That’s the other reason I’m here. Kelly’s family—your family—also put your information into the system. It’s the next missing person’s case in the file. It was attached to your niece’s. Said you ran away back in ’77. Just look, it’s all there.”
Barry watched her read over Kelly’s information. Her face returned to normal when she turned the page to see her mirror image starring back at her. Then a tear started to roll down her cheek.
“A trip down memory lane. Just what I needed,” she wiped away the moisture from her eyes. “Get out of here.”
“I wasn’t trying to hurt you.” He stood up to apologize. “Don’t you understand? You’ve got a second chance.”
“A chance at what?”
He hoped her teeth wouldn’t come back. “To see your family again.”
“My family? Have you lost your mind?”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“You’re unbelievable. Get a clue, Sherlock. I’m a vampire. I kill to stay alive. You think my family wants to see what I’ve become?”
She was right. Barry wasn’t thinking straight. If she didn’t want him around, why would she want anything to do with her own family? “Casey.”
“Don’t call me that,” she scowled.
He was pushing it. “Jane, I haven’t seen my dad in almost three years. I wake up every day hoping he’s going to come home. I don’t care about his post-traumatic stress or what happened over there in the Middle East. He’s still my dad and I love him. I want him back. You’re lucky to have a family that wants you back, too.”
“You meant well.” She closed the file and gave it back to him. “Now get out of here, while you’re still breathing.”
“But don’t you see?”
“Goodbye, Barry,” she ordered. “If I see you again, I’ll drain you dry.” She turned toward the clinic.
“There’s another reason I had to show you this.”
“Not interested,” she pretended to ignore him.
“You should be.” Barry saw her reach the door. “Could the same thing happen to Kelly?”
She stopped and turned her head over her shoulder to ask. “Could what happen?”
“What happened to you.” It wasn’t a question. “Could the same thing happen to her?” Barry knew he had her attention. “It says she went to Los Angeles to become an actress. That’s what you did, wasn’t it?”
She didn’t answer.
“Could the same thing happen to her?” His question fell on deaf ears.
Nurse Smith opened the door and disappeared into the clinic. Defeated, Barry picked up his backpack, stuffed the file inside, and left. He looked back to see the illuminated sign above the free clinic before turning the corner for home.
Chapter 4
Passing beneath a streetlight, Barry glanced over his shoulder to make sure he wasn’t being followed. So many thoughts raced through his mind. Casey—or Jane, as she was calling herself—was right. I’m an idiot, he thought. After almost forty years you don’t go home and knock on the door, expecting to be welcomed with open arms. How do you explain not having aged a day? She had made her choice and had the rest of eternity to live with it. And it appeared Kelly was following in her aunt’s footsteps.
The next dose of reality: technically, he had solved a missing person’s case, but he couldn’t tell anybody. Not the police, not her family in Lubbock, and he couldn’t use the case for his term paper.
Then there was the unexpected. Kelly had left home, just like Jane had. She went to the same city for the same reasons, just like she had. The odds didn’t look good for Kelly, but they never are for runaways, according to his research. Vampire or no vampire, how could Casey turn her back on her own family, knowing they needed and missed her?
“What would Dad do?” he muttered, entering through the front door of the apartment.
“About what?”
His mom’s presence caught Barry by surprise. “Mom, you’re home early.”
“Got the night off. So what would your father do?”
“Nothing, just a minor problem.”
“Supper is almost ready. Go wash up,” she ordered.
“What are we having?”
“You’re favorite—lasagna.”
He became suspicious. “What’s the occasion?’
“Barry McElroy, I don’t need an occasion to cook a hot meal for my son. Now go wash up.”
Barry knew he was lucky. He had seen what happened to his friends when one parent had left. The other dove into self-pity and did stupid stuff like drugs, alcohol, and bar hopping. Sometimes they even blamed the kids for the breakup of the marriage. But not his mom.
Vicki McElroy was the real deal and Barry was grateful. The toughest job in America was being a housewife. The second toughest job was the military housewife, and the next one after that was the single mom—and every one of them the backbone of the country. She knew what was to blame for their problems. His dad, Nolan, was a soldier’s soldier and when called to duty in Iraq after 9/11, he did what all members of the Armed Forces did. He served his country, but after Afghanistan there were side effects.
Post-traumatic stress disorder.
Having been medically discharged from the Army without medical benefits, he took a job at the General Motors plant in Arlington. For a time, they were a happy family, but Dad couldn’t get the war out of his mind. After the last PTSD episode he left, fearing for their safety. That was almost three years ago and his dad hadn’t been seen since. They wanted him back, but the police were no help. With no visible means of support, his mom had to take jobs offered by a temp agency to support them, but it wasn’t enough to keep them from losing their house, thanks to the market going bust.
Barry knew his mom had enough to worry about. He didn’t want to add to her problems by falling in with the wrong crowd at school or give the courts a reason to put him in juvenile lockup. He put her mind at ease by studying and hoped it would soon pay off with a scholarship to Texas Wesleyan University, providing he finished his term paper.
After washing his hands, he dried them using the towel on the rack and then pitched the cloth into the hamper. He looked in the mirror at the bruises around his neck. “How do I explain this?”
Barry went to his bedroom to change into a turtleneck, making sure the collar covered his throat. Then he walked toward the kitchen and sat down at the table across from his mom.
“Wow, this smells good,” he said, picking up the dish and using a spoon to put the lasagna on his plate, before completing the meal with some mixed vegetables and a salad. He chewed a mouthful of lasagna and washed it down with a drink of ice water. “So what did you do all day?”
His mom said nothing.
Barry put another helping of lasagna into his mouth, looked up and saw his mom staring off into space. Her hands, placed on opposite sides of the plate, were resting on the table.
“Mom?” He swallowed his food. “Mom, are you all right?”
She wasn’t answering.
Barry waved his hand in front of her face. She continued to stare straight ahead, oblivious to her surroundings.
“Hello. Earth to Mom.”
“She’ll be fine,” spoke the voice behind him.
Barry