Perception (Apparition Investigations #1)

Case #2: Hell's Gate: Part 4

The two women seated on the couch opposite me and Rose had been crying. Understandable, since their daughter/sister was missing. The sallow skin; the red, puffy eyes; and the wearied, slumped shoulders practically screamed it.

God, I couldn't imagine what it must be like. To have a family member just vanish. No words, no warnings. To be there at one instant and gone the next. The worry, the fear, the anger—it would eat me alive.

All things considered, they were handling it well. I probably wouldn't have been able to receive visitors, to have the peace of mind to offer them lemonade when they'd arrived. But Mrs. Gomez had done just that. She'd even put out a plate of cookies.

West Texas hospitality, I supposed.

Rose had been studying a picture that Camilla had given us of her missing little sister. She handed it to me as she addressed Mrs. Gomez. "And your husband wouldn't have taken her?"

She shook her head. "No, not without telling me. He just works in California. We aren't separated or anything, that's just where his job is. We couldn't move because his mother lives here. She needs a little extra help so that's why I'm still here."

"And Esperanza wouldn't be with her?"

I studied the picture. In it, Camilla and Esperanza were at a science fair, judging from the display on magnets in the background. Camilla's arms were wrapped around Esperanza from behind, hugging her tightly. Esperanza, in the front, held up a certificate awarding her first place for her project. Both of them were beaming.

They were practically spitting images of each other. I favored my older brother, with people noticing immediately that we were related, but these two were beyond that. They could have been twins, almost, with how closely they resembled each other. Same long, straight black hair. Same style with floral summer dresses. Same rose-pink nail polish. The only difference—aside from their age—but the only difference I could see in the photo was their eyes. Camilla had the same warm chocolate as her mother. Esperanza's hazel green must have come from her father.

Camilla shook her head. "That's the first place I checked. Nana hasn't seen her."

"And she's never done something like this before?"

A spark of anger flashed in Mrs. Gomez's eyes. She looked up sharply at Rose. "You sound like the police. That's not why I hired you."

Rose held up her hands. "Yes, you're right. I'm sorry."

For a moment, I thought Mrs. Gomez was going to hold onto her fight. But then it fizzled out of her. Her posture withered. "No. She's never done something like this before."

"You said she went out to Hell's Gate?" Rose asked, turning to Camilla.

Mrs. Gomez's eyes began to water. "She knows better than to go out to such a dangerous place."

"It's secluded," Camilla explained. "Runners go out there sometimes, but it's just so far away from anything."

I nodded, recalling the pictures of Hell's Gate I'd pulled up on Google last night. "Can we keep this?" I asked, holding up the picture.

Camilla's eyes dropped down to the picture. She nodded, her eyes still captured on the photo.

"What was she doing out there?" Rose asked.

Mrs. Gomez shook her head, whether to dispel her tears or in answer, I'm not sure. Camilla was the one who responded. "She went out with some of her friends. Just a bunch of teenagers being bored."

"Can we talk to them?"

Camilla rose up from the couch. She moved through the immaculately cleaned living room to a small table by the front door. A piece of paper had been slid underneath a flower vase. She tugged it free and brought it back to us. "Thought you might. I wrote down their names and phone numbers."

It was a list of six people. Four girls, two boys. I guessed they were probably school friends, since she was still in high school. We'd have to wait until later in the afternoon to speak with them.

"And what makes you think it was a ghost that took your daughter?" Rose turned to Mrs. Gomez.

Her eyes struggled to meet Rose's. "She wouldn't run away. I know you and the police think she might have just run, but she was a good girl. Studied hard in school. Wanted to be a scientist. She wouldn't just leave like that."

My eyes fell back to the photo in my hands. I had to agree with Mrs. Gomez. Going by the picture, she seemed happy. It would have taken effort to win first place in a high school science fair—she wouldn't be the delinquent type to just leave on a whim. She was determined, a hard worker.

Not to mention she seemed to idolize her older sister. She mimicked her hair style, her fashion choices, hell, even the same color nail polish. They were close, both of them leaning toward each other in the picture. They weren't pretending in this photo. They loved each other, they were happy. Loyal to each other.

Then there was the house. Rose and I hadn't seen much—just the entry way and the living room. But it was homey. Comfy. Pictures of them covered shelves. Her science award had been added to other awards on the wall with the television screen. Her mother was a motherly sort, hovering over us with a plate of cookies, the scent filling the room, even though her daughter was missing.

Determined, hard-working, loyal, with a comfy home.

My God, she was a Hufflepuff.

Yeah, she hadn't voluntarily left. Not a chance. No way in hell.

Hufflepuffs didn't pull that shit.

"And she vanished from Hell's Gate," Camilla added. "What else could it be?"

Yeah, because bad humans couldn't possibly hang out at supposedly haunted places.

"Absolutely," Rose nodded. "Ghosts do seem the most likely culprit."

I shot her a look out of the corner of my eye.

Which she ignored.

"We're going to get on this. And we're going to find Esperanza. I promise."

"We'll do everything in our power," I added hastily. I shot Rose another look. She couldn't make these huge promises. Not until we had a better grasp of what had happened at Hell's Gate.

Rose leaned forward and took Mrs. Gomez's hand. The touch caused more tears to spring to the mother's eyes. They spilled over as Rose squeezed her hand. "We're going to find her, Mrs. Gomez. Leave it to us."

A relieved sob escaped Camilla. She threw her arms around her mother, sobbing into her shoulder. Her entire frame shook as the cries swelled to fill the room.

Mrs. Gomez clasped Rose's hand with her other one. "Bless you. Bless you."

And Rose, our fearless leader, the boss of our brand-spanking new ghost hunting operation started to tear up too.

I remained absolutely still, afraid the crying women might turn to me and wonder why I wasn't crying.

Though, given another minute, panicked, stress-fueled tears might have started to eke down my face.

Because Rose had just promised these people we'd find their daughter. We didn't even know if she had been taken by ghosts. More than likely, some scumbag had done it. But Rose had promised crying women that we were going to make all of this better.

AndI wasn't sure that we could.