Holy hiatus, Batman!
Life is, as they say, a bitch. Too much stuff. Hopefully, this chapter isn't a disappointment. It's a little more filler - a build-up to the climax. Thanks for sticking around and for all the great reviews. You guys are wonderful - and very good for my ego. :)
They're turning onto Main Street when Audrey feels her cell phone vibrate in her jacket pocket.
"Parker," she says, answering it.
"Officer Parker, this is Officer Mars down at the docks. I've got a message for you from a Miss Alice White. She says she has information on the murder."
"I'll bet she does," she mutters. "Can you take Miss White's statement?"
"Uh, no ma'am. She said she'd only speak to you and then she took off."
Audrey sighs, rolls her neck and feels the muscles stretch unhappily. She needs a hot bath, a glass of wine, and a solid night's (or two day's) sleep – not necessarily in that order. If finally sitting down with Alice White and hashing it all out is what it takes for her to get those things, then she's willing to sacrifice her safety for just a little bit.
"Do you know where she went?"
"She headed to the parking lot and took off in a blue Civic. I took down the license plate, just in case."
She struggles with making a snide comment regarding his ability to take down a license plate but not keep custody of a woman with information on a murder. In the end, she bites down on her nasty words and breathes through her nose while seeking calm.
"Bring it to the station, Officer. Make sure there's someone around to relieve you before you leave."
"Yes ma'am."
The phone goes dead and she closes it up, puts it back in her pocket. She turns to look at Nathan. His bare hands are white knuckled on the steering wheel and his jaw is tense. His profile looks angry.
"You're preemptively pissed off," she says.
"Because you're going to go meet up with her."
Audrey turns back to watch the road through the windshield of the Bronco. The snow has steadily increased and the white flakes hit the glass like stars in warp speed. It's getting darker outside, as well, the day disappearing into the early evening.
"She's a murderer and we've got nothing physical to tie her to it."
He says nothing and the cab of the truck fills with the tension between them. Eventually, he comes to a stop outside the station, leaves the truck running as he turns to look at her. "I can come with you."
"It's what she's expecting, Nathan."
"Or she's expecting you to come alone."
"Maybe, but what else have we got right now." She reaches for the door handle. "We've got to put a bulletin out on her car, see if anyone knows where she might be. When we figure out where she is, you can follow me. That way, if anything happens, you'll be there to catch her in the act."
He stares at her, his mouth parted. "That is the worst plan I've ever heard."
She has a moment where she wants to laugh, just burst out into hysterical laughter because of all the crazy ass things she's experienced in the last year, a witch lusting after Nathan and killing people tops the list. And because, enclosed in this truck with her partner and best friend with the threat of a nutso looming over them, all Audrey can think about is how badly she wants to crawl into Nathan's lap and kiss him until they both die of exhaustion.
Instead, she opens the door and steps out into the swirling snow. "Unless you've got a better one, you can either help me do this or wait here at the station for me to drag that bitch in kicking and screaming." She smiles suddenly, her lips widening in a very real and honest grin. "Your move, Wurnous."
She slams the door shut and walks up the steps into the station house, aware of his eyes watching her the whole way.
She waits for her in the one place she knows Audrey will look. She waits for her while standing in the snow, the white flakes catching in her red hair. She watches the storm roll over the small coastal village beyond the cliff face.
She feels old, suddenly, so very much her age. For the first time since she started this cycle, she wonders if she's gone about it the wrong way. She wonders if she's let her own desires take control; but then she sees Nathan's smiling face in her mind's eye and she brushes away the uncertainty.
She's waited a lifetime for Nathan Wurnous.
Damn the world.
They stare at the sign for Tuwiuwok Bluff, the faded white letters carved and painted into the piece of pine that marks the cliff where Haven started. The wind has picked up, whipping snow around them. Audrey's face is frozen, has been since they stepped out of the truck, and while Nathan's skin is pink and raw, he doesn't notice.
"It always come back to this place, doesn't it?" Audrey asks after a silent minute.
"Seems to," Nathan says, his hands shoved into his pockets in such a way his shoulders hunch up around his ears.
"Margaret said Alice felt a kinship to this place, to Haven. And you're the one who told me the town started here." She bounces on her heels, attempting to bring warmth back into her feet. "The passage I read, it said that the villagers watched the boats roll in from a bluff that overlooked the town." She motions toward the snow covered path beyond with her elbows, her hands firmly stuck into her pockets. "Seems like this would be the best place, the oldest place, to do that, right?"
"Right."
She motions over her shoulder. "Plus, there's a blue Honda Civic in the parking lot with the same license plate Officer Mars took down."
He seems to fight a smile, shakes his head. "You really are my best detective."
"I'm your only detective."
His gaze is immediately intense when it connects with hers and she has a flash of false memory, of the look he gave her in her dream. She's instantly warm, from her head to her toes.
"You're my only friend, Audrey."
"Don't let Duke hear you say that; he'd be crushed."
"Stop pretending like this isn't a big deal."
She sighs. "Nathan, I'll be fine. I've got a gun."
His jaw sets and his blue eyes bore holes in her soul. "Don't be a hero."
She does it on impulse, the sudden need to reassure him. She rushes forward so quickly she almost knocks him over, his arms coming up around her to keep his balance, and she presses her lips against his. It's fast, it's chaste, and it's a promise.
I'll come back.
She steps back a fraction of an inch and his arms drop. She looks at him one last time before heading off in the direction of the bluff, tracking footprints through the snow. She doesn't look back – she can't. She's already far too tempted to turn around and jump him.
Instead, she trudges along until the trees hang overhead and block out what little light is left from the day. The only noise is the snow falling around her and snow crunching under the soles of her boots. She stops when she sees red in the distance and the silence is deafening.
"Audrey Parker," Alice says and her smile is colder than the winter air. "You got my message."