As it turned out, Lara was at home and having trouble sleeping, so Alicia, Caitlin and Lindsey met up with her at her apartment. They found her at the island in the kitchen, having an after-work drink. She still wore her police uniform.

They told her Chase was missing. As it turned out, Lara had something to tell them too, something that had been eating her up all day.

“I'm supposed to keep it under wraps, but it doesn't really matter. It's too big to keep quiet for long. I give it two days before Denver's national news.”

“Jesus christ,” said Caitlin. The girls were sitting on the couch. The TV was muted, and a weatherman was waving his hand over a colored map of the country. “I can't believe she's even alive.”

“Was it bad?” asked Lindsey. “I mean, what Chase did to her?”

“Yeah,” said Caitlin. “I saw it on our way out. She hung her up on the antlers of this big deer head.”

“It's a sad case,” said Alicia. “I always knew she was, you know, a bad seed, but I would have never guessed...”

“I dunno. I never liked those volleyball girls,” said Lindsey.

“We know,” Alicia replied.

“She's had a hard life,” added Lara. The ice in her glass clinked as she took a drink. As she set it back down, she said, “Everyone at the station knew her, even before this. She's one of those kids who can't help but fall in with a bad crowd. She never had that positive role model in her life that a kid needs.”

“I guess it's just going to get harder for her, now,” said Alicia.

Lana nodded. “No avoiding that. But it could be worse.” She explained Denver's confession, the deal in the works, and how her mental condition figured into all of it.

“Ugh. So that psycho might go free?” asked Lindsey.

“Maybe. We're talking decades down the road though.”

“Isn't she a minor anyway?” asked Alicia.

“Yeah, but she can still be tried as an adult. For a crime this serious it's pretty much a given,” said Lara. She looked at Lindsey. “I had to get her on my side. She probably would have gotten a light sentence whether we dealed or not, just because of her situation. But I had to give her something to get...to get something in return.” She took another drink. “I just hope it wasn't for nothing.”

Alicia chimed in. “It wasn't. Chase is still out there somewhere, waiting for us to bring her home. Because of what you did, she has a home to come back to.”

“I guess that makes it all worth it,” said Lara. She sounded sarcastic, but the cheerleaders knew she was conflicted. There was a pained look in her eye as she refilled her glass. She told her daughter, “She said she'd have your back. That she'd protect you.”

“I think she thinks that's exactly what she's doing,” said Caitlin delicately. “She thinks she's dangerous.”

“She KNOWS she's dangerous,” said Lara. The response came quick, but then she spent a little more time with Caitlin's words after the fact. She took a contemplative sip of rum. “Maybe she has the right idea. Maybe it's best for all of us if she just moves on from Sunnycrest and forgets she was ever here.”

“Do you really believe that?” asked Caitlin. “How much has she done for this town since she arrived?”

“How much damage has she caused, too?”

“That was early on. She's changing...” began Alicia, then fell silent, realizing that wasn't helpful.

Lara stared at her, then sighed. “You sweet kids. Bringing in this girl like a lost puppy, trying to help her...I want to smack each and every one of you...but that kind of idealism is just...how could you punish that?” Miserably, she added, “What do you want me to do?”

“I, I don't know,” said Alicia. “We just needed to go to someone, and you're a cop...you're the only one we could turn to.”

Lara looked at her a long time. “Talk to everybody she's close to. Everybody on the squad, that boyfriend of hers, everyone. You don't want anyone to get worried and make a real missing persons report. When you talk to them, act like you're not too worried, act like she's done this before. Everyone thinks she's a foreign exchange student, right? Your story is she wants to see more of America while she's here, and she's accustomed to exploring and travelling alone.” She took another drink. “Search your room again. Search the stuff she left behind. And keep going over the last few days with her in your head. Something might jump out at you that isn't obvious right now. I'll keep my ears open at the station for any news. There's not much that happens in this town we don't hear about.”

A relieved smile crossed Alicia's face. “Thank you so much, Mrs. Boyd.”

“I don't really have a choice. A missing girl's a missing girl. Even if she is a cannibal.” She looked at Caitlin. “Plus, if you say you're safe with Chase, I believe you. If you say we need her back here with us, I believe you. You're smart. You're careful. You're always mindful of making the sensible decision. You're so much more responsible than I was when I was your age, sweetheart.”

Caitlin got up and hugged her. “I'll be lucky if I'm ever as responsible as you, mom,” she said. Despite her intentions, however, this just made Lara feel worse.

…..........

After leaving Caitlin's apartment, Alicia, Lindsey and Caitlin put their heads together and considered where to begin their search. They thought about looking at school and about searching the woods. Eventually, one of them posed the question of who else Chase was close to, anyone they knew who might have any clue what happened to her. This led them to Torey's house.

It was the first time any of the three girls had been there. His brother was upstairs, still sleeping. It was a lightly messy place, the kind of place you'd expect two bachelors to call home, which of course was exactly what it was. There was a blanket on the couch, where the girls were now sitting. Torey had been eating a bowl of cereal when Alicia knocked on the door. It now rested on the scratched wooden coffee table, forgotten. He stood in front of them, too concerned to sit.

“She's really done this before?” he asked, looking down at the seated girls, eyes intense.

“Yeah,” said Lindsey.

“It worried us the first time, but you know how independent Chase is,” said Alicia. “Still, we thought we should check and see if she just spent the night over here.”

“Hmm,” said Torey. “It's kind of surprising. Usually it's hard to pry her away from you guys. You're sure it's fine?”

“Oh sure. She usually turns up in a couple days,” Caitlin replied. “She's like a cat.”

Torey gave a faint smile, although he didn't look totally reassured. “Well, if you say so. But no, I haven't seen her since...Wednesday? Yeah, Wednesday.” It was Saturday, now.

“Huh?” Alicia was surprised. “Didn't she hang out with you Thursday?”

“Nah, I think she had an appointment with Miss Cha that day.”

“Who?” asked Lindsey.

“That new student counselor at school. Chase has been seeing her a lot lately,” Alicia recalled. She'd forgotten all about her.

“Do you think we should talk to her, too?” asked Caitlin.

“I guess it couldn't hurt,” said Alicia.

Torey began looking through the various magazines, DVD cases, and opened mail that cluttered the coffee table. “I can give you her number if you want it.”

“Her number? You mean her personal number? Why do you have that?” asked Caitlin.

Torey picked up a book of horror stories with a coffee mug ring on the cover, checked the bookmark slotted into it for any sign of handwriting, then set it back down. “I've been seeing her too,” he answered. “After a couple visits she gave me her number, said I could call her any time if I need to talk.”

“Damn. What a creeper,” commented Lindsey.

“It wasn't like that,” said Torey. “Although I guess she did act kind of flirty with me...Ah, here we go.” He lifted up the cereal bowl and found a yellow post-it note stuck on the coffee table underneath. He picked it up and handed it to Alicia, then started eating the now slightly soggy cereal.

Alicia read the phone number, then looked up and gave him a smile. “Thanks, Torey.”

“No problem,” he said. As the cheerleaders got up to leave, he added, “Oh, hey, Alicia?” Alicia stopped and looked over her shoulder. “Let me know if you find out anything, okay?”

“Of course.”

Alicia took out her phone as they walked out the front door, and began to dial. She stopped on Torey's front walk.

“What?” asked Caitlin, the last one out, closing the door behind her.

“That's weird,” said Alicia. She looked back at Caitlin and Lindsey. “Her number's in here already, it automatically came up when I started dialing. It...” She tapped her phone a couple more times. “It says I dialed it last night. At two in the morning.”

“Did you?” asked Lindsey.

“No!” said Alicia. “It must have been Chase. She doesn't have her own phone, remember?”

Alicia quickly selected the number and called it. She put the phone to her ear.

Lindsey and Caitlin stood on the walk behind her, frozen in place, waiting in silence. It was nearing midday now. Torey's house was in the older part of Sunnycrest's residential area, a place where pretty brick buildings and ones with peeling paint and loose shingles commingled. The wind was still blowing hard, making trees creak and the girls' hair wave. Lindsey had on a skirt, which tried to flutter, although her long coat which fell past her waist kept it mostly down.

Alicia hung up. She stared at her phone, a confused look on her face. “It says the number isn't in service anymore.”

............

Alicia, Caitlin and Lindsey naturally found it quite odd that Chase called Andrea on the eve of her disappearance. Even odder was the fact that the number was disconnected. They began to shift their investigation to Andrea, deciding the logical next step was to ask her a few questions. With her phone number no good, they weren't sure how to find her, so they started calling up the other faculty members of Sunnycrest High. None of them knew much about her considering how new to Sunnycrest she was, but what little they were able to glean told them she was highly suspicious. When the principal told them he had received a resignation letter from her that morning, this perception was only confirmed.

“Wait, you mean she's gone?” Alicia echoed in disbelief. “She left that quick?”

“Yep. Pretty short notice but not much I can do about it.” the principal replied. Alicia had her phone on speaker, so Lindsey and Caitlin could hear him as well. They were sitting on a wooden, frost-covered bench downtown, out in front of a coffee shop. “She said she didn't like the cold. Personally I think she was spooked by all this Satanism stuff. Can't say I blame her.”

“Did she say...where she was going?” Alicia felt distracted as she asked this question, trying to process what she'd just heard as broader considerations of exactly what this meant for Chase began to dawn on her.

“Not exactly,” he said. “She just said she was heading back home.”

“Home,” repeated Caitlin. “And you have no idea where that is?”

“None, sorry,” he said. “Don't worry though. We'll get a new school counselor before long, and until then you can always go to the Community Clinic if you need counseling. They have very good adjusted rates for minors.”

“Thanks. We'll keep that in mind,” said Alicia. She hung up. They stared at each other for a moment, speechless.

Caitlin was the first to speak. “So she's gone too,” she said. “Her disappearance is obviously related to Chase, right? I mean, we all agree on that?”

“I'd say so,” said Alicia. “Even setting aside the phone call Chase made to her last night, it would be pretty clear.”

“So what happened?” asked Caitlin. “She kidnapped Chase?”

“You really think that tiny lady could make Chase do anything she didn't want to?” replied Lindsey.

“I guess that is pretty unlikely.”

“Maybe Chase kidnapped HER!” suggested Alicia.

“Or ate her!” said Lindsey.

“I think she has enough self control at this point not to eat her counselor,” said Caitlin. “But as far as kidnapping her...Why would Chase be interested in that?”

“Who knows? Maybe there's something bad about her. Miss Cha, I mean.”

“Well, that much is beginning to seem pretty likely, at least,” Lindsey agreed.

Across the street, a pair of what looked to be businessmen of some kind walked by in long, expensive looking coats. Directly in front of them, a kid in a hoodie rolled past on a skateboard.

“I've never known Chase to take a prisoner, though,” Lindsey added.

“Me either,” said Caitlin.

Alicia crossed her arms and stared contemplatively into the distance. The two men walked into a chinese restaurant. “Then maybe...they ran away together,” Alicia said. “Not that that really sounds like something Chase would do, either. She barely knew her.”

“Maybe Miss Cha tricked Chase somehow. Or threatened to hurt us if Chase didn't comply,” suggested Lindsey.

“Hmm,” said Alicia, closing her eyes. Then, she stood up. “Well, whatever she did, it's like you said, Lindsey. There's something shady going on here, and that Miss Cha is right in the center of it. She pops up out of nowhere and a little over a week later, both her and Chase are gone. Nothing about this is right. We've gone as far as we can investigating Chase. The next thing we need to do is look into Miss Cha.”