Dark Redemption - Charlotte Byrd Page 0,47

speakerphone so that he can hear them as he drives.

I feel how frantic my voice is when I tell him about her not being here and I realize that perhaps this is a much bigger deal than I even thought it was.

"I'm sorry, I'm just really freaking out," I say, trying to catch my breath.

My lips are dry and peeling in parts and I desperately need something to drink but I have to get to this house. I have to find out what, if anything, happened to my friend.

As we drive around, we drive past Main Street and the groups of teenagers and families are walking around with smiles on their faces and I cannot feel more disconnected from them.

"Look, it's probably nothing," Dante insists. "Think about it."

I nod my head feverishly. "Yes, of course, I know that. It is probably nothing, but what if it's not? What if something's happened?"

He nods and squeezes my hand.

The directions ping left and he turns on Mulberry Lane, pulling up in front of the gate.

"Do you know the code?" he asks.

I shake my head no.

There's no one up front but perhaps calling information will help. He dials 0 and after a long pause, just before we're about to give up, somebody answers.

"We're looking for a friend of ours. She was here for a party last night.”

"Yeah, okay, sure." The woman hesitates on the other end and then buzzes us in.

"That's a good sign," Dante says.

"Why?" I ask.

"Well, if something happened at the party, she probably wouldn't be so forthcoming."

I nod, he's right. But that still doesn't answer where Allison is.

Cassandra comes downstairs, wearing sweats and her hair pulled up in a loose bun on top of her head. Without makeup and the eyelashes, she looks completely different from the woman that I had met earlier, but still familiar.

Even her voice is different however, not so soothing, not so deep, more like a normal voice belonging to a normal person.

She recognizes us immediately.

"Oh, I was wondering why you two didn't attend. Are you dating now?" she asks.

Despite how she's dressed and the fact that she is barefoot, she still has a certain air of superiority that disarms me.

"So are you two officially together? Will we see you again?" she asks, prying and smiling out of the corner of her lips.

"Yes, we're dating," Dante says, "officially, so no plans to visit anytime soon, but thank you for the memories."

"Yes, of course.” She shifts her weight from one side to another. Suddenly, I wonder if the two of them have ever been together.

"We're actually here to talk about Allison. Did she attend the party last night?"

Cassandra looks down at the floor. "Normally we don't give out that kind of information," she says after a long pause.

"Yes, I know.” Dante takes control of the conversation.

He takes a step closer to her almost pulling her away from us. He turns a little bit toward her and she turns toward him and he says, "Allison's a very close friend. She was supposed to go here last night and she didn't come home, so naturally Jacqueline is very worried and so am I."

Cassandra looks at me, not quite believing it. "We protect our guests’ privacy and therefore, we can't reveal whether they attended or did not attend," Cassandra says. "It's in the rules."

"Please, you have to help me," I plead. "We're staying in the same place. She said that she was going to go to this party. I thought she would maybe stay out until five or six but she should be home now and I'm just really worried about her. This isn't like her to not call me."

Cassandra exhales slowly and I can tell that I may be getting through. "Yes, she was here," she says. "She seemed to have a good time. She met a guy, he went by the name Lincoln."

The eager smile on Dante's face suddenly drops. "He went by the name Lincoln?" he asks. "What did he look like?"

"Kind of like you, tall, broad shouldered. In fact, the two of you could be brothers. That's not his real name, is it?" Cassandra asks.

Dante doesn't reply, he just stares into space somewhere behind her.

"Can you tell me about what happened last night? What did you see? When did she leave?"

"She met Lincoln right at the beginning of the party. They were hanging out the whole time and then, I don't know, they went into one of the rooms in the back. The party officially ended around