Helena poured Roy a cup of coffee while he finished his first phone call of the morning from the comfort of her kitchen. He had already showered and dressed, and only had a few minutes for a quick Helena-style breakfast of java and toast before he would have to make his way to the police station for what was promising to be a long day.
“You sit down,” she instructed. “Let the pumpernickel digest. You don’t want your acid reflux acting up on you again.”
“This coffee will kill the acid reflux,” Roy insisted. “This coffee will kill anything.”
“Well, I wasn’t really paying attention when I measured. Or didn’t measure,” she muttered as she glanced out the window. “It’s a dreary day. I think we’re in for some snow.”
“How can you tell? It’s only seven o’clock. It’s winter. It’s still dark.”
“My fingers ache and I feel restless,” Helena replied, squeezing some hand cream from the bottle she kept by the sink and massaging it into her hands. “And besides, there’s an eerie haze around that full moon outside. It gives me the willies.”
The phrase had an ironic meaning to her that Roy would never understand.
“Great. Just what I needed. More lunatics in Troy. He saw his remark didn’t improve her mood, so he motioned for her to come nearer. “As long as we’re only weathering a meteorological storm, we’ll get through it,” he smiled at her, placing her hand in his own. “I just don’t want any other kind of storms around here, okay? I’ve got enough on my plate right now.”
She wished she could assure him that the worst was over, but every nerve in her body was telling her it wasn’t.
“Did one of the Dayton’s make it in?” she asked, moving the ceramic sugar bowl towards his oversized coffee mug. She had managed to get Roy to cut down on his salt over the past six months, but sugar was a whole other issue. She watched as he dumped three heaping spoonfuls into his cup.
“Finally,” Roy answered, blowing on the coffee before taking a big sip. Bitter as it was, he knew he wouldn’t find time for another before noon. “Colin. He says he came down with the flu yesterday and was too sick to call in. I haven’t heard from Cody yet.”
“I know it’s none of my business,” Helena began, “I don’t know them from Adam, but maybe you should think about training a few new recruits. Back-up cops.”
“Back-up cops? Why, are you offering?” he laughed, playfully grabbing her waist. “I know you’re good with the cuffs, but...”
“Never you mind. I could run circles around those two if I had half a mind to. They might be in their thirties, but they’d be begging for mercy before we got to the end of the block. I saw them chasing after Ronnie Thornton when he broke out of the Shady Acres rest home last Easter. It was like they were running in slow-mo compared to Ronnie, and he’s in his seventies.”
Roy laughed. “You’re probably right. They’re not the quickest on their feet. The dirty work doesn’t seem to faze them, though. There’ll be no trauma counseling for those two, guaranteed. That’s why I wish they had been around the past couple of days. Purdy’s putting up a good front, but I can see the pressure is getting to him. So if you don’t mind, I’d like to keep the twins around for a while. We all get sick from time to time, they just picked an inconvenient time.”
“I’m just saying they just seem to have their own agenda.”
“Who doesn’t have their own agenda in this town?” Roy laughed. “When you figure out what theirs is Sherlock, you let me know. I’ll send a memo to human resources.”
Helena punched him playfully on the shoulder. “I know when you’re sassing me, Roy Cohen.”
Roy often talked about the Dayton twins, but Helena never really had a chance to get to know them. Most of what she knew about them she knew from the women in the hair salon who gossiped about them from time to time. They all seemed to agree the Dayton’s were good looking men who never seemed interested in any of the women from Troy.
“Are they gay?” Helena asked.
“No, they’re not gay,” Roy sighed.
“Then they need to meet some good women,” Helena announced. “I would have thought they’d have settled down by now. I can’t be the only single woman in this town insane enough to carry on with a man on the force.”
“They’ll get around to it some day,” Roy said. “They just like to blow off some steam by getting out of Troy and heading down to the casino off the highway. The head of security down there tries to keep an eye on them for me, so I won’t have to read about them in the local paper. He tells me they do quite well at the ladies, and roulette. So there goes your gay theory.”
“Well, then maybe Helen...”
“Oh-ho-no,” Roy stammered. “I know there are two of them, but they wouldn’t stand a chance against her. Speaking of chances, is Hurricane Helen normally a late sleeper? Because if she is, is there any chance I could get another piece of that excellent toast before I have to head out?”
“Ouch,” Helena sighed. “How is your head?”
“Sore as hell. I’ve got a bump the size of an egg right at the back,” he replied, rubbing it gingerly. He stopped sipping his coffee as he heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs. “Tell you what,” he said, finishing the rest of it in one long gulp and quickly getting up from the chair. “Hold the toast.”
“Relax,” Helena laughed. “That is only one hundred and ten pounds of energy coming down the stairs. It’s Tropical Storm Ellie. You’re safe.”
“Should I leave?” Roy asked.
“No. Sit down,” Helena commanded. “You have every right to be here. Besides, I’ve already started your toast.”
Ellie entered the kitchen wearing her standard T-shirt and pajama bottoms. If she was surprised by Roy’s presence, she didn’t let on. She walked over to the fridge, poured herself some juice and headed towards the table. Noticing that Roy’s gun holster was hanging on the right side of his body, she made a sudden swerve and sat down in the chair on his left. Guns, she concluded, were not a part of a healthy breakfast.
“Ellie, I want you to know that Roy...” Helena began, but Ellie raised her hand, signaling for her grandmother to stop talking.
“I figured it all out last night,” she said between sips of her juice. “It was kind of hard not to. The moaning, the doors banging...”
Roy became flustered. “Well, Helena and I have been friends for quite some time, and um, uh...”
Helena looked at him with amusement and handed him his second plate of toast.
“Save it,” Ellie pleaded. “As long as you keep the toilet seat down so I don’t fall in if I sleepwalk, I’m a happy camper. Just don’t make me call you ‘uncle’.”
“You’ve got a deal. Call me Roy,” he said, feeling like he had dodged a bullet. “So,” he said between bites of bread, “you’re a sleepwalker?” He tried to make the question sound casual, but he did find it unusual that someone Ellie’s age was having an issue like that.
Helena walked behind Ellie and lovingly pulled her granddaughter’s hair behind her shoulders. “She’s just going through a phase,” Helena assured him.
“We hope so,” Ellie sighed. “Just keep your pants on, okay Roy?”
“Another deal. Do you have any idea when your mother will be through her phase?” Roy asked.
Ellie unexpectedly laughed so hard that the juice she was drinking started to come out of her nose. She quickly grabbed a napkin from the table. “You’re hilarious. And your powers of observation are bang-on.” She noticed a bruise on the side of Roy’s face. “Whoa, looks like Mom gave you a knockdown punch last night! It’s good to know your screams were real and I wasn’t having another creepy nightmare.”
Helena shook her head at Ellie and motioned for her to zip it, but it was too late. Her granddaughter had just opened the door for Roy to attempt to validate a piece of Ryan’s story, and Helena knew he wasn’t going to let it go.
“I’ve been meaning to ask you about a dream you had, Ellie.” Roy touched the injure
d area on his face gingerly. Sometime between now and the time he got to work, he was going to have to come up with a cover story about how he got that bruise or he’d never hear the end of it.
“Roy, let’s not bring up the nightmare thing again,” Helena interrupted. “We’re all under a lot of stress right now with the murders going on. Why don’t we just talk about something normal, like the weather?”
“Murder...s?” Ellie questioned. “Forget the weather. What’s up with the murders?”
“I’m under the impression you had a dream about Brooke Quinlan,” Roy stated, continuing his line of questioning.
“Roy, stop interrogating my granddaughter. This is our home, and I don’t seem to recall you reading her the Miranda rights.”
“I did dream about her,” Ellie acknowledged. She saw Helena looking at her as if she was going to reach over and physically gag her. “What, Nan? Don’t look at me like that. I’m not Sylvia Browne or anything. It was just one big co-incidence.”
“Sylvia Browne?” Roy questioned.
“Psychic and frequent guest of Montel Williams,” Helena explained.
“But you dreamt about a little girl being carried off, correct? Supposedly to an area with water running under a bridge? You told Ryan about it, didn’t you?” the Chief challenged.
“Roy, do you want me to pour the rest of the hot coffee over your head? I told you to leave Ellie alone,” Helena said angrily.
Ellie looked at Roy and shrugged. She hadn’t done anything wrong. It was just a dream. So what was the big deal?
“Well yeah, I did have this weird dream the first night we got here. There was a girl in it that looked just like the girl that everyone is looking for. I mean, I didn’t know at the time that was who she was. She was just a girl in my dream, wearing a Dorothy costume.” She glanced at Helena. “Okay, I guess it’s turned out to be a little bit like an episode of Paranormal State, but it’s not like I wanted her in my dream.” She twitched uncomfortably in her chair. “Maybe we should talk about the weather. Do you think it’s going to snow today?”
“Now you want to listen to your Nan?” Helena said indignantly. “It’s a bit late for that. You might as well go on with your story.”
“In my dream, she was by some old bridge,” Ellie continued. “Then the next day, when the little girl really had gone missing, I began to wonder where it was, if it even existed. I told Tom and Ryan about it on the way home from the search party and they laughed at me. They thought I was crazy and made fun of me. Tom came over later to apologize but he turned out to be the ultimate jerk. I hate him,” Ellie insisted, subconsciously kicking the bottom of Roy’s chair with her foot.
Helena looked at Roy and shook her head. “She doesn’t hate him,” she whispered.
“You knew about this, Helena?” Roy asked. “Didn’t you think that perhaps I would find it interesting?”
Helena threw her arms in the air. “What? Teenagers come up with the craziest dreams. One minute they’re dreaming about a where to find a great pair of boots and the next thing you know...”
“Helena, this is no joke.”
“As if a judge would accept a dream as evidence,” Helena retorted. “Really, Roy. You’re going too far.”
“Why? What happened?” Ellie asked. “How come you’re so interested in my stupid dream?”
“You might as well tell her,” Roy said, looking at Helena for some direction. “She’ll hear about it anyway.”
“You tell her. You’re the one who was there,” Helena said, still annoyed. “But be careful you don’t lead your witness.” She took his plate and cup away from him before he had a chance to ask for more.
Roy looked at Ellie. He wanted to study her reaction carefully. “Brooke’s body was found out at Stillman’s Creek last night. Out by the old covered bridge.”
“Nan!” Ellie gasped. “Get out! Does Mom know?”
“I don’t know,” Helena answered. “I don’t think so. It didn’t come up in our conversation last night.”
“She’s going to freak, you know that,” Ellie said. “She goes mental when stuff like that happens.”
“Never mind your mother. How are you?” Helena asked. “This news must come as bit of a shock.”
“A shock of a co-incidence,” Ellie said defensively.
Their conversation abruptly ended as the sound of a loud set of footsteps was heard coming down the old wooden staircase in the hall.
“Okay,” Roy said, knowing there was only one person left in the house that it could be, and he wasn’t in the mood to face her right now. “That’s my cue. I’m out of here.”
“I’ll deal with her,” Helena sighed. “You don’t have to rush off.”
“Ellie, we’ll continue our chat later,” he said as he hurriedly grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair. “Nice try, Helena. But I really think it’s time for me to get going. She might want a re-match.”
He rubbed the goose bump on the back of his head, gave Helena a quick kiss and left quickly out the back door.
“Sweet,” Ellie said, rising from the table. “But if the man with the gun is afraid of Mom, I’m out of here too.”
“Where do you think you’re going, Ellie LaRose?” Helena said sternly, placing her hands on her hips. “You sit back down. I’ll get you some frozen waffles. I picked them up at the grocery store on Thursday. You’re eating them in one of the few pictures I have of you. You were a toddler, so I’m hoping you still like them.”
“I’m really not that hungry,” Ellie lied. “And I really don’t want to be in the room with you and Mom right now. I think you need some alone time. And I know I need some time to shake off the heebie-jeebies I’m getting from this whole dream thing.”
“Do I have to remind you I saved you from a rabid dog?” Helena asked.
“Why is there always a payback time?” Ellie sighed, sitting back down into the chair just in time to get the full effect of Helen storming through the dining room door into the kitchen.
Ellie and Helena stared at her in disbelief. The normally precision-groomed Helen hadn’t so much as ran her fingers through her hair. It was squished against her head on one side and full of static on the other, making her look like a werewolf having a really bad hair day.
Ellie figured that wasn’t a good sign. “I’ll owe you one, Nan,” she said, as she started to stand back up.
Helena grabbed her by her shoulder and pushed her back down in her chair.
“Tell me about the man. Tell me about the boy,” Helen yelled at them without stopping to say good morning.
“Mom?” Ellie asked.
“Hellsbelles, Helen. Do you need some meds?” Helena asked sarcastically.
Helen snarled in anger. It was an air-through-the-nose, wide-awake snore of a snarl, that surprised her almost as much as it did Ellie and Helena when it happened.
Ellie started to laugh.
Helen raised her hand threateningly and moved towards her daughter.
Helena reached across and grabbed Helen’s arm.
“What do you think you’re doing? So help me, Helen, I’ll take a knife from the butcher block if I have to,” she warned her daughter. “Step away from Ellie. What the hell is wrong with you?”
“I want to know all about the man of your dreams,” Helen said to her mother sarcastically. “And I want to know all about the boy in yours,” she said to Ellie.
“Seriously, Helen. Have you been drinking?” Helena asked. She had seen her daughter angry before, but this was borderline psychotic. “It’s a little early in the morning for mad cow cocktails.”
“I asked you a question, Mother,” Helen said, ignoring the sarcasm.
“Helen, you have no right to ask me anything of the sort. I’m a grown woman. This is my house. Your daughter is not five. She’s old enough to know that from time to time we all need a little push in the bush.”
“Do you have to be so vulgar?” Helen screamed. “That’s what I am talking about. I am trying
to teach Ellie that sex does not equal love, so that she doesn’t get hurt and you’re having a boudoir party a floor beneath her. What kind of an example is that?”
“It was hardly a party, Helen. You didn’t have to crash it.”
“Do you love this guy...Roy? Do you?” Helen stammered.
Helena thought for a moment. “Well, not that it’s any of your business, but yes, I do happen to love Roy Cohen. I have for quite some time. And I think you owe me an apology for beating him to a pulp last night. You can make up for it by hopping in that bug van of yours and going to get me a new bedroom door from the renovation store in the city. A metal one if you’re feeling inclined to break it down again.” She picked up Roy’s coffee cup and threw it against the wall. “And pick up a new mug set for me while you’re at it. You want crazy? I’ll show you crazy.”
“Whoa,” Ellie gasped. “Now I know where Mom gets it from.”
“Shut up, Ellie,” Helen snapped. “Or I’ll ground you until you’re twenty.”
Ellie slunk back in her chair.
“Then I’ll un-ground her,” Helena yelled back. “My house. My rules. Why is that so hard for you to comprehend?”
Helen’s face was so red so looked like she was going to pass out. She breathed in and out deeply, trying to calm herself down. “Who is the boy in your dream, Ellie?” she asked again, this time trying to be calmer.
“Enough with the dream already, okay Mom?” Ellie pleaded.
Helena moved towards Ellie’s chair and put her arm around her granddaughter. “That really might be best, Helen.”
“Don’t you start being all protective of Ellie. She’s hiding something. She told us about the dream. But she left out one major detail.”
“I didn’t know I had to tell it to you scene by scene,” Ellie protested. “Are you talking about the vampire? Is that what you’re going on about?”
“Whoa,” Helena gasped.
“Yes! I mean the vampire!” Helen said, throwing her arms into the air. “Why haven’t you told us about him? Rewind. You said there was a missing girl. You said there was a bridge. You even said there was a creepy cowboy cutout guy. But you said nothing about a vampire. Did you?”
“I guess it slipped my mind,” Ellie said quietly. “But...how did you know about him?”
“Just like that?” Helen questioned, snapping her fingers and ignoring Ellie’s question. “You forgot about him just like that?”
Ellie began tapping the arms of the chair with her fingers. “Um, okay, so maybe there was a vampire in my dream. And maybe he had the girl in his arms. And maybe she was still alive then...”
“What do you mean she was still alive then?” Helen asked, pretending to know nothing about the discovery of the body. “What are you talking about?”
“They found Brooke Quinlan’s body last night,” Helena told her.
“This is not good,” Helen said, suddenly feeling weak. She grabbed the back of a chair and spun it around so she could sit down. Deep down inside, she had hoped that her visions, and Willie’s side of the night-ride tale, had just been a crazy ghost story. “Ellie, what did the vampire look like?”
“A vampire,” Ellie shrugged.
“Ellie, this is no time to frustrate the hell out of me,” her mother said lowering her head into her hands.
Helena moved another chair between Helen and Ellie and sat down. She looked at her girls, one clearly distraught, the other clearly confused. She was at a loss how to help one of them, let alone both.
“Sweetheart,” she said gently to Ellie, “not that it matters, because you’re right, a vampire is a vampire, but... do you remember anything at all about him?”
“Of course I remember,” Ellie said. “I’ll never forget him as long as I live. He was a teenager, like me. He had dark hair, like me. And he was very scary. Even more scary than Mom.” She blew Helen a kiss in a feeble attempt to lighten the mood. It used to make her mother smile. Not this time.
“I’m not in the mood, Ellie,” Helen cautioned.
They were interrupted by a knock at the back door. There was a tall blonde teenaged girl standing outside on the landing, attempting to peek through the kitchen window.
“Don’t answer that door,” Helen demanded. “We need to finish this.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, Helen,” her mother said, thankful for the distraction. She needed time to figure out what was really going on, and she couldn’t do it with her girls hovering around her. She needed to get them out of the house. “Ellie’s friends are always welcome here.”
“She’s not exactly my friend,” Ellie said, recognizing the girl. “You don’t have to open the door.”
“Nonsense,” Helena insisted, reaching for the doorknob. “Neither of you are in the position to be picky. I don’t hear any BFF reality show producers banging our door down.”
“BFF?” Helen asked, looking at Ellie for an answer.
“Best friend forever,” Ellie answered. “Nan’s been watching too much MTV.”
Jacey Sumner, bundled up in a matching navy pea coat and hat, brushed some snowflakes from her shoulder and turned to face Helena at the door.
“I knew it,” Helena said to herself with satisfaction. “I told Roy it was going to snow.”
“Erm, is Ellie home?” Jacey asked when Helena opened the door. “I don’t have the wrong house or anything, do I?”
“Yes, darling. I mean no. Yes, Ellie is home. No you don’t have the wrong house. Oh, you know what I mean.” Helena said, motioning Jacey into the kitchen.
Jacey paused at the threshold. Under the circumstances, that made Helen overly cautious. Was the girl waiting to be invited in?
“There aren’t any cockroaches in here are there?” Jacey asked awkwardly. “Only I saw a van out front...”
“Great,” all three LaRoses said in unison.
“Get it out of here,” Ellie and Helena both said to Helen.
“All right, already,” Helen said alone, feeling foolish on a few fronts.
“The house is vermin free,” Helena assured Jacey. “It’s safe to come in. Don’t worry about taking your boots off,” she said glancing at Jacey’s feet. “I have to do the floors later anyway." She paused. “Hellsbelles, are those Jimmy Choo’s?”
“Uh-huh,” Jacey said proudly. “I bought them myself after I got paid from a modeling job.”
Ellie rolled her eyes.
Helen was impressed that the girl had a job.
Helena wanted a pair of boots just like them.
Jacey stepped into the house and suddenly felt an uncomfortable shiver run through her body. It was cold in the house and it wasn’t just the temperature. “Should I come back another time?” she asked. “I get a sense things are a little crazy right now.”
“She’s sensitive,” Helena whispered in Helen’s ear.
Helen forced a smile. It wouldn’t take a genius to sense there was tension in the room. All three LaRose women were standing with their hands folded defiantly over their chests.
“I didn’t mean to interrupt anything, but I just wondered if Ellie would like to come to church with me this morning?” Jacey asked.
“Church?” Helen questioned.
“Yes, that’s right,” Jacey answered. “I’m headed over to St. Mary’s for the early mass. I thought maybe we could go and then grab a bite together afterwards down at the Topaz.”
“I’m in,” Ellie said suddenly. Right now, any excuse to get out of the house was looking pretty good, even if it meant spending an hour or two with Jacey and a priest.
“What?” Helen replied.
“I said I was in,” she answered back. “You guys don’t mind if I go out with Jacey for a while? I mean, you didn’t make any plans for us or anything?” she asked, knowing damn well that the re-arranging of the front porch furniture could wait.
“Stay here, Jacey,” Ellie said running from the room. “I’ll be five minutes, I swear. I’ve just got to get dressed.”
“Wond
ers never cease,” Helen said under her breath.
“Hello,” Jacey said, extending her hand to her. “I’m Jacey Sumner. You must be Ellie’s mother.”
“I am,” Helen said, somewhat taken aback by the handshake.
“And you must be Helena LaRose,” Jacey said, turning her attention to the matriarch. “You really helped David Kim’s psoriasis. He’s my guardian. He thinks you’re awesome.” She offered her hand to Helena as well.
“It’s nice to meet you, Jacey. Tell him I’ve ordered in more of the salve to get him through the winter,” Helena said, holding onto Jacey’s hand for a moment longer than one normally does. She looked into the girl’s blue eyes and smiled.
“I will, Mrs. LaRose,” Jacey said, nodding and taking her hand back.
“Church… is that a regular thing for you, Jacey? I don’t think it’s a priority for most teenaged girls,” Helen asked suspiciously. For all she knew, this girl could be whisking Ellie off to God knows what.
Jacey shrugged. “I do like to sleep in most Sundays but with all the craziness in town right now, it’s kind of hard. I don’t mean to be disrespectful, but who can’t use a few angels on your side to cover your ass, erm, I mean bases? You never know, right?”
“Well, we can’t argue with that, can we, Helen?” Helena said, pulling her daughter closer to her side. She tugged at Helen’s sleeve. “Seriously. Sensitive.”
“Seriously fruity-loopy,” Helen whispered back.
“Don’t worry about Ellie, I’ll make sure she’s fine,” Jacey promised.
“I feel better already,” Helen said sarcastically, not certain herself if the tone was directed at Helena or Jacey or both.
Helena gave her daughter a quick jab to the ribs.
“We’d appreciate that, Jacey.” Helena said. “Ellie doesn’t know much of the town yet. It’s very nice of you to offer to show her around.”
Ellie re-appeared in the kitchen. She had thrown on her jeans and under her jacket was a sweater she had found in her grandmother’s closet. Helena could see a hint of black lace below Ellie’s coat collar.
Helena tilted her head. “Is that my Lacroix sweater under your coat?”
“Smart girl. She’s up against the Choo’s,” Helen reminded her mother.
“Bye,” Ellie said, running from the house before anyone had a chance ask tell her to go back upstairs and change.
“It was nice meeting you,” Jacey said cheerily as the door slammed behind the teenagers.
“If she wrecks that sweater, you’re paying for it,” Helena remarked, taking her finger and poking Helen on her left shoulder.
“Good luck with that. I’m an unemployed gravedigger, remember?”
“I could kill her. That would solve both our problems.”
“Now you know what I go through every day,” Helen sighed. “I’m going upstairs. I have a headache.”
Helena let her go. She needed time to think. Although she wasn’t about to let on, she too, was troubled by the revelation that Ellie’s dream had involved a young vampire.
“I warned you,” she said icily.