“Not my problem. Let’s go.”
Christian and Claude circled to the back and got in. While Gem took directions from Wyatt, Christian buried his face in his hands. Where could she be? After pulling himself together, he reached down and rifled through her bag. Raven must have switched out her shoes, because her sneakers were missing. Maybe she really did toss out the boots. Raven wasn’t sentimental about such things, and would she be able to wear them again without associating them with a sex club? Aside from her boots, all he found in the bag were toiletries and clothes.
“Do you think someone took her?” Claude asked. “Maybe it was the man who recruited all the women.”
That hadn’t occurred to Christian. He’d never met this other fella, and he might want Raven out of the picture since she could identify him.
Claude leaned back. “I wager she’s made a lot of enemies. It would be difficult to narrow them down. Do you think her Creator’s behind it? That repugnant Mage is still out there somewhere.”
“It’s not him.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“It’s not his style.”
Claude rubbed his nose. “All the same, I think it would be prudent to narrow down suspects.”
Hearing Claude talk about suspects was making this frighteningly real. It was too convenient for there to be a cemetery on this road, and Christian had a gut feeling that Raven was there.
“We’re here,” Wyatt sang. “Human cemeteries: the thing nightmares are made of. Look, there’s a freshy right there.”
Gem slapped his arm. “Well, don’tlookat him!”
“I can’t help it! I’m seeing double, so I don’t know which waynotto look.”
The van came to an abrupt stop. “The gates are locked.” Gem turned in her seat and gave Christian a pointed look.
Taking her signal, he hopped out of the van and busted the locks. Gem slowly steered through the open gates, the high beams providing the only light.
Wyatt hopped out, dressed for the occasion in a long-sleeved shirt. Two cartoonish eyes looked to the side with I SEE DEAD PEOPLE written below them. He might as well have been a walking billboard for Gravewalkers.
Wyatt finished his cake and then tucked his thumbs in his jeans pockets. “So what makes you think the love of your life ishere? From my experience, when someone buries an immortal, they don’t do it in a high-traffic cemetery where someone might see them digging around. This is like the dead’s version of a mall. People doing sketchy burials go to old graveyards that are full up—ones with stones that are so broken that you can’t even tell if it’s a rock or a headstone.”
Gem’s long grey duster appeared translucent in front of the van’s headlights. She bent her leg and propped her white Doc Marten against the fender. “Maybe she’s not here. Where else does that road lead?”
Wyatt joined their circle. “Nowhere. It eventually dead-ends. There’s this or the local dump.”
“My vote is for the cemetery,” Claude cut in. “You take the dump.”
Wyatt chortled, and Gem put her hands on her ears as if sensing a distasteful joke on the horizon.
Christian snapped his fingers, his patience thinning. “Do your magic, Spooky. Walk the perimeter.”
“The perimeter? Do you know how many acres this place has? I can’t see in front of my nose, and if I don’t kill myself tripping over a headstone, I’ll be so distracted by the ghosties that I won’t be able to focus.”
Christian’s fangs punched out, and he gripped Wyatt by the collar. “Then find a way to focus.”
“I need to look for a flashlight.”
Claude pointed at a large shed. “What’s in there?”
Christian didn’t hear anything inside, but he broke the locks and opened the door.
Claude poked his head in and drew in a deep breath. “The female isn’t here.”
Incensed, Christian stalked by Wyatt, who was beating on the end of an inoperable flashlight. “Do your job. I’ll start on the far side if that makes it easier.”
Once Christian distanced himself from the van headlights, he shadow walked through the cemetery. They all looked the same. A tree here, a tree there, statues, benches, sometimes a mausoleum. He didn’t like spending his time in cemeteries, not since his own long-term residency.
