CHAPTER SIX: Best Laid Plans
"What do you think of green?"
Stella wrinkled her nose. "Not my favorite," she admitted. "But I bet you and Jess would look okay in it."
"Well, what were you and Flack thinking of for colors?" Lindsay asked her. The two sat in a bridal boutique on 5th Avenue. Jessica was in the dressing room.
"Blue," Stella said.
"As in 'NYPD' blue?" Jess's voice called from the door. "Ouch…got the zipper there…"
"No!" Stella grinned. "As much as I'd love to see Flack in uniform for it, I don't think it's gonna happen."
"Too bad," Jess replied. "Okay." She came out of the dressing room. "What about this one?" She turned to Lindsay. "Something you'd wear?"
Lindsay cocked her head to one side as she studied it. "I like the halter," she admitted. "But not the skirt. It looks like someone took the upholstery off a couch."
Jess glanced down, and narrowed her eyes. "Yipe. I agree. Okay, next selection." She walked backwards into the dressing room.
"I can't wait," Lindsay said to Stella, turning her friend's hand over to look at the ring Flack had gotten her. "You're going to look awesome."
Stella chuckled. "Please. I probably won't even be able to make it up the aisle."
Lindsay laughed. "I'll tell Danny to tell Flack to make sure he keeps eye contact with you at all times."
"Actually, I meant that I'll probably trip over the dress," Stella replied with a grin.
The dressing room door opened, and Stella's young roommate stepped out again. "What do you think?" she asked them.
The two older women studied the teen's dress. Simple, strapless, A-line, with a ribbon around the waist in a complimentary color. "That's the one," Stella said. "It'll look good on the both of you and Angell."
Lindsay snapped a couple pictures of the dress with her phone to show Jess Angell later. "I like that one a lot," she agreed. "Jess, what do you think?"
"I like!" the younger woman pronounced.
Stella mentally checked bridesmaid dresses off her checklist. Things were falling into place quite nicely. She checked her watch. "Okay, you two need to get sized for that dress. And then we have to go. I have dinner plans."
"Sounds like cold cuts for me," Jess teased from the dressing room.
"Actually, our plans include you, kiddo," Stella called to her. "So hurry up!"
Lindsay heard her phone ring from her purse. She pulled it out. "I'll call in my measurements, Stel, I need to go."
"That your hubby?" Stella asked in a low whisper. Lindsay nodded. "Okay. Go on, I'll talk to you later."
"You better, I want to hear all about dinner!" Lindsay replied. She shouldered her purse and said goodbye to Jess through the dressing room door as she flipped open her phone and dialed a familiar number. She stepped onto the sidewalk and went to hail a cab. "Danny?....Hey, it's me, I'm just grabbing a cab, I'll see you in-"
A hand grabbed her shoulder. Lindsay dropped her phone.
Across town, Danny Messer had already hung up his phone and was shrugging into his motorcycle jacket. He glanced outside, saw it was getting dark. Not good.
And knew if he didn't hurry…
"Guy that runs the Bates Motel says he's pretty sure Jonas is stayin' here," Dean Winchester said, nodding to the burned-out neon sign that read "HO-E-"
"It's dark, he'll be on the hunt," Sam said, looking around, listening to the sounds of the city.
"I persuaded the mama's boy at the front desk to give up his room number," Dean said. "Maybe we can get an idea of where he might be going."
"Or who he might be after," Sam added, following his brother up the staircase and up to room 9. Dean pulled out his lock pick, and Sam raised an eyebrow. "You got the room number but couldn't charm a key out of him?"
"He's not my type," Dean shot back as the lock jimmied open.
Sam grinned. "You're losing your touch," he said as they stepped into the room. Sam's eyes widened as his eye caught a display on the wall. "Well, we don't know where he's at," Dean said, as he took one of the pictures off the wall, "but we know who he's going after."
"Dean, isn't that-"
"You still have Rent-A-Cop's phone number?"
Lindsay instantly went on the defensive, bringing her other arm up to elbow her assailant in the face, but he caught her arm easily, and gently set it down. "Sorry," he apologized.
Lindsay turned to see Mick St. John holding her arm. "Mick," she said. "You scared the hell out of me."
"Sorry," he said again. "I couldn't tell if it was you, and I sorta forgot your name."
"Lindsay Messer," she said.
"Ah," he replied. "The guy with the glasses, must be the Mister?"
"Danny," she clarified.
"Yeah. So…what're you doin' out here?"
"Hailing a cab so I can get home," she said. "What about you?"
"On the hunt for Jonas McIntire," Mick replied. "I couldn't get Josef to come with."
"Not all that surprising, considering the way he was acting earlier," Lindsay said with a smile. "He strikes me more as the glass of Scotch and a hot woman type."
Mick grinned. "No wonder you're a detec-"
Just then, Mick caught the sound of a heartbeat. A familiar one. There were maybe thirty people on either side of the street and about ten in the cars stopped at the red light, but he knew this one.
"What?" Lindsay asked. Mick held up a hand, glancing around the streets. Jonas was close by…but he couldn't see him.
"We need to get off the street," Mick muttered.
Don Flack grinned as his two favorite girls stepped into the restaurant. Stella wore a knee-length black skirt and a black top with heels, while Jessica wore her hair in chopsticks, with a blue halter top and gray floor-length skirt. "Every guy in the room is jealous right now," he told them as he pulled out his fiancee's chair.
Stella smiled, and Jess blushed. "There's a fair number of ladies staring too," Jess pointed out.
"Jealous again," Flack said smoothly as he helped Jess into her chair. "Jess, I hope you don't mind hanging out with us old fogies for a couple hours."
"You kidding me?" the teen teased. "I get to get dressed up, go out on the town, have dinner with a hot cop and I get free food. Can't beat that deal."
Flack smiled. "I haven't had much time to spend with you ladies since we started this case, so I'm glad this worked out tonight."
"Well, there was that ten minutes or so in the lab," Stella offered. "Speaking of…Jess, I saw you met Adam."
"Oh, the guy with the iPod? Yeah, he's cute."
Flack's jaw dropped.
Danny was on his motorcycle with his eyes closed. Granted, not usually the safest maneuver, but he was trying to recall landmarks in his vision, something that could narrow down his search for Lindsay and Mick. Last he'd heard, Lindsay was on Fifth Avenue with Stella and Jess, so he started there.
A cab honked at him, but Danny ignored him as he weaved through traffic.
"Come on," Mick whispered, gently grabbing Lindsay's arm and tugging her forward. "We need to get off the main street." He led her around a corner…and heard the heartbeat getting more pronounced. Damn it, it's all the damn people…He'd screwed up.
"What?" Lindsay demanded, feeling him tense up. Something's not right.
Danny slammed on the brakes. Up ahead, he saw lights for a pawn shop. The gaudy blinking neon sign stuck out like a sore thumb…but was exactly the way he'd seen it in his vision. He parked his bike, left it idle, and took off down the sidewalk. He knew exactly where he was going now…he just hoped he got there in time.
A figure slid out of the shadow, blocking the way back to the street. Mick instinctively stepped in front of Lindsay. "Jonas. You don't want to hurt her. She's human."
"And yet she's being protected by you, vampire," Jonas McIntire hissed. He was a sight to behold, standing six foot two, with a buzz cut and cargo pants. A silver knife glinted from his belt, and he was aiming a crossbow at the two of them. Mick caught the wild look in his eyes-he definitely was out of contact with the real world. "Which makes her just as bad."
Mick's eyes glazed over white, and his canines extended. He could take Jonas, but not before he probably got a shot off…and the guy had good aim, and Lindsay wasn't immortal.
Then a voice yelled from the street. "Lindsay!"
A shot rang out.