A smirk. “You mumble in your sleep.”
I shove him in embarrassment and tell him to shut up. He laughs quietly.
“So what’s the plan once we get to Tribane?” I ask a couple minutes later.
“We’ll drive out to see your dad, then we’ll come back to the city. You can stay at my place. Then I suppose we’ll report to Pamphrock and see what he has to say. You’ll have to find a way to get back in touch with Cristescu, maybe pretend you’re visiting and want to catch up. Go on a few dates and get him to invite you back to his house. All the while you’ll be trying to find information about where they’re keeping Rebecca so that we can plan a rescue mission.”
I scowl. “So you basically want me to prostitute myself to get information?”
I’m surprised when Finn actually appears shocked. “No, of course not Tegan, you just have to lead him on a little until you find the information we need.”
“It still sounds like prostitution to me.” I say miserably.
Finn just shakes his head, and then we don’t talk for the rest of the flight. Once we’re back in Tribane, Finn collects his car from the underground airport car park and we begin the long drive out to my dad’s house in Chesterport. We’ve already been travelling for over a day, since the flight was so long. It’s almost Christmas, and there are colourful bulbs lighting up the various towns that we pass through.
It’s nine o’clock at night by the time we get to my dad’s, and despite having slept through most of the drive, I’m still exhausted. Perhaps it’s more emotional than physical. Coming home has brought back a lot of old memories, and it hurts my heart to think of all the things I had to leave behind two years ago. I wish I could stay home, but I can’t. I will never be able to because of my blood.
Finn parks his car by the curb outside the house and we make our way to the front door. The golden light of a lamp shines through the curtains in the living room. So Dad is definitely home then. Anxiety seems to catch in my throat. I take the old brass knocker in my hand and bang it softly against the door three times.
Then I can hear someone shuffling down the hallway. I do my best to plaster a smile on my face for when my dad opens the door. But it’s not him who answers, it’s a middle aged woman I’ve never met before, she looks from me to Finn, probably wondering who we are. Where the hell is my dad?
Chapter Three
Dear Old House That I Grew Up In
“Hello, um, I’m looking for Martin Stolle. I’m his daughter,” I say nervously, wondering why there’s a strange woman answering the door to my dad’s house.
She’s got short, light brown hair and hazel eyes, she hesitates a moment then says, “Oh yes, Martin Stolle, we bought the house from him. He moved out about a year and a half ago.”
I turn and look at Finn, who’s watching me carefully, then I turn back to the woman. “Do you know where he went?”
She seems to be thinking it over for a moment. “No, I don’t believe he said where he was going, but I do remember him being in quite a hurry to sell up. We’d just come to town to be closer to my mother and we were looking for a nice family home, couldn’t believe our luck when your dad offered to sell us this place, and for below the market value price and everything.”
Worry begins to build up inside of me. Why had my dad been in such a hurry to sell our house and move away?
“Are you absolutely certain you can’t remember if he said where he was going? I’ve been living abroad for a while you see, and we sort of lost touch. I don’t have any other way of finding him.”
The woman has a sympathetic look on her face now. “I’m sorry honey, I couldn’t tell you more than I already have. Perhaps your father had some friends still living in town who know where he went?” She suggests.
Dad had always been the solitary type, not much into socialising. I suppose I could always call the school where he worked and see if they know anything.
“Yeah, maybe,” I reply. “Sorry to have bothered you. Thanks for your time.”
“No problem at all. I do hope you have some luck finding your dad,” she says, and I thank her before she closes over the door.
Finn walks back to the car and I follow him. He sits in driver’s seat and I sit in beside him, a contemplative silence filling the space. One solitary tear begins to roll down my face. My dad had always been a solid and supportive presence in my life. He’s not the kind of person to just leave town at the spur of the moment, not unless something very bad was happening. This is the house I grew up in, he’s lived in it for more than twenty years. There’s not a chance he would ever want to leave, he’s very much a creature of habit. This is all my fault.
“It was the vampires, wasn’t it,” I whisper. Finn puts his arm around my shoulders and pulls me close.
“She said he sold the house and left town, perhaps he got away before they could catch up with him.” He tells me, and a sliver of hope runs through me. Please, please let Finn be right.
“How could I have left him here so vulnerable? I’m such a selfish bitch,” I say, as another tear falls down my face. Finn wipes it away with his thumb.
“Hey now, you can’t think that way, you’re one girl and you were scared. No one would blame you for running away.”
I try to pull myself together and shift away from Finn. I’m already getting far too close to him and it’s barely been two days. “I’ll call his work in the morning and see if they know anything, and my friend Nicky, maybe she knows where he went.”
Finn nods. “It might not even be anything bad Tegan. Maybe he just wanted to get away from it all, sell the house and use the money to retire somewhere hot and sunny.”