The Dark Divine(76)

“Yeah,” April said. “Maybe we should just go.” Her voice had a high, doglike whine to it. “I told my mom I wouldn’t stop anywhere else.”

I opened the door and got out. “Don!”

He looked up. His face was distorted by shadows. He crossed the street and as he came closer, I saw that his eyes were puffy and blotched with red. “Miss Grace?” He came up to the car. “You shouldn’t be here. It isn’t safe.”

“What’s going on?” I lowered my voice, hoping the others wouldn’t hear.

Don looked back at the market. “He was here.”

“Who was here?” Jude asked, suddenly beside me.

April got out of the car and stood behind him.

“The monster.” Don groaned. “The Markham Street Monster. He … he …” Don wrung his already crumpled apron.

“What is it, Don?” I put my hand on his arm. “You can tell me. It’ll be okay.”

“He killed her.”

“Who?” Jude asked.

“Jessica,” Don sobbed. “I was taking out the trash … and I found her body. She was behind the Dumpster.”

I covered a gasp. Where is Daniel? Did he know a body had been found right next to where we’d been kissing only a few hours before?

“And you’re sure it was Jessica?” Jude asked.

Don nodded. “Her face was so clawed up, I wouldn’t have known it was her if it weren’t for her hair. When the cops came by to tell Mr. Day she was missin’—they’d said she had green hair.”

“Green hair?” That girl! The one who rammed into me at the party. The one with all the piercings, and the huge eyes, and the green hair. No wonder it seemed like I knew her from somewhere. “Oh, my … I saw her … I saw her the night she disappeared.”

“Where?” April asked.

“At Da—” I stopped when I saw Jude staring at me. “Just somewhere in the city.”

“At Daniel’s?” Jude grabbed my arm. “She was at Daniel’s apartment on Markham Street. She was at that filthy party.”

“What? How did you know—?”

“Then it’s true?” Jude twisted my wrist. “She was there, wasn’t she?”

“Yes,” I said. “But Daniel didn’t have anything to do with this. He told me—”

“He told you? And you just believed him?” Jude sank his fingers into my arm like they were teeth. “Of course you do. You’d believe anything he said.”

“Stop this now,” I tried to say to him like my father would, but Jude’s fingers only bit harder.

“I don’t understand,” Pete said from the other side of the car. “You think Kalbi did this?”

“It wasn’t Daniel,” Don said. He lowered his voice as if he wanted to say something only to me, but his whisper was an echoing shout. “It was the monster, Miss Grace.” He glanced over my head at Pete. “The monster was the one who took James, too. Your dad and I stopped at the police station in the city. Your dad asked for the blood-test results—but they said they didn’t have none. They said they couldn’t even figure out if the blood was from a human or an animal. It had to be the monster.”

“You see.” Jude’s hand trembled. He dropped my arm. “You see. This is him.”

“No,” I said. “It can’t be. There must be someone else.”

Jude reeled on me and grabbed me by both shoulders. “Where is he?”

“Jude, stop,” I said quietly, all too aware of the cops across the street.

“Calm down, you guys.” April yanked at Jude’s arms, but he didn’t budge.

“Where is Daniel?” Jude clenched my shoulders through my chiffon wrap and shook me.

“I don’t know,” I said. “I don’t.”

Jude let go. He backed away to the driver’s side of the car.

How did he get the car keys?

“Jude, stop. This is insane. You’ve been drinking.” I looked at Don for help, but he cowered away into the street.

“Please,” April yelped.

“Hey.” Pete stepped in front of Jude. “If you think this is Kalbi, then go tell the cops.”

“No,” Jude said. “They can’t stop him.”

“Then what are you going to do?”

“I’m going to find him.”

“Then I’m coming with you.” Pete opened one of the back doors.

“No!” I tried to grab the keys, but Jude shoved me away.

“Hey,” someone called from the police line. “What’s going on over there?”

Jude jumped into the driver’s seat. As he gunned the engine I scrambled into the backseat next to Pete.

“Hey, stop!” someone shouted.

But Jude shifted the car into drive, and we went flying down Main Street, leaving April and Don behind.

We didn’t go far. Jude floored it a couple of blocks and then skidded down Crescent Street. We flew past the high school, and just when I thought we were going to pass it, Jude whipped the car around and into the crowded lot. He drove up and down the parking lot, searching between every car.