Enter the Hound: The Origin of Inu

Chapter 17: Gone

 

            News of Maxine Hastings’s murder didn’t hit the local papers until the day after Christmas.  Her body had been found early Christmas morning, but the media, in a rare display of taste, kept silent until after the holiday had passed.  The matter was handled quietly and no suspects were named.

            Two days before New Year's Eve, Inu, Frostfire, and Austin met for lunch at their favorite Japanese restaurant.  Nadine was noticeably absent.

            "She did know we were meeting for lunch today, right?" Frostfire asked.

            "I haven't heard a word from her since Christmas Eve," Inu said.  "She hasn't returned any of my calls."

            "That's because she's not there," said Austin.  He sighed and shook his head.  Dark circles ringed his eyes.  He looked like he hadn't slept in a few days.  "She flipped out at Maxine at the Tau party, so I sent her home to cool off.  When I went over to her place on Christmas morning, she was nowhere to be found.  Then Maxine turned up dead."

            Inu and Frostfire nodded and stared halfheartedly at their menus.  No one was especially hungry, and no one wanted to voice the dreaded questions: Was Nadine's disappearance related to Maxine's death?  Had the same person who murdered Maxine stolen away with Nadine?

            Word of Nadine's disappearance had spread through campus, but aside from her friends, few people really seemed to care.  Several of the Iota members suspected she was involved in Maxine's death.  After all, Nadine did attack Maxine at the Christmas party; it wasn't unreasonable to think Nadine would go after her later.  Still, the evidence was scarce and the wounds strange, as if whatever had made the blows and gashes hadn't actually touched Maxine at all.  It was a mystery best left to the professionals, but that didn't mean outsiders couldn't speculate a little.

            Rumors on campus ranged from heroic tales of epic proportions to slasher film scripts.  The Tau Ro Omega New Year's party was expected to be more of a gossip mill than a celebration.  Not wanting a full-force brawl to break out, Austin and another fraternity member--a guy by the name of Jack who looked only slightly less imposing than Austin did--volunteered for bouncer duty and would guard the front and back doors of the house.  The little-used side entrance was to be locked and blocked to keep out the sneakier intruders.  Flyers were posted all over campus to let everyone know that the Tau party was going to be a lock-in.  The reason they gave out to inquirers was that they wanted to play it safe until Maxine's murderer was apprehended.  The real reason: they didn't want certain mischieveous Iotas showing up and starting trouble.

            "I hope she's okay," Inu whispered.  Then the waitress came to take their orders and the matter dropped.

            Inu and Frostfire were planning on going to Skiffytown again for New Year's.  They invited Austin to go with them, but he politely declined.  He wanted to stay local in case Nadine called or turned up out of the blue.  Besides, he was already committed to the Tau party.  The trio parted after lunch, Inu and Frostfire leaving together and Austin driving home alone.

            Twice during the short drive back to the Tau house, Austin nearly pulled over because he thought he saw Nadine.

 

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            Dr. Moreau couldn’t believe his horrible luck.  First Harvey disappeared, costing him his one shot at finding the bitch who freed his test subjects.  Then he discovered his files had gone missing from the facility, so he couldn’t even try to track down his test subjects.  On top of that, several samples of CX-1247Prime, CX-1247A, and CX-1247B were missing, and the entire computer system was completely fried.

            “I swear, Harvey, when I get my hands on you...” Dr. Moreau muttered under his breath, clutching the steering wheel of his rusty Pontiac Grand Prix in a death grip.

            And now he was stuck behind some idiot at a green light.  Could the day possibly get any worse?

 

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            “You know,” Inu said to Frostfire as they drove back to her apartment, “maybe Austin has the right idea.  Maybe we should stay local in case Nadine turns up.”

            Stopping at the traffic light, Frostfire turned his head towards Inu.  “Inu-chan, it doesn’t matter to me what we do, so long as we’re together.  We could rent movies and drink sake for all I care, and it would still be a wonderful New Year’s Eve.

            Inu smiled.  “Thank you, hon.  You might want to go, though.  The light’s green and the asshole behind us is losing his patience.”

            Frostfire blushed and his hair frosted over.  Pressing down on the gas pedal, he slowly pulled away from the Pontiac Grand Prix behind him.

 

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            “Finally!” Dr. Moreau yelled.  “Geeze, what is with young drivers today?  They never pay attention to the road.  When I was their age...”

            Glancing up into the rearview mirror, he noticed that the driver behind him was driving a little too fast and was too close to stop.  He clutched the wheel and braced for impact, which came mere seconds later, though not as hard as Moreau had anticipated.  The driver of the other car was instantly out of his own car and standing at Moreau’s window gushing apologizes and excuses about being on his cell phone and not paying attention, and would it be possible to keep his parents from finding out?  His father would likely kill him if he knew Junior had hit another car, but thank god Brian--whoever he was--could fix everything on the DL--whatever that meant.

            Pinching the bridge of his nose, Dr. Moreau shook his head and prayed to the gods of mad science.  “What?  What did I do?  I’m a good mad scientist, right?  Been perfectly evil in my works.  Tortured my test subjects and everything just like I was supposed to.  What did I do to deserve this?”

 

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            Frostfire pulled over, and he and Inu looked out the rear window to see if the people involved with the accident were alright.

            “Should we call the cops?” Frostfire asked.

            “I think someone already did,” said Inu.  “I can hear the sirens.”

            Sure enough, a cop car appeared moments later to take care of the accident.

            “That was fast,” said Frostfire.

            “Should be.  The police station is just around the corner.”