Behind the second teller window, I spotted Eliza Nordic.
She looked up as we approached, and recognition flickered in her eyes. She finished with her customer, placed a small sign on the counter that readNext Window Please, hopped off her barstool, grabbed her cane, and stepped out from behind the counter.
“I thought I might see you two today.”Her cane clicked softly against the tile floor as she walked toward us. “This is just awful.” She motioned toward the small sitting area near the front window, away from the teller line. “We can talk over here.”
We stopped near the chairs. “I’m Detective Kara Hilder, and this is my partner, Zane. We met briefly last night at the Quinn house, but we didn’t get a chance to formally introduce ourselves.”
Eliza nodded. “Yes. Let’s sit.”
We sat in the upholstered chairs facing each other. Eliza leaned her cane against the armrest and sighed. “My heart is breaking for Jayla. She must be devastated. Mari was a nice woman.”
“You liked her?” I asked.
“Oh, yes. She was always so nice when she came in. We’d chat while I processed her deposits. She’d ask about cheerleading and how the girls were doing. She didn’t have to do that, but she did.”
“She banked here?” Zane asked.
Eliza nodded. “Yes. Maybe I’m not supposed to say that, but you guys are PADA, so I assume you can access that information anyway.”
“Did you know her in high school?” I asked.
Eliza grimaced. “Yes and no. We were in the same graduating class.”
“Friends?” Zane asked.
Eliza shook her head. “No. I was...different back then.”
“Different how?” I asked.
“I was popular. I was a star volleyball player and a cheerleader. Things like grades came easily to me.” She swallowed. “I had a full-ride volleyball scholarship to a supernatural college once I graduated.”Her fingers tightened around the edge of the chair.”Until the accident.” She glanced out the window for a few seconds, then looked back at me. “I ran with a girl who was just as mean as I was. Together, we were a force. And I don’t mean that in a good way.” She let out a small laugh. “I wouldn’t even be friends with my old self. Iwas awful.”Her gaze dropped to her cane.”Life has a way of humbling you, though. Especially when it comes to people you weren’t nice to.”
“People like Mari Quinn and Rayna Halter?” I asked.
Eliza nodded. “Exactly. Like I said, I was a different person back then.”
“What happened to change that?” I asked.
Eliza tapped her cane against the floor. “This happened. It was Valentine’s Day, and we’d had a snowstorm the night before. Had there not been ice in the parking lot that day, maybe it wouldn’t have been so bad.” She looked out the window again before continuing. “My best friend and I both liked this boy named Bruce Bloodletter. A vampire. He was the star quarterback, played basketball, was class president. You know, all the typical stuff. And my best friend and I justknewhe was going to ask one of us to the Valentine’s Day dance at school. He’d been joking about it all week. Keeping us guessing.” She shook her head. “Definitely a jerk move, but when you’re seventeen, you don’t see it like that.”
“No, I suppose you don’t,” I said.
I’d been homeschooled by my Sensei, and so I had no idea what a typical human or supernatural school day looked like with classes and students…much less with school dances.
Eliza sighed. “I woke up that morning and found a box of chocolates and a rose on my doorstep. There was this mushy note with it signed by Bruce, saying how he couldn’t wait to see me at school, and how he had something important to ask me. I wassoexcited. I got dressed in my prettiest outfit, did my hair, and hurried to school. I’m at my locker, waiting for my bestie to get there, eating the chocolate and smelling the rose like every three seconds…and when my friend finally greets me, we both tell the same story! We’d both had chocolates, flowers, and a note from Bruce on our doorstep.” She smirked. “You’d think we’d have marched down to Bruce’s locker and torn him apart for being a jerk. But we didn’t. Instead, we got angry at each other. Each accusing the other of lying and of trying to be a poor sport. And it got ugly. Like hair-pulling, pushing-and-screaming ugly.”
“You okay?” I asked when she stopped talking.
“Yes. It’s just hard to talk about even after all these years. So anyway, someone breaks up the fight, and we go about our day, but for reasons I still can’t explain to this day, as the morning went on, my anger at my best friend got out of control. By lunch, I was actively looking for her to rip out her hair.” She snorted. “Can you imagine? And when Bruce found out what was going on, helovedit. Egged it on. Saying he wasn’t sure who he was going to pick. And I just kept getting angrier and angrier.” She blinked back tears. “Again, I can’t explain where this rage came from. When the final bell rang, I yelled at my best friend to meet me in the parking lot. We were going to settle it once and for all.”
“You were going to fight her?” I heard the incredulity in my voice, but I couldn’t help it.
Eliza let out a bark of laughter. “Yes. Can you believe it?”
“The foolishness of our ego,” Zane said. “Trust me, I know all about it.”
I gave my Fallen Angel a small smile.
“So anyway,” Eliza continued, “we’re standing near our cars, both of us shouting at each other. Suddenly, we’re in this pushing and shoving match again. By this time, half the school was watching and spurring us on. My best friend was a witch, and so she used magic against me. She pushed out a wave of magic so powerful, it lifted me off the ground and sent me flying into the middle of the parking lot. Unfortunately, one of my other classmates was driving and coming right for me. He tried to slam on the brakes, and I tried to move, I really did, but I was frozen and rooted as well.” She closed her eyes for a few seconds before opening them. “Anyway, they think he slid on some ice. Instead of slowing down, it shot his car straight into me, breaking my right leg and hip and crushing my pelvis.” She tapped the cane again. “Hence, the cane.”
