Cadence glanced down at the number on the screen of her cell phone. She didn't recognize it, but she knew it was local because the area code was the same as the number in Jack's dorm room. Thinking it might be someone back at the hotel, she answered. "Hello?" she said, still trying to hear the conversation going on around her.
There was no answer at first, just some commotion in the background. It sounded like a restaurant or other public venue. "Hello?" Cadence said again, this time slightly louder.
"Cadence?" the voice on the other side questioned.
Feeling the hairs on her arms stand up at the familiarity of the voice, Cadence did her best to stay calm. "Who is this?" she asked, hesitantly.
"I need to see you," came the reply in a stern but desperate voice.
Again, Cadence asked her question, steeling herself for the answer. "Who is this?" she implored, wondering if someone was just playing a sick joke. Before the voice on the other end could reply, the phone clicked off, and they were disconnected. "Hello? Hello?" Cadence repeated before glancing down at her phone to make sure the call had dropped.
The car had reached the hotel, and Elliott was holding the door open for her and for Hannah. His expression was one more of annoyance than sympathy, and so Cadence followed Hannah out of the vehicle as quickly as she could, pausing on the sidewalk to say, "That was really weird."
Hannah and Elliott exchanged knowing glances, but Cadence didn't notice. She was still staring at her phone. "Was it a wrong number?" Hannah asked, reaching.
"I don't think so," Cadence replied. "I think it was. . . someone pretending to be Jack." She had almost said what she had really thought, at first, that it was Jack. But that sounded ridiculous, and she couldn't voice that idea. "Why would someone do that?" she asked, her feet finally moving, following Elliott into the lobby toward the elevators, Hannah right behind her.
They climbed into the elevator, and Elliott pushed the number for the fourth floor. "Maybe you just heard what you wanted to hear," Hannah offered.
Cadence pondered that for a moment, not answering until the elevator reached the correct floor, and they were all walking down the hall. "Maybe. But I don't think so."
"Some people are sickos," Elliott replied, rapping his hairy knuckles on the door of room 456.
Even before he could lower his arm, Eliza threw the door open. "Honey, you're home!" she said, sarcastically. Then, seeing the look on Cadence's face, she added, "Oh, no. I'm sorry, Cadence. You look so upset."
"I am," Cadence replied, her phone still in her hand. "Why would someone call me and pretend to be Jack?"
"What?" Eliza asked, still holding the door as the other three trailed in. It was a suite with a large living area and a private bedroom off toward the back. Since Cadence was the only one who really needed to sleep, there wasn't much reason for the rest of them to have beds. Though Guardians slept occasionally, for short periods of time, they could easily go days or weeks with no shut-eye. Cadence, on the other hand, was still very new and needed just as much rest as any typical human. Jet lag and the crazy schedule of hunting in the middle of the night had left her with very little rest these last few weeks, and the bed would be well-used.
Hannah and Elliott both looked at Eliza with a knowing glare. Though they could have sent her a message through the IAC to let her know that Cadence still didn't realize that Jack was a Vampire, the looks were enough, and Eliza got the message. "That's crazy. Probably some weirdo from college," she added, trying to make it seem fairly normal that a person would prank call the ex-girlfriend of the recently deceased.
"I'm going to call the number back and see who answers," Cadence explained, walking across the room toward the window that looked out on the street below. The other three sat down on the couches and chairs; if they were talking, it was through the IAC.
Cadence redialed the number, staring out the window at the Christmas lights decorating the building across the street. As the phone rang and rang, her mind wandered. It was only two weeks until Christmas. This year would be so different. She wondered if Guardians and Hunters even celebrated Christmas. Still, the phone rang and rang without even going to voicemail. After about forty unanswered rings, her iPhone decided enough was enough and disconnected the call. Cadence was frustrated. She wished, for once, that she had an older phone where she could push the buttons, just to take her anger out on the phone by pressing them very firmly. Instead, she jammed her pointer finger against the list of numbers in her "recent calls" list, which didn't quite have the same effect. Once again, the phone rang and rang. Her mind drifted off again. What do you get the Guardian who already has everything? What do you get a Hunter for Christmas? What do you get a Wookie for Christmas; oh wait, that's a bad '80s song…. She was startled to hear an annoyed female voice on the other end of the phone. "Hello??"
"Ah, hi," she stammered. "I just received a hang-up phone call from this number, and I was wondering who was calling.”
"Could've been a lot of people, lady," the irritated voice replied. "This is a bar."
"Oh," Cadence replied, a bit puzzled and disappointed. "Okay. Well, thank you."
In response, she heard the sharp click of the receiver hitting the hook. She was a bit jealous. The most she could do to show her annoyance was jam the screen again. "Well, that was a waste of time," she said, walking back over to the rest of the team.
"Oh?" Hannah asked politely. "No luck?"
"No, it was a bar. Whoever answered the phone had no idea who had called me." She slumped onto the armrest of the couch, next to Hannah.
"Well, hopefully, whoever it was just had the wrong number or something like that," Eliza said, trying to sound nonchalant.
"Yeah," Cadence agreed. But on second thought added, "No, he said 'Cadence.' He didn't ask me who I was; I didn't offer that information. Whoever it was knew he was calling me because he called me by name."
"I'm sure there's a logical explanation," Hannah said, patting her new friend gently on the leg. "You look awfully tired. Don't you want to get some sleep?"
As if on cue, Cadence yawned. "I am tired, but my brain is going a million miles a minute. By the way," she said, glancing over at Elliott who was sitting in a chair, resting his head against his hand, "Since when do you work for the CDC?"
Elliott knew that his special power would only work so well on Cadence, and though she would have a propensity to believe what he said at the hospital, eventually she would come around and start questioning the logic. "I don't, Cadence," he admitted. "I had to lie to them so they wouldn't continue to question the disappearance of Jack's body."
Nodding her head, Cadence accepted what she already knew to be true on most levels. "Okay," she said slowly. "I guess I knew that. But then, why was it necessary to cover up the hospital's mistake? And, then, where is Jack's body? And, what are we doing to try to find it, or are we trying to find it?"
Elliott opened his mouth, as if he were going to try to answer her but then stopped abruptly. Finally, he said simply, "You ask too many questions. Why not make them feel better if we can? And, as for Jack's body, I think we've got some team members on that."
Cadence didn't quite care for the first part of his statement, but she didn't respond to it. "So, I shouldn't be concerned about the fact that he is actually missing, then?" she asked, crossing her arms defiantly.
Again, Elliott chose his words carefully. "If you trust Aaron then you don't need to worry about it," he replied.
That had to be enough for Cadence. Saying she didn't trust Aaron wasn't an option, and clearly Elliott wasn't going to tell her anything more. "Fine," she said with a humph. "I guess I'll have to wait until I can talk to him then."
"I hope he's feeling better," Eliza added. She had her cell phone in her hand and appeared to be playing some sort of swiping game. "I was worried about him when I talked to him earlier. He sounded sort of. . . out of it. He never sounds out of it."
"I think he's going to try to go on that hunt in Billings tomorrow," Elliott chimed in, catching Eliza's attention.
"Really?" she asked, her mouth opening wide. "I don't think he should be going anywhere. God, he nearly died. Take a break, for crying out loud!"
Elliott laughed. "Try telling him that. He never takes a break."
"He didn't go tonight," Cadence said, not wanting to disagree with Elliott but thinking aloud. "I was surprised to hear that."
"Who's leading tonight then?" Eliza asked, surprised that Cadence knew something she didn't.
"Shane," Cadence replied quietly.
"Awesome," Eliza said, rolling her eyes. "Hope we don't lose anybody."
"Oh, it'll be fine," Elliott stated dismissively. "He can do it. He's done it before."
"He's not the best, though," Eliza said, her attention back on her phone.
"Wish I was going," Cadence admitted, staring off into space. Despite how tired she was, the idea of going on a hunt sounded very appealing. It would give her the opportunity to get out some of the frustration she could feel building up inside.
"What's going on in Billings?" Hannah asked, finally joining the conversation.