Chapter 42 - Newlyweds It Is
9:10pm - A Dark Fae Bar
When the Dola saw Bo and Tamsin standing in front of her table, she raised her eyebrows in surprise. She stared at them closely, while putting down her half empty glass.
"Impressive," she said, the corner of her lips curling into a subtle smile. "How did you two find me?"
"Does it matter?" Tamsin asked with a smirk. She pulled a chair over and sat down on it backwardly, her forearms resting on the top of the chair back.
The Dola shrugged. She pointed at another empty chair to Bo. "Wanna see your daddy again, huh?" She teased.
"Should I even ask how you knew that?" Bo frowned as she sat down.
The woman squinted her left eye at Bo playfully. Then she tapped her temple with the tip of her index finger. "I'm a Dola, honey. I just know."
"So," Tamsin said as she rested her chin on her forearms, staring at the Dola. "What's the price for setting up a meeting with him? Do you take cash, credit card, gold, artifacts, or you just need a strand of my hair, some of my blood plus a piece of my nail?"
The Dola almost choked on her drink. "I don't take payments for something that is going to happen, honey. How can I take payments for fate?"
"Then why do I sense a but there?" Bo asked, her eyes narrowed.
"But, in order to make something happen, there are other things you need to do. It's like...putting certain gears back into a machine so it would run correctly."
"So what is this gear?"
"There is a case."
"A case?" Bo frowned. "You want us to play detectives and solve a case?"
"A. both of you are detectives, well, a detective and a private investigator, so there is no playing detectives. And B. it's really not about what I want from you. I am simply pointing out the gears to you," the Dola explained.
"So if we solve this case, I'll meet my father again."
The Dola nodded.
"What is this case then?" Tamsin asked.
"I can't say," the Dola said. "All I can say is that you'll find out soon."
7:00am - Police Station
Dyson greeted Tamsin by raising his left hand at her. Then he pointed at a stack of folders on her desk.
Tamsin raised her eyebrows and took a look at her desk, only to find a thick case file folder there. Huh. She thought as she stared at the folder. I guess the Dola really knows her shit.
"The Captain brought this to you like 20 minutes ago," Dyson explained to her.
"What case is this?" Tamsin asked.
"I have no idea. She wants you to look into it."
"Just me? Or she meant us?"
"You. My hands are full already," Dyson said as he threw his hands in the air. "I got witnesses to interview for the robbery case, and evidence to examine for the triple murder case. Not to mention all the paperwork I have to fill out."
"Ooooookay," Tamsin murmured as she skimmed through the first few pages in the folder. Then she put down the folder. Pressing her hands on the desk, she leaned in and asked in a low voice, "hey, are you familiar with...the Bible John case?"
"Bible John? You mean...the good looking guy who killed three women in the late 60s in Scotland?" Dyson asked, a little surprised.
"Yeah, that," Tamsin said. "Are you familiar with the case?"
Dyson pondered for a while, before he answered, "well...I wouldn't say I know every detail of it but...one of the detectives on the case had been my colleague years ago when I was in England…after they hit the dead end on the case, he called me for help. He let me read some of the case files, and we discussed it, but I didn't come up with anything useful. I mean...I might know a few things that hadn't been released to the press but-why do you ask?"
Tamsin looked around and made sure no one was listening to their conversation. "We think that Bo might have an uncle, who might be the Bible John."
Dyson's eyes went wide open. "Bo has an uncle-seriously? And he might be Bible John?" He asked quietly.
Tamsin nodded. "Long story. His face kinda matches Bible John's sketch. And...he definitely has something to do with her brother. In order to find them, we figured that we should look into the Bible John's case. Maybe we can find something that leads to his whereabouts or something. Is there a way we could meet this former colleague of yours?"
"I'll see if I can arrange a meeting."
Tamsin nodded. "Thanks," she said. "I owe you one."
Dyson nodded back. Instead of going back to work on his stuff, he gave Tamsin a weird smile and leaned in with his chin resting in his right palm.
"Just spit it out, will you? You look fucking ridiculous and creepy when you smile," Tamsin grunted impatiently.
"When's the wedding, partner?" Dyson asked.
Tamsin rolled her eyes. "Gossip less and work more, Dyson. You might actually achieve something," she answered before she texted Bo to come over for the case.
"Oh come on, Tamsin," Dyson said. "When is it gonna be? Spring? Summer? What is it gonna be like? Is it gonna be a beach wedding, or what?"
"You'll find out, once you get the invitation."
10:30am - Interrogation Room 1
Tamsin closed the door behind Bo. Then she closed the blinds too.
"So, there really is a case for us?" Bo asked as she sat down.
"Yep, it came to my desk this morning. Here," Tamsin handed her the case folder.
Bo read through a few pages and frowned, "a missing persons case? The Dola wants us to investigate a missing persons case?"
"Looks that way." Tamsin took out her notes. "Four people have gone missing in the same community over the last decade."
"Any suspect? Theories?"
Tamsin shook her head. "No, and no. These cases haven't been connected until very recently, and the previous investigations have never gone anywhere. No theories either, but hey, that community might be worth looking into."
"Two of them were missing from the same house?" Bo asked after she read more. "That must be a connection, right?"
"Well, they didn't vanish together. There was a several year gap between. They haven't found anything abnormal with that house, so…."
Bo nodded. "Weird missing persons, huh?" She murmured. "Wanna go take a look at the community right now?"
"Does Dyson howl to the moon?" Tamsin smirked, reaching for her keys.
3:50pm - The Community
"That's 3810, the house Jack Smith lived before he disappeared 5 years ago," Tamsin said as she pointed at the house on their right side to Bo.
Bo nodded. She smiled at the kid who was riding her bike back and forth in front of the garage, before she took a brief moment to look at the surroundings of the house, her eyes went from the tall fig tree, the rose bushes, to the fence, then to the birdfeeder.
"After he had gone missing, his wife and kids moved out, right?" She whispered to Tamsin.
"Yeah, during the investigation, they found out that he had been having an affair. His wife was heartbroken, and she thought he had left with his mistress. So she sold the house and moved away."
"But, he didn't left with his mistress."
"Nope, he didn't. They invested his mistress but found nothing on her. He wasn't with her, and she didn't know when he had been."
Bo nodded as she turned to the pages of the files on Jack Smith's case. "It said here that...the day he went missing, he was outside repairing the fence, but he never came back. According to his daughter, she saw him out there, sunburnt, so she went to the bathroom to get the sunscreen for him, but when she came out, he was gone. His toolbox was gone too."
"Mhm," Tamsin said. "Days later, they found the toolbox tossed behind the bushes in their backyard, but no prints, no nothing on it."
Bo nodded again, and Tamsin released the brake. She let her truck slowly move forward to the house where the second missing person had lived while she scanned the surroundings vigilantly.
After a couple of minutes, she stopped in front of one house and told Bo, "3815, this is where Derek Reid lived."
Bo quickly flipped the pages. "He went missing 3 years ago, just two days after his 19th birthday. His mother said that he went to mow the lawn that afternoon, but never came home."
"Mhm," Tamsin hummed as she looked at house 3815. It's lawn was carefully mowed, with a mailbox in front of it. Irises surrounded the mailbox post. Several mature trees were in the front yard, five oak and two fig bearing purple fruits.
The third house was in a cul-da-sac. Tamsin pulled her truck to the side and pointed to Bo a house that had a sale sign in its front lawn.
"3824, the 76 year old Betty Schultz lived here. And she was the first gone missing among the four. It was 9 years ago. Her husband told the police that she went out for some groceries, but her car never left the driveway. She was just...gone. He passed away two years ago, and this house was sold to the Maldonado family."
"Whose 16 year old son, Michael Maldonado, went missing 7 months ago. He was waiting for the school bus in the morning that day, but the bus driver never picked him up...his parents died in a car accident looking for him, leaving two other children who now live with their grandparents..." Bo read the files and sighed. The Valkyrie held her hand and laid a comforting kiss on the back of it.
"I say we go check out that house first," Bo suggested.
4:30pm - Outside House 3824
Tamsin and Bo had just walked into the front yard, a car stopped in front of the house.
A man walked out. When he saw them, he smiled. "House shopping?" He asked them in a loud voice.
"Yeah...yeah," Bo replied in reflex.
"Then you guys have to see this house," the man told them as he pointed at the house.
"You're the agent or something?" Tamsin asked.
The man nodded and shook their hands. Then he gave each of them a business card. "Hey, why don't I let you guys in and show you this beautiful house?"
4:40pm - Inside the House
"I think we should tell him who we are," Bo whispered to Tamsin in the living room.
"Right, like that'll make him tell us every shit he knows about this house," the Valkyrie whispered back.
"I don't think he's involved."
"Ugh huh, haven't you noticed that he's too nice?"
"Well, he's an agent who's selling the house, Tamsin. Of course he's gotta be nice."
Tamsin cleared her throat when the man turned to look at them, and Bo smiled at him, pretending that she was examining the countertop.
"So," Tamsin started as she slowly approached the agent. "Anyone died in this house before?"
The agent looked very shocked, so she put her arm around Bo's waist and pulled over. "She's super afraid of ghosts, souls, and stuff like that."
Bo poked the Valkyrie's side but managed a smile at the agent. "Yeah, you know, it's creepy..."
The man smiled too. "With a house this old, I'm sure there has been a few who passed away in here, but I haven't heard of any unnatural death."
"Really? What about murders?" Tamsin asked as she observed the man closely.
"No," the agent shook his head after having pondered for a second or two. "Not that I know of."
"Are you sure?" Tamsin pursued. "Cuz I heard some kids have gone missing or something. Was he killed? Kidnapped?"
"Looks like someone has done her homework," the man said. "Yeah, a kid who lived here went missing. I think that he probably has run away with his friends or something. You know, teenagers, you never know what they are gonna do."
"What did the police say?"
"The police? Oh, I think they gave up on him a while ago," the man told them as he lead them into the dining room. "They are not very interested in missing persons case. Ya know, it's not like a serial killer case or something."
Tamsin rolled her eyes behind his back. "You seem to know a lot about the investigation," she commented as she looked at Bo.
"Of course I have," the man said. "I worry about the value of this hou-I mean...it's always sad to hear someone have gone missing, especially he used to live in a house that I am about to sell, right?"
"Mhm," Bo replied. She walked into the dining room, and took the man's left hand. "Then why don't you tell us everything you know about his case, hmmm?" She asked him softly while pushing her charms into his arm.
4:55pm - Outside House 3824
The agent walked into his car with a blank smile while mumbling "I love you" to Bo, and Bo waved at him.
After he left, the brunette shrugged at Tamsin. "Well, it's not him for sure. Otherwise he'd have confessed to us ten minutes ago."
"Mhm," Tamsin agreed. "He's too stupid to make four people go missing without a trace anyway."
She turned to look at the house, her eyes narrowed. "I don't know though, it's definitely something in this house...two people have gone missing here. It shouldn't be a coincidence."
"But, you haven't sensed any ghosts or anything in there, have you?"
Tamsin shook her head. "I still think we should investigate this house first, though."
"I agree," Bo said. She pondered for a while, before she added, "can you-maybe we could like...move into this house or-undercover, you know, investigating the whole community."
"What, move in like newlyweds?" Tamsin teased. She furrowed her eyebrows at that idea and scanned the area again. "You know what? That might be a perfect idea for undercover here. A lot of young couples live in this community-"
"-so if we pose as newlyweds, no one would look at us twice."
"Oh I'm sure they would," Tamsin leaned in and whispered to Bo. "You are everyone's dream girl, remember?"
Bo laughed and kissed the Valkyrie. "Newlyweds it is."
- Two Days Later -
10:00am - Tamsin's Truck
Tamsin pulled her truck into the driveway of house 3824. She turned off the engine, and turned to Bo. "Ready?"
Bo nodded at her, with chuckles.
"Alright," Tamsin said as she took out a small pouch from her jacket pocket. "Now, these."
Bo watched the blonde pour two rings out from the pouch, and she couldn't help but chuckle again.
"Just put yours on, Chuckles," Tamsin grunted as she handed Bo one of the rings. "We have a case to solve, remember?"
"Just put yours on, Chuckles," Bo mimicked Tamsin's impatient tone. "This is what you say to me when you put a ring on me?"
Tamsin rolled her eyes. She pulled Bo's hand over and put the ring on her ring finger. "Like you are gonna run away from me for that."
"No, but I may punish you for that later," Bo replied. She leaned in and kissed the blonde, deliberately biting her bottom lip.
Tamsin kissed her back immediately. "I think this is too sweet for a punishment," she slurred between the kisses.
Bo pulled back and laughed. Then she looked at her ring, turning it on her finger. "I think it's a bit too large," she complained.
"Whatever, sweetheart. I didn't have the time for ring shopping right now, okay?" Tamsin replied. "The department prepared them. Probably bought from Ebay or something. Just...keep it on while we are investigating, okay? Now get your cute little ass out. We are now newlyweds and we are moving in."
"Blah blah blah," Bo said softly, as she laid another kiss on the blonde's lips.
10:20am - Outside House 3824
Bo carried a box of things off the back of the truck. She stood in the front yard and looked at the house again. What secret do you have? She thought to herself as she opened the door with her right knee.
She held the door for Tamsin after putting her box down. The Valkyrie carelessly tossed her box to the side and pulled Bo over for a deep, passionate kiss, revelling in those hot lips and the sweet scent of the summer roses in the wind.
12:35pm - In the House
Tamsin huffed at the arm rubbing Bo. "Please," she said. "You've only carried like 5 small boxes. How could you not die if we were actually moving all our crap into a new place?"
"Well, in that case I'd hold a little whip in my hand and watch you do it," Bo countered.
Tamsin rolled her eyes at the brunette. She threw herself into the couch and rested her head on the Succubus' lap. "This house is kinda nice," she murmured absentmindedly. "I like the layout, and the mature trees in the back. I don't like the small garage or the shape of the backyard though."
Bo tilted her head a little. She traced the tip of her index finger along the Valkyrie's nose. "Someone's paying extra attention to this house," she teased.
"Obviously, since two out of the four people have gone missing here."
"What does that have to do with the size of the garage and the shape of the backyard then?" Bo pursued.
Tamsin squirmed on Bo's lap a little, and said, "well, our lease is up at the beginning of next year and…they are raising the rent again. We need to find a new place. So...I did some research and...the mortgage rate is so low right now, and we've been saving quite a bit, so…."
"Is this your way of asking me if I want to go house shopping with you?" Bo said, unable to hold her giggles.
"Maybe," Tamsin hummed.
"And I thought Valkyries don't like to settle down into things like buying a house because it's like something only a married couple would do," Bo teased.
"Whatever, Bo," Tamsin grunted. "Like it or not, we are so a married couple right now. We live together, eat together and sleep together. We have joint bank accounts, and everything we own probably has both of our names on it. You wear my underwear all the time, and kick me off the bed to get you some night snack-"
Bo laughed and punched the blonde. "Hey! I made sure I gave you something sweet afterwards every time!"
Tamsin chuckled as she pecked the brunette's lips. "So, yeah, I'm asking you to go house shopping with me."
"I'll consider it, if you give me something nice, detective," Bo replied with a seductive wink.
"Alright, Succubus moves later," Tamsin said. "Let's work on the case first, okay?"
"Okay, here's my thought. Since two of the four have gone missing here, I say we go examine every inch of this house first,"
5:20pm - In the House
"5 hours, and nothing. The only thing we found in this house was this old photo of Betty and her husband, behind the fridge," Tamsin hissed as she sat down on the floor. She glanced at the photo which had Betty and her husband standing in their front yard under a tree, before she tossed it aside.
"I guess there's really nothing wrong with this house then." Bo lay down on the floor, panting. Sweat streaked her face.
She stared at the shadow of the trees on the floor, part of her mind in a trance, thinking about the case.
"Come on," Tamsin took her hand and pulled. "Let go get a shower and we can go outside and-"
"Hey, outside," Bo suddenly sat up. She bit her bottom lip quietly for a while, before she raised to meet the Valkyrie's confused eyes.
"They all disappeared outside their houses," Bo explained. "One was repairing the fence. One went to the grocery store. One was waiting for the school bus. And the last one, was mowing the lawn. They all went missing after they went outside."
Tamsin frowned and pondered Bo's conclusion. Then she nodded. "Maybe we have a predator living in the community or something. They were snatched while they were outside maybe?"
"But, how could any predator make someone disappear that fast and that clean? I mean...Jack Smith went missing after his daughter saw him got sunburnt and went to get him some sunscreen. When she was back, he was gone. How long does it take to get a bottle of sunscreen? Two minutes maybe? What kind of predator can make a living adult disappear in two minutes without a trace?"
"Or, maybe it's not a predator Fae at all," Tamsin said. "I mean...there are a lot of ways to make people disappear like that, and it doesn't have to be a predator. A curse, a spell, a malfunctioning Sharman's charm-"
"Yeah, but why them? Why not the others living in this community? There has to be a connection between them, right?"
"Well, if there is, we have to find it."
1:50 - House 3824
After checking the entire community, talking to the residents, and researching on Faes that could make prey disappear in minutes with no trace left behind, Bo and Tamsin found nothing useful, nor a type of Fae who could do that.
Bo exhaustedly lolled on the couch. "I think maybe we should talk to Derek's mom again," she suggested.
"For what? That woman answered every question. I don't think she's withholding anything."
"No, but remember what she said about her son's missing? She was taking a shower when he went out to mow the grass. When she came out, she saw him resting under the tree through the window. Then she took a phone call, and went out. He was gone, and the mower wasn't even turned on. I mean...she said that Derek had been out there for at least 20 minutes. Why didn't he even turn on the mower? Maybe there's something more to it…"
Tamsin sighed and pulled Bo up. "Let's go take a shower and get some rest first, okay?"
2:40am - Bedroom
Burying her face into Bo's cleavage, Tamsin blew hard, and they both laughed.
"I so should have stolen some ripe fig fruits from 3815," the blonde murmured as she ran her index finger along the outline of Bo's breasts. "I could put them between your boobs and eat them."
"Why haven't you then?" Bo teased.
"Probably because stealing figs from your neighbours is-" Tamsin suddenly stopped. "Figs…."
"Yeah?" Bo raised herself on her elbows and looked at the blonde.
"Figs," Tamsin repeated, frowning.
"Less figs and more Valkyrie lips," Bo protested softly, though she figured that Tamsin had realized something important..
"No, I mean, fig trees, the connection," Tamsin said. "The fig tree is the connection, all three houses have figs trees."
"This one doesn't."
"Yes, it does. I mean, it did," Tamsin said. "Remember the photo we found behind the fridge? They were standing under a-"
"-tree, a fig tree!" Bo interrupted her. "They must have cut it down recently or something, 'cause I think there's a stump in the front yard."
"Mhm," Tamsin said, frowning. "These three houses are the only houses with fig trees in this entire community...Fig trees...Wait, "I think I've heard of a type of Fae that has something to do with the fig trees."
"Yeah, yeah," Bo said. "I-I've read about that in Trick's books too! Something that lives in fig trees and preys on whoever rests under it-"
"-with suckers on the end of their fingers and toes. They suck the victim juice out, and then regurgitates a few times, before completely consuming the victim. Then, the victim turns into that monster."
"During the process, the victim would have a red tint on their skin. Red tint. I bet it would look like sunburn if you don't look close enough. Jack's daughter must have seen him when he had been sucked by the thing, but she probably didn't see the monster and didn't realized that her father was unconscious. She thought he got sunburnt, but really it was the red tint from being the prey," Bo murmured.
"And Derek...he probably had been attacked before he even turned on the mower. Him sitting under the tree was not him resting but him being unconscious. His skin was really tanned, so I bet his mother didn't even notice the red tint on his skin when she saw him through the window."
"Yeah, I think that's exactly what we are looking for. It can explain everything," Bo nodded, "but what is that damn thing called?"
2:55am - Living Room
"That is a ya-la-ma..." Trick slurred on the phone with his sleepy voice.
"Are you sleep talking, gramps?" Bo asked.
"No, that's a ya-la..." Trick slurred again.
"Trick? Are you awake?"
"Yes, I am. Who wouldn't be when you got a phone call from your dear granddaughter at 3am?" Trick mumbled. "It's probably a Yara-ma-yha-who."
"Is that the actual name of the Fae, or some shit you just made up?" Tamsin asked.
"That is the actual name. Yara-ma-yha-who."
"I guess its name was too ridiculous for me to remember then," Tamsin commented. "How do we find and kill this thing?"
"Killing it is probably not a good idea. Yara-ma-yha-whos are nasty, but they are also endangered. I'll call a friend of mine to handle this, okay? She's specialized in dealing with endangered nasty Faes."
"How long does it take for this friend to show up, cuz I swear if this damn thing kills again-"
"It won't. Yara-ma-yha-whos only prey during the day. They are the most active in hot afternoons. She will be there before dawn, so you two just stay put, okay?"
"Fine, but if she doesn't, we'll make sure this damn thing won't kill ever again," Tamsin said.
5:40am - Outside the House
Trick's friend, a lady with fierce eyes, excused herself for a phone call, while Bo and Tamsin stared at the Yara-ma-yha-who in the back of her van.
It was cuffed and chained to the floor now. Comparing to his small size, his head was extremely large. He hissed at Tamsin and Bo, his toothless mouth opening wide.
Tamsin stared back, threatening him with her shadowed eye. The Yara-ma-yha-who whined and backed off, staring at his cuffed hands again.
"I guess at this point we'd both agree not to have fig trees in our backyard like ever, right?" Bo murmured.
"Our backyard?" Tamsin teased.
"Well you said it yourself, the interest rate is so low and we've been saving quite a bit," Bo tapped her index finger on the blonde's chest. "Besides, how could anyone say no to a Valkyrie who wants to settle down?"
"Yeah, yeah, I know. You can't have enough of me," Tamsin pinched the brunette's nose playfully. "Let's go get some food, and a few hours of sleep. We need to gear up for the coming events 'cause I'm sure we are now on the track of meeting your father and it won't be a smooth ride."
"Mhm," Bo hummed, nodding. She narrowed her eyes at the rising sun, and held the blonde's hand tightly.
