out there by yourself for now, okay? Either one of you"

"He's my brother!" Eve sounded angry now, voice shaking. "How could he do this? What kind of..of-"

"It's not your fault" Lowe said. "You tried to get him help. He just got sicker"

"It is my fault!" She shouted. "I'm the one who turned him in! I'm the one who didn't stop Brandon from-"

"From what?" Lowe asked, very quietly.