Chapter 7: Eye Witness

Emily

Turning away from the cops, I see the man from the hotel lobby strolling towards us.

Thomas. Thank God. I don’t know why, but something in my gut tells me I can trust him. He’ll help me make these officers understand how serious all this is—and how desperately we need to get moving.

“Are you a witness?” One of the officers asks as Thomas draws near.

“Something like that.” His hands are slung loosely in his pockets, a faint smile playing on his face. The two cops straighten up, addressing themselves to him.

“Any chance you could tell us what happened here, sir?”

“I’ll do my best.” Thomas takes a quick look at me from the corner of his eye. “I saw pretty much everything from the moment the young lady came through the emergency exit until you two gentlemen arrived.” I want to rejoice to have his help, but something in his cool demeanor tells me he’s not going to be any help at all.

“Anything you can tell us would be greatly appreciated, Mr.…?” Notepad cop waits expectantly, but Thomas shakes his head.

“I prefer to remain anonymous. Just want to clear the record.”

It strikes me as strange, but the two officers don’t even bat an eye.

“Suit yourself.” They’re still so calm about everything I could cry. “What did you see?”

“Nothing.” The word falls from Thomas’ lips like lead, knocking the wind out of me.

“What?” Nobody looks at me. They just smile and chat like it’s a sleepy Sunday after church. Thomas rattles on, and the more he speaks, the more dumbfounded I become.

“The young lady came through the door, put her hands against the wall and gagged a few times. I thought she was going to vomit, but instead she just slid down the wall and sat on the ground.”

“What are you doing?” I gasp, my voice thin, but they ignore me.

“That’s it?” Notepad cop asks.

“That’s it.” The son of a bitch looks at me and smiles.

“Why are you saying that?” My whole body is vibrating, quivering at the injustice of what’s going on. “That’s not what happened. You know it’s not.”

“Take it easy, miss,” the formerly sympathetic cop says. “Just try to stay calm. Now,” he turns his attention back to Thomas. “Are you saying she was alone?” He cuts a quick glance my way, suspicious as hell.

“As far as I could see,” Thomas grins.

“She keeps saying someone took her sister.”

“They did,” I shout. “He’s lying! My sister and I were dragged out here by three men. They were trying to take us. Then…” There’s a blinding spark inside my skull as my mind races back over the fight. “Someone—something tried to save us. It ripped two of the monsters to shreds. One of their hands got torn off…” I look where the hand had been, and there’s nothing. My knees buckle as I realize there’s no trace of the bloodbath I just survived. It’s almost enough to make me doubt it all myself. Like I’m going crazy.

Which the three men look more than ready to believe. Hell, I’d think it was crazy too if I hadn’t just been smack in the middle of it.

“A hand, huh?” The cops exchange incredulous looks, and Thomas shrugs with a coy smile. For a second, I think they’re all going to start snickering. “Did you see anything like that, sir?” It’s clear from the way the question is asked that they know the answer.

“Sounds like a dream to me. Or a nightmare.” I could slap him. Why is he doing this? Notepad cop snorts a laugh, then looks back at me.

“I think I’ve heard everything I need to hear. Thank you for your help, sir.”

“My pleasure.” Bile rises in my throat, looking at the three of them gloating over my misery. Then the sympathetic cop steps towards me, the hint of a smirk on his face.

“Could you wait right here, miss? My partner and I are going to radio this in, then we’ll get you back home.”

They trot to their cruiser and I scramble to my feet, burning with anger as I stomp to face the man I met this afternoon. I don’t know why I thought he would help me—the guy is obviously a snake.

“What the fuck are you doing? You’re lying.”

“Am I?” He’s so unflappable I could kill him.

“You know goddamn well you are,” I scream. “Tell them what you really saw!”

“I didn’t see anything.” Thomas looks into my face, and a pinpoint of darkness behind his eyes sends a chill all the way to the marrow of my bones.

“You’re one of them.” That wipes the grin right off his face. “You were part of the whole thing.”

“Be careful what you say,” he cautions me, but I’m not having it.

“Why? What are you going to do? You ugly things already took my sister.”

“Not me.”

“Well, somebody did. Look.” I lift my wrist to his face. The bite marks are still there, along with a little bit of blood from where the thing’s teeth broke my skin. At seeing the blood, Thomas goes very still. He just looks at the wound on my wrist for a long moment, then trails his eyes back up to mine.

“Listen, Emily. It doesn’t matter what you think you saw. Say whatever you want—nobody’s going to believe you.” He sounds so certain it robs me of my voice. I stagger back a step or two and my ears start ringing.

“Nobody will believe me?” I mouth the words rather than say them, breath wheezing out of me. This has to be a nightmare. I look at my wrist again, half expecting the marks to be gone, but they’re not. It’s all real. Bloodily, horribly real. “Listen, you son of a—-”

He’s gone.

It’s so sudden I almost drop to the ground. But it proves at least part of what I’ve said is true—he’s one of those creatures. Whatever they are.

“Alright, miss.” The cops swagger back over towards me. “We’ve got a few things for you to sign, then we’ll figure out where your hotel is and make sure you get back safely.”

Thinking about the hotel gives me a fresh rush of hope. Raya’s things are there. At the very least it will prove that I wasn’t in New Orleans alone. Maybe that will convince them to help me look for her. No sooner have I thought it than I get the sinking feeling they won’t. Watching them smirk with Thomas like that, laughing at my obvious distress, tells me a suitcase full of clothes isn’t going to do the trick.

They’ll just say she’s off on her own somewhere, partying without me. I’m stuck.

I don’t have a single human witness who can vouch for me, and that’s what I desperately need. But the fact is I barely escaped with my own life, and now my sister is in the clutches of creatures I can’t begin to understand. And the one man who might know something just lied through his teeth. 

The reality of it sinks in my stomach like a stone. I’m completely alone in this. If the police aren’t going to help me, then nobody can. Nobody in this whole godforsaken town.

Which means only one thing.

I’m going to have to find my sister by myself.