Little Fox in Big Trouble

Seventeen

“Who the hell does this Katrina b***h think she is? Better yet, who is she, mom? Why is she coming with us? Where the hell did she even come from? Am I the only one that finds the whole thing a little suspicious? I mean, she just shows up on the same day that Meredith’s body is found and starts throwing herself at Troy?” I wasn’t actually giving my mom the chance to answer any of these questions and I knew it, but I really didn’t think it could be a coincidence that this slut of a cat just happened to stumble upon Troy on the same day that the first of the girls from that cavern was found dead in the park. “Oh.. she did just show up today, right? Or did Troy already know her? She’s not, like, his girlfriend or something, is she?” This time I stopped and waited for an answer.

“Briseis, relax,” my mom said. She reached over from the passenger seat and squeezed my thigh. “Troy just met her this morning, at the park. He got there a couple of minutes before we did and started talking to the people gathered around. He was trying to get information on how and when the body was found or if the police had said anything. As it happens, Katrina was the jogger that found the body.”

“Oh,” I said. I almost felt foolish, but another thought struck me. “It still seems a little strange, doesn’t it? What are the chances that another yokai was the one to find her? Or that she was the only one in the area, at the time?”

“She wasn’t the only one in the area, Kit. From what she told us, there were several other people walking and jogging on the path, this morning. She was, however, the only one that caught the scent of death and felt that something was wrong, so she was the only one that wandered off of the path and went snooping. She followed the scent into the tree line and found the body.” She answered, reasonably. “And she is interested in finding out what is going on around here and wants to help us figure it out because this is where she lives. This kind of activity draws attention and can cause trouble for anyone that isn’t strictly human.”

“I still don’t like her,” I grumbled as I pulled my car into my parking spot and shifted into park.

My mom barked out a laugh. “That had nothing to do with her,” she said.

That wasn’t true though. It was her. The way she was throwing herself at Troy was shameless. It was embarrassing to women everywhere. Honestly, I was just waiting for her to start yowling and rubbing herself against his legs like a cat in heat.

Troy pulled his Honda into the spot next to mine just as we climbed out of the car and I pointedly avoided looking inside. Instead, I turned and marched to my apartment without acknowledging their arrival, at all. I left the door open behind me and tossed my keys onto the dining room table. Then, I grabbed a cola from the kitchen and flopped down into the center of my couch. Part of me registered that I was being childish and that there were more important things to deal with than my growing distain for this woman, however that just meant that I had to tolerate her. For now. It did not mean that I had to be nice.

A minute later, when the others filed in, Troy dropped himself into the space on my left and my mom settled into the arm chair. Katrina paused, swept her gaze over the available space left, and gracefully perched on the arm of the couch, next to Troy. He glanced over at me and I rolled my eyes.

“So, I hear you guys have been looking into the disappearances and trying to figure this whole thing out on your own huh, Nancy Drew?” Katrina asked. Great, she thought she was funny.

“Yeah, we’ve done a little bit of digging.” Troy answered her, cutting me off before I could respond to her snark. “We think we have an accurate timeline for when each of the girls was taken by our guy. Now, I guess adding this, we can work up a tentative timeline to how long each girls might have to be rescued.” He paused, and looked down at his hands.

“Hey. We’ll get them back before anything happens to Helena.” I assured him and gave one of his hands a squeeze.

He slipped his fingers between mine and held on as he added, “we also have some clues about where the girls are being held, but so far we haven’t been able to figure out where it actually is.”

Katrina looked down at our entwined hands, and for just a second her smile slipped. Then, she squared her shoulder, put her smile back in place, and asked, “what clues?”

“Well, Bris has been able to communicate with her friend Jess on a couple of occasions and has been able to get a peek at where they are being held,” he explained.

Katrina turned her attention to me and waited for me to elaborate.

“But, all I can really see is that they seem to be in a cave or something.” I shrugged. “It’s musty and damp. I can smell wet dirt and forest, and it’s always dark. That’s about all I’ve gotten out of it. I don’t think it’s very far, since all of the girls have been taken from pretty close by, but I have no idea where it could be.”

“There are actually several caves in the forest, here, so you’re probably right about it being nearby.” Katrina paused for a moment and furrowed her eyebrows. “If we started out by the lake, where we were today, I bet we could check out all of them within a couple of days, though.”

“Do you know the woods well enough to lead us to all of them?” Troy asked her. “I never spent much time in the forest and Bris isn’t from around here.”

“Of course I do.” She practically purred with satisfaction at Troy depending on her expertise.

“Well, that gives us a plan of action at least,” my mom said. “We have some things that will need to be taken care of before we head into the woods, though. So, why don’t we take today and tomorrow to prepare and we can begin our search bright and early the next day?