Playing With Vampires - An Izzy Cooper Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

Anchor Avenue.
    There was just something about Polly being in that location that wasn’t sitting well with me. She’d seemed like too nice of a girl to get mixed up with the riffraff on Anchor.
    I was glad to see that Janet Spencer was working. If anyone at the Quick Stop would know about Polly, it would be Janet. Whenever I’d seen the two girls working together, they’d seemed pretty close.
    After filling a large Styrofoam cup with extra strong coffee, and then dumping three coffee creamers in it, I strolled over to the checkout counter.
    Much like Polly had been, Janet seemed like the perfect employee. She wore her chestnut brown hair pulled into a bun, and dutifully tucked her white and red uniform shirt into her pants, nice and neat like.
    In a way, I was jealous of girls like Polly and Janet. I had a heck of a time understanding how some people could conform so easily, yet I was doing good if I could drive around the block without getting a speeding ticket.
    “Hello,” I said, giving her one of my most disarming smiles.
    I guessed that Janet must have already received news of Polly’s demise. Her complexion was paler than usual, which made the dark circles beneath her eyes even more pronounced.
    The only response I received was one of those mechanical, customer service smiles.
    “Do you mind answering a couple of questions about Polly Nielson?” I asked, sliding my money across the counter.
    “I guess it would be okay.” Janet shrugged. “But Sheriff Bourne already stopped by my house last night to question me.”
    “It will only take a minute.”
    Janet nodded. “Okay.”
    “How well did you know Polly?”
    “We talked a lot while working … and sometimes we’d go hang out on our days off.”
    “So would you have any idea what Polly would have been doing on Anchor Avenue so late?”
    Janet shrugged. “Not really. I know she’d taken another part time job, but she never told me where she was working. The guy that hired her wanted their arrangement kept secret.”
    Now we were getting somewhere.
    Getting a nighttime job was one thing, but getting a job that had to be kept secret meant that whatever she’d been doing, it couldn’t have been good.
    “So she never gave you any idea who it was she was working for?” I prodded, hoping that somehow my questions would jar the girl’s memory.
    Janet shook her head, but I couldn’t help but notice that she was busy chewing away at her bottom lip. She was nervous, and the only reason for her to be nervous was if she were hiding something.
    “You know Janet … if you are withholding information that could be useful in this investigation, you could be charged with obstruction of justice.”
    I hated playing my, threaten the witness hand, but I was sure Janet was holding back something.
    Janet’s eyes scanned the store, as if she were worried someone would overhear her. “Well you know Polly’s grandfather is a warlock, right?
    I nodded. “Do you think there’s a connection?”
    The fact that, No Nonsense Nielson, was a warlock, wasn’t exactly a big secret. Now that Polly was gone, Joshua was the last of the Neilson flock. Like my mother, Polly’s mother and father had left Mystique Island, only to meet a bad end. Polly had lived with old Joshua ever since.
    No matter how sour the old man was, I had no doubt that Polly’s death was going to do him in. His granddaughter had been the apple of his eye, and he’d doted on her to a fault.
    Janet shook her head. “I don’t think there’s a connection to her grandfather being a warlock … at least not directly. But …” her voice trailed off.
    “Go on,” I urged, lacing my words with as much patience as I could muster, which wasn’t a whole lot considering I hadn’t yet downed my coffee.
    To remedy this, I took a couple sips of the rich brown liquid, managing to scorch my lips in the process.
    “Don’t you think that Polly’s grandfather might have had some enemies?” she answered my