Morganville (Justin Bieber)

Chapter 46

The mayor had changed out of the suit he'd worn to put Justin in a cage the night before; he was wearing a green golf shirt with black slacks and loafers. He was in the hallway, talking into his cell phone, looking tense and angry. I was escorted past him, into his office, and deposited in a big red leather chair by two members of Morganville is finest; I didn't recognise either of them. When I asked after Detective Hess and Lowe, I got nothing. Nobody even admitted to knowing their names.

I was feeling more than a little lightheaded. I have no idea how long it's been since I'd eaten, but the world was starting to take on a surreal multi edge that really wasn't a very good sign. Between the stress, the poor sleep, and the lack of food, I was going to be loopy soon.

Keep it together, pretend you're cramming for a test. I've gone without sleep for three days once, prepping for my SAT, and I haven't eaten much beyond Jolt Cola and Cheetos. I could do this.

"Here" send a voice from beside me, and a red can of cola appeared, held in a big male hand. "You look like you could use something to drink"

I looked up. It was Richard, Monica's cop brother. The cute one. He looked tired and worried. He pulled up another chair close to mine and leant forward, elbows on his knees. I busied myself with the Coke, popping the top and taking a fast gulp the icy sweet contents.

"My sister got carjacked" he said. "You know that, right?"

I nodded and swallowed. "I was there. I was in th van"

"That's exactly why I wanted to talk to you before I let you see my dad" Richard said. "You were in the van with Jennifer and Gina and Monica"

I nodded again.

"Let me ask you this, then. How did you signal them?"

I blinked. "How did it what?"

"How did you plan the set up? What was your system? Did you text message them? You know, we can pull those records, Anastasia. It was if some kind of trap you led my sister into?"

"I don't know what you're-"

Richard looked up at me, and I fell silent, because he didn't look so friendly this time. Not friendly at all.

"My sisters a crazy psycho - I know that. But she's still my sister. And nobody lays their hands on a Morrell in this town, or somebody may be a whole bunch of somebody's pays for it. Get the point? So whatever you know, whatever your relationship is with these invaders, you better come to it quick, or we're going to start digging. And Ana, that's going to be a fast, bloody kind of process"

I wrapped both hands around the Coke can and raise it to my mouth for another trembling gulp, and said, "I didn't lead them to your sister. Your sister abducted me. Right out of the photo finish parking lot. Ask Eve. Oh god..Eve. Gina cut her. Is she okay?"

Richard frowned at me. "Eve's all right"

That eased a terrible knot in my stomach. "What about Gina and Jennifer?"

"Also find. They called in the carjacking. Gina said-" Hs turned something over in his mind, and then said, more slowly, "Gina said a lot of things. But I should have remembered who I was talking to. If there's somebody in Morganville crazier than my sister, it's Gina"

I couldn't disagree with that. "The guys who took over the van-"

"Justin's father" Richard interrupted. "We already know all that. Where is he now?0

"I don't know" I said. "I swear! He let out in the storm drain and told me to climb the ladder and talk to your father. That's why I'm here"

"Leave the kid alone, Richard" Mayor Morrell stalked in, slamming office door behind him, and paused to glare at the two extra police officers standing guard. "You. Out. If my son can't handle some seventeen year old stick of a girl, then he deserves what he gets"