GONE MISSING
Pt. 5
Ross placed his hand over the slide of Jo's gun and slid it back -- KA-CHUNK. The shell ejected and slide locked even as she pulled the trigger. He'd appeared just as she kicked in the door. "Sweetie, what are you doing?"
"LOOK! LOOK!"
Ross followed her gaze into the closet. Dead, inhuman eyes ... glass eyes. Doll eyes.
Ordinary doll eyes. The closet was hip deep with dolls of every shape and variety. Gertie pushed her way past Jo. "It's gone," she whispered with a frown.
"You heard her," Jo said to Ross. "She said 'it's gone'. That means there's an 'it'." Jo stooped in front of Gertie. "Tell Uncle Ross about the bad 'it'. Go ahead."
Gertie sucked her thumb. "You have eyes like the lady who talks about Jesus outside the Rite Aid."
Jo lunged for her.
******************************
"You're sure you're okay."
"I said I was fine."
"You took --"
"Here, see, HERE!" Jo took two more pink pills.
The Agents were just outside the local Chinese restaraunt. Night was falling a crisp autumn evening in the Northwest. If not for the missing kids, it might have been a pleasant weekend stay. Stephen turned to Denis. "You talk to the other son?"
Denis shrugged. "Eliot? Nice kid. Kind of geeky."
"From a guy who spends his weekends cataloguing ball lightning sightings," whispered Andy.
Denis ignored him. "Didn't say anything of interest."
"Nothing?"
"Nothing I thought relevant." He turned back to Jo. "Okay, I'm sorry we're being so careful. It's just, we're going in to meet the FBI. We're emissaries here. This is a chance --"
"-- for you to score with the redhead?" asked Ross.
"Forget it. She and Malloy are doing it," grumbled Jo.
Andy shook his head. "Nah. That just wouldn't be right."
****************************
Inside the restaraunt, everything went very smoothly. The Agents sat with Malloy and Sullivan. Agent Sullivan was definitely more than a little interested in Denis' work. Malloy and Andy traded occult stories and Forteana. Stephen had the Dim Sum.
Malloy gestured with his chopsticks. "You notice the timetable on the Mom is off?"
Ross nodded. "Yeah. The drive from Gertie's dance class, where she was picking up Gertie, isn't as long as she says. She was away from the house an extra hour."
Andy cleared his throat. "I'll ... uh ... take that up next time I talk to her."
Jo smiled. This wasn't so bad after all. She really liked these two Feds. " I have to say, it's nice for once to be working with law enforcement."
Sully shrugged. "I have total confidence that our cooperation will wind up resolving this case, and we'll work together wonderfully --"
Jo smiled. Then Sully finished, in the same chipper voice:
" -- if it doesn't, I'll have to shoot all of you in the %$#&@ face and bury you in shallow graves."
Jo stared at Sully. Sully glanced to Denis, then looked back. She raised an eyebrow. "Yes?"
Jo looked to her friends. None of them reacted. Ross slurped his soup.
**************************
The Agents waved as Malloy and Sully pulled away. They kept waving as the Taurus cleared the driveway, crept down the street ...
"WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY ANYTHING?" Jo grabbed Ross' coatfront. They all turned, concerned.
"Um, about what?"
"When she threatened to KILL US!" Jo looked from friend to friend. They were just staring at her, blankly. "I heard her threaten to shoot us in the FACE!"
Andy talked slowly. "I didn't hear that. Did ... anybody hear that?"
The guys all shook their heads slowly. With a SCREAM Jo bolted away. They watched her run across the parking lot.
"We ... may have a problem," said Ross.
