God's Lonely Man

Deathbed Confession

Danny groans when her phone rings. "Hello?" she greets, her voice laced with sleep.

"Danny, have you seen or heard from Laura?" Laura's father asks.

"Uh, not since yesterday, sir." She glances at the clock and it's barely dawn. "Why?"

He sighs. "Well, I know she was spending Christmas Eve with Carmilla, but then she said she would come straight to the station early this morning. She's two hours late."

"Laura's never late," Danny remarks, suppressing a yawn. "Have you checked with Carmilla?"

There's some rustling. "I've been calling both of them. Neither has answered. It just goes straight to voicemail."

"Maybe they fell asleep?"

Charles sighs again. "Maybe."

"You're not convinced." Danny laughs. "Would you like me to go check Carmilla's house?"

"I, uh... think that'd go over better, yeah." He clears his throat. "But I'll meet you there. Just in case."

~*~

They pull up at the same time. Danny starts to dart into the front door as soon as she sees the broken window, but Charles holds her back. "Stay here," he whispers. He disappears to the back of the house. A few minutes pass as Danny tries her best to do as she was told, before Charles reappears and waves her over.

"I've called it in already," he says, his voice wavering.

Danny's eyes widen. The last time she heard him like this, they had just seen Laura's mother get killed on video. "Called what in?"

They enter the house from the back and Danny lets out a gasp. There has obviously been a struggle. A book lies on the ground, dented. There's a bloody mark on the wall. Furniture has been pushed up against the front door.

Charles points at two broken phones on the ground and swallows hard. "Shit."

~*~

"Calm down, Hollis," Vordenberg, the county sheriff, says. "We will find your daughter. Even if I have to tear apart every home to do it."

Charles sighs and runs his hand through his hair. "Who could've even done it?" he wonders out loud.

The elderly man sits down, looking pensive. "You said she was with Carmilla Karnstein, the daughter of Lilita Morgan? How do we know she's not involved?"

There are a group of rapid footsteps as the Dean strolls into Chief Hollis's office as if it were her own. "I'm not," she says coldly. "I wouldn't kidnap my own daughter. Not really my style."

Vordenberg and Charles share a look.

A couple of embarrassed officers trail in after her. "We tried to stop her, sir."

"How did you know about this?" Charles demands.

"I have my ways," she answers vaguely.

"What are you doing here?" he asks.

She shrugs, trying to look nonchalant, but her eyes give away her worry. "They took my daughter. They took your daughter. What better way to find them than to combine two concerned parents with fingers in different pies?"

Vordenberg looks undeterred. "Well, if it wasn't you, then there is another candidate." He looks at the Dean. "Mama Klaus."

She stiffens for a moment before her lips press into a thin line. "She would. Probably trying to get information out of my daughter."