Freeks(14)

“Maybe she’s just lost her way around town,” Deputy Bob suggested.

“We thought that was maybe the case,” Gideon said. “But we don’t really know where to look for her either.”

Deputy Bob let out a heavy breath, like he was doing us some great big favor. He opened the drawer to his desk and pulled out a form. Without saying anything to us, he took a pen and jotted down a couple things on the form.

“Since she hasn’t been gone long, I can’t file a missing persons report, but I can take her information in case she turns up somewhere,” Deputy Bob said finally. “Describe her for me.”

“Her name is Blossom Mandelbaum,” Gideon began. “She has frizzy brown hair, brown eyes. Lots of freckles. She’s about 5'2", maybe 5'3", I would guess. She’s sixteen.”

Deputy Bob looked up at us then, narrowing his already tiny eyes. “Sixteen? Is she your daughter?”

Gideon shook his head. “No.”

“Are her parents traveling with you?” Bob asked.

“No,” Gideon replied, swallowing hard. “She’s a runaway.”

The deputy set down his pen and folded his hands on the desk. “You’ve been harboring a runaway?”

“It’s not like that,” Gideon started, but Deputy Bob wasn’t having any of it. He leaned back in his chair.

“Maybe she ran back home.” Deputy Bob shrugged one shoulder.

“She didn’t,” I insisted, and he turned his harsh gaze to me.

Before he could say anything, the bell of the door chimed loudly. I glanced back over my shoulder to see a woman carrying a stack of fliers and folders in her arms.

“Hello, hello,” she beamed, her lips stained bright with lipstick.

She appeared to be in her early forties. She wore a pink pencil skirt with a loose blouse, and her blond curls cascaded around her, adding a couple inches to her petite frame. Her pumps clacked on the tiles as she walked over to the desk, and her golden chandelier earrings jingled.

The sour feeling returned to my stomach, twisting it up, and I realized that now would be a good time to make our escape, lest Deputy Bob decide to press charges against Gideon for traveling with a sixteen-year-old runaway.

“Sorry to interrupt, I just gotta get all these papers down,” the woman said as she slid in past me and plunked the stack on Deputy Bob’s desk. I’d taken a step back, but she turned her attention toward Gideon, alternating between speaking directly to us and the deputy.

“I’ve been going around collecting applications for the Summerfest in June,” she went on. “It’s been hard getting everything I need, since so many people went to the Equinox Festival over in Tangipahoa Parish. But you’re here, Deputy, so maybe you can start filling out the form, if you’re not too busy?”

Bob pushed aside our form and reached for the stack of papers the woman had set on his desk. “What did you want me to fill out?”

“Oh, just grab any old form in there as long as it’s empty.” She waved him off. Then she turned to face us fully. “I’m sorry, I’ve been rambling on and on, while you’re been standing here, looking lost. Are you new in town?”

“They’re with the traveling carnival,” Deputy Bob told her with a sneer.

“Oh!” she exclaimed, and put her manicured hand to her chest. “I’m so excited to have you here. I’m with the mayor’s office and work on planning community events, and I’m thrilled to have a fun attraction here like this to compete with all the hullabaloo going on in Tangipahoa Parish and down in New Orleans. I’m always telling the mayor, we gotta keep the excitement up if we wanna keep the kids here.”

“I’m sure these people have work they need to be doing,” Deputy Bob chastised her. “You should stop bothering them.”

She rolled her eyes, but offered us an apologetic smile. “He’s right, I’m sorry.” Then she stuck her hand out at Gideon. “I’m Della Jane, by the way.”

“Gideon Davorin,” he said gruffly, shaking her hand.

“Mara,” I replied when she took my hand. Her grip was soft but firm, and she smiled so brightly, her blue eyes twinkled. Della Jane reminded me of a less buxom Dolly Parton, and I couldn’t help but warm to her despite the unease in my stomach.

“Let me know if there’s anything I can do for you while you’re here,” she said when she released my hand. “Anything at all.”

“We’re actually looking for my friend,” I blurted out, causing Deputy Bob to glare at me. “Her name’s Blossom Mandelbaum, and she travels with us. She went out last night, and we haven’t seen her since.”

“She’s sixteen and she’s a runaway,” Deputy Bob interjected. “There’s not—”

“She didn’t tell anyone where she was going?” Della Jane’s brow furrowed with concern, and she moved so she was standing in front of Bob, blocking his view of me and Gideon. “Does she usually disappear like this?”

“Not really,” I said, feeling sheepish. But something about the way Della Jane was looking at me, so hopeful and worried, made me feel as if I had to be totally honest with her. “She did hang out with a commune once for a few days, because she liked the music. But she told us before she left.”