Bell(e)s in the Woods - 4. Wednesday, April 23, 2025 (I)

~The Detective~

An hour earlier than usual and several hours earlier than my original plans for the days off demanded, I sat in the kitchen and had breakfast. In order to speak to the teachers at the nursing school before class, I had been advised to show up no later than seven.

My gut feeling of something being wrong in the family mingled with the rumor that Kate might have been involved with a teacher. Shouldn't Marian, as her roommate and classmate, have known about this? Was she protecting Kate or the man in question? Was Kate lying for the sake of attention?

I scraped together the muesli in my bowl and looked up when I caught a glow out of the corner of my eye. Nathan was awake.

My new place was so much better than my old one, even if I still found it a little strange to have Nathan and his law firm as neighbors now. He lived directly above his work place and although I couldn't really look into his windows, I could see when his lights went on and off. And it had just come on in the bathroom.

With a small smile, I got up and reached for the bowl to put it in the sink, but flinched when my phone unexpectedly started to vibrate. An unknown number at this time of morning?

“DeLaney.”

“Good morning, detective, this is Officer Powell.”

“Morning, officer, what can I do for you?”

“The question is more what I can do for you, ma'am, and the answer is I can deliver a car.”

Puzzled, I blinked, then asked with a frown: “Explain yourself.”

"Ma'am, I'm currently on duty for Attville and I've just been called to a forest road by the forestry workers because there's a car that's obstructing their work. A silver Toyota Yaris with license plates-“

”Hold on, I-“

”No, no need, I just wanted to say it's the car you put out an internal search for." Powell stopped abruptly and then called out to someone that he was speaking to ‘the detective in charge’.

"Thank you, officer. I'll send someone to you to take care of forensics and the removal of the car. Where exactly are you?" The timing was atrocious, but Kate Bell's car was an important clue.

"Ah, about halfway between Attville and Quincefield, north of the county road, sort of right by the woods. I'd best send you my location. And your man had best not come in a Smart car or anything, it's bloody muddy out here."

“Thanks, officer, I'll pass that on.” Warren was going to have to get his shoes a little dirty.

~The Lawyer~

At nine o'clock on the dot, just as Violet had requested, I entered the conference room at the QFPD. I had never been in here before and marveled at the huge satellite image of the city and its surroundings taking up an entire wall.

Violet was standing right in front of it and seemed to be brooding.

“Good morning.” Greeting her, I put my bag down on the table.

“Morning,” she mumbled back. While I took off my coat, she turned to me: “Where are the others?”

Before I could answer, the door opened again. Warren and Jonah Pike, the data analyst, entered, each with a coffee cup in one hand and papers in the other.

“Morning, Violet.” Jonah dropped his body mass onto the chair next to me and I sat down as well.

“Are Nico and Dust engrossed in private conversations again?” Oh, Violet was in a bad mood, the day had obviously not started well.

“Nico's at the doctor's,” Jonah replied, shrugging before delving into his cup.

“Again?”

“I'm not privy to his bodily malfunctions.” it half mumbled from the cup.

Violet sighed in annoyance and pulled out her phone.

“John will see to it that the car is brought here,” Warren said, oddly quietly, and then sat down - with two empty seats to my position, but strategically completely illogically, half with his back to Violet.

With a nod directed at Warren, she lifted the phone to her ear; if she was going to call Dust, though, it was unnecessary, for his magic slipped into my consciousness at that moment.

A minute and some unintelligible muttered curses from Violet later, Dust breezed in. “What happened to the good old academic quarter?” Rushed, annoyed and wet, he glanced around. Instead of an answer, Violet growled and he raised his hands apologetically before peeling himself out of his rain-covered jacket.

I felt the urge to make myself small and invisible, but this was a work meeting, not a private chat, so I straightened my shoulders.

Detective DeLaney. Officer Ingram. Cursebreaker. Mr. Pike. That's it.

Violet pinched the bridge of her nose, then exhaled audibly. "All right, then. I talked to the teachers, or at least the ones who were available. None of them had anything to say. Kate is closed off, smart, studious, sometimes arrogant. She's told the school counselor about problems with her parents, but that's confidential, of course. Pursuing the rumor that something might be going on with a teacher ended in a dead end. Two male teachers said in amazement they'd never exchanged a word with her outside the classroom, and this Thomas..." She paused and shook her head.

Dust grinned wryly, but said nothing.

“He said he'd only spoken to Kate once outside of class, about a homework assignment, and she was downright hostile.”

“So is Kate just telling this to get attention?” Warren looked up at Violet, who was the only one still standing and shifting her weight uneasily.

“It's possible she was trying to make her former best friend and coven rival jealous, though I'm not sure why.” Violet shrugged.

“Teenage imposing behavior?” Dust suggested.

I refrained from saying that, at twenty-three, she should be too old for that, especially under a strict witch training program. What I'd read about it sounded character-building.

Violet shrugged again. "Possibly. But maybe her arrogance and these lies are a sign that something is mentally wrong, I really don't know. We don't have enough for a psychological analysis. Jonah, what did you find?"

“Not much.” Under her scowl, he hurriedly sat up straight. "Without access to her phone or laptop, my hands are tied. Someone described her as fickle, didn't they? She was enrolled in four different schools or colleges, each for just a few weeks before she settled on the nursing school."

“What did she try to study?” Warren wanted to know, and with a groan, Jonah consulted his papers.

“Does it matter?” I asked back. It sounded antagonistic, I realized uncomfortably, but really I only asked it so I wouldn't sit silently by the whole time.

Jonah paused, Violet rolled her eyes and made a prompting gesture. "Um, well, she tried her hand at... political science in Thylle, film technology here in Quincefield, environmental science in Ashmill, and lastly economics in Thylle. As I said, enrolled and then withdrew a few weeks later. She would have gotten a merit scholarship for political science."

“So either she had a big college fund or Daddy was a good boy and paid for it.” Dust raised an eyebrow.

“Michael Bell didn't seem like he went along with it,” Violet returned, and Warren shook his head supportively. “Except for political science, of course.”

In and of itself, I agreed, my impression was the same.

“What else?”

Jonah sniffled and raised his hands apologetically. "Nothing. Her Facebook profile apparently exists just to exist. Other than that, her email address pings Instagram, Tumblr, and Reddit, but without access, I can't do anything about it."

“Do we have enough to get a warrant for her room and laptop?” Warren asked thoughtfully.

Violet also swayed her head in thought. “Tell me about the car first.”

“Okay, so” - Warren stood up - "Kate's Toyota was found at the edge of the woods, about - do we have a laser pointer? Thank you. Well, there." The red dot landed at the top left of the map. It seemed to be in the middle of nowhere.

“What's there anyway?” Jonah asked, confused, before I could.

“Forest and fields,” Warren said dryly. He moved the red dot across the map. "This is a path leading from the country road up to the forest. It's actually only used by forest workers. The country road is the link between Attville and Quincefield."

“Did Kate park the car there herself?” I finally asked. When Warren's eyes met mine, I felt a small pang of regret, but nothing that would have ennobled Gianna's desire for revenge.

“Hard to say,” he said after a moment. "Street surveillance shows her driving. But we have no idea when the car was parked there. It was left halfway behind a pile of wood, so it wasn't immediately visible. Since it rained on Monday and last night, there's not much in the way of tracks or sniffer dogs. But the car itself looks untouched. Nevertheless, we can't get to it without a spare key or explicit authorization."

“As for the spare key-” Violet began.

"No, I asked Marian, she has no idea where it is. If we get a warrant for her room, it might turn up, because even Mrs. Bell couldn't tell me where it is."

Violet nodded thoughtfully.

As I'd only ever seen normal maps or Google Maps and navigation systems of Quincefield, I was overwhelmed by the huge satellite image. “It might be a stupid question, but unless kidnappers were trying to hide her car there... what was she doing out in the middle of nowhere?”

“Hard to say,” answered Dust of all people, while Jonah chuckled happily:

“There are no stupid questions.”

Dust waved his hand promptingly and Warren handed him the laser pointer. "Here, did you say? Okay. First, Kate's a witch with a talent for potions. I don't know much about it, but she might have been looking for some plants."

“But then what's the rush?” Warren shook his head.

“I don't know, just an idea.” Dust shrugged exaggeratedly and a pout briefly twitched across Warren's face.

Violet sighed in annoyance.

"Seriously, there's not much there. Around there is the old military training area, which was closed in '93. A bit further on are the ruins of a tavern, which was mainly for the soldiers and burned down in '94." Dust had pointed to a section above the actual map. “And here is the old monastery with the monk's tower.” This time he pointed to a kind of wooded headland jutting out into the yellowish fields. “But if she wanted to go there, she could have taken our road, it's much closer.” Now he drew a line along a dark rectangle.

“But it's marked as private,” Violet objected slowly.

“Do you think anyone actually abides by it?” With a raised eyebrow, Dust shook his head.

“Wait, that's where you live?” Jonah asked incredulously.

I hadn't made a connection of this kind till now.

“Yes, that's the so-called Parker settlement.” The red dot danced across the dark rectangle. “Why?”

"Well, your cousin! The witch! Did Kate want to see her?"

“The point is good,” I interjected, but Dust shook his head.

"I don't know all the details, but novices are strictly bound to their mentor. Besides, Bridget has a student of her own. Kate going to her or Bridget calling her to her - outside of the coven grounds, no less - would be a serious breach of the rules."

“Where there's no witness, there's no accuser.” Jonah shrugged, but Dust shook his head again.

For me Jonah's objection was valid, but Dust probably knew the witches and especially his cousin best.

Violet cleared her throat. “If we look at the time factor, how far is all this from where the car was?”

“Twenty minutes from there to us,” Dust answered slowly. "It's over an hour from us to the old military site and about twenty minutes to the monk's tower, rather more because the hill is quite steep on our side. If you plan two hours, you can get from us to Warner's Hill, on the other side of the forest, but you have to know the way."

“She was in a hurry, but she wouldn't have gotten anywhere before ten.” Warren tilted his head.

“And maybe this was the exact place of a meeting,” I interjected.

Violet rubbed her face, sighing once more.

We discussed the case for quite a while, tossing ideas back and forth, but the case lacked pieces of the puzzle. Speculation didn't get us very far. And I didn't know why I was actually here until the end.

When Violet finally disappeared in a hurry after a phone call, the group broke up. Jonah took Warren's coffee cup and he took Jonah's papers in turn.

With no word, Dust stayed behind and waited while I over-slowly packed away my pitiful notes.

“What on earth was that yesterday with Gianna?” he finally wanted to know.

“I have no idea.” Shaking my head, I shrugged. “They said they'd read a discussion in one of their groups and that had stirred up a certain topic.” Of course, I hadn't read the message until breakfast this morning.

“Queer people are only human and have individual levels of acceptance and tolerance, not excluding certain officers.” Dust grimaced. “But that's no reason to get so upset.”

“Gianna is...” Because I couldn't think of a suitable word, I made a helpless gesture.

“Gianna is a lot of things.” Humor returned to Dust's face now, making his eyes sparkle. My hyper-romanticism revved up the engine.

"Well. Really, I don't know. I told them to let it go, but... maybe a kink?" I raised a brow questioningly, because I really didn't know anything about that.

But Dust laughed. "Revenge and hate sex? Why not? Everyone has their fantasies. But I still say no thanks."

“I don't even want to know why.” Underlining the words, I shook my head and slipped into my coat. Dust's smile and a warmth that was intangible but flowed through our ongoing mental-magical connection made my stomach bubble.

"It was a chance. You and him, I mean. I can understand why he didn't take it - admittedly, I wouldn't have either - but the way he handled the situation is bar none below any level. I wouldn't want to have anything to do with an individual like him in my private life. There would be more reasons, but they take a modest back seat."

I simply nodded. What else could I say? Warren wasn't the first and wouldn't be the last to thank me for my honesty on the first date and not look back. I could understand, I wouldn't want to date myself either.

“Don't make that face.” Gently, Dust punched my arm. “I thought you'd gotten over it.”

"I have. Over him, I mean. The way I'm ticking, it's not hard. One official no and he's out of the system." But that didn't change the fact that everything in me longed for real-life romance.

Dust smiled and wrapped an arm around my waist before leaning towards me conspiratorially. "You'll find your prince eventually, Nathan. You deserve one."

~The Detective~

Thank goodness our discussion had already reached a frustrated standstill when I was told by the officer at reception duty that Kate's mother had shown up. It was only after I hurried off that I remembered I was supposed to include Warren, but decided on a quick “maybe she's more open in a woman's conversation” text.

Susannah Bell was waiting in one of the more comfortable interview rooms and this time she was clearly dressed like the banker she actually was. “Detective DeLaney.”

"Mrs. Bell. Why don't you have a seat?" I pointed to the couch and she hesitantly sat down, her fingers twisting together almost immediately. Outwardly as calm as possible, I sat down on the opposite couch and pulled out my phone to record the conversation.

“No recording,” she immediately said defensively however.

Surprised, I nodded and put the phone aside. “What did you come here for, Mrs. Bell?” I then asked gently. If she didn't want an audio file, she surely had something to say.

“I don't know where to start,” she admitted, shaking her head with a tense smile.

“Take your time.”

She nodded slowly, her gaze twitching around the room before she stared at her fingers. The dark green nail polish had not been applied yesterday. “I don't trust my husband.”

That was definitely an opener.

“In what way?” I wanted to know.

“He's - in Europe they call it a night mayor, do you know the term?” When I nodded, she continued directly: "Michael's been that for ten years now. It has changed him. His outlook on his career, our privacy. I don't have proof, but I'm pretty sure he's associating with people who aren't just doing legal things. That was one of the reasons Jacob left."

"Could you elaborate on that? As for Jacob, I mean."

She sighed deeply, wringing her hands. "Michael isn't half as liberal as he pretends to be. When Jacob's best friend had his coming out, he forbade the boy from entering our house. Kate was daddy's little princess until her magic kicked in. He eagerly supported her idea of becoming a shaman - so she'd be out of the house while he had a little prestige object at the same time." She paused and her renewed sigh was half a sob.

I waited patiently as she gave another sigh.

"He pressured Jacob to follow his path and even took him to one of his meetings. Jacob didn't say it explicitly, but that was the last straw. Michael doesn't know it, but I have sporadic contact with our son. He mainly asks about Kate. Because... while Jacob felt repulsed, Kate, after realizing her father was suddenly withdrawing his love from her, was desperately seeking it."

Slowly, I nodded. “Her fickleness was an attempt to find something that would please her father?”

Mrs. Bell nodded. "Yes, that was part of it. Along with the classic adolescent self-discovery." She adjusted her glasses and brushed a strand of hair from her forehead. “She's only going through with nursing school because Michael said it was something useful and helpful.”

“Do you have any specific fears about your husband and Kate's disappearance?” I asked cautiously when she didn't continue.

“Specific...” she actually sniffled this time, "specific is a difficult word. I was the one who suggested keeping Kate's disappearance under wraps. I wanted to see how he'd react. You know, detective, the old Michael or my mother-in-law, they would have publicly ridden the wave of pity or martyrdom. But he immediately jumped on the idea. As if he had names in mind of who it might have been."

“As if he knew the pressure would increase if it became known?”

“Or as if he'd already received a ‘no police’ message.” She shrugged, shook her head. "I don't know. I want my daughter back."

“We're following up on every lead we have, Mrs. Bell,” I assured her. “What's your relationship with Kate really like?”

"We have mother-daughter afternoons sometimes, but she really doesn't say much anymore. She keeps everything bottled up. She used to tell everything to Jacob or her dad, but now..." Mrs. Bell shook her head, adjusted her glasses again and then took a deep breath. When she lifted her head, she looked at me properly for the first time. Sorrow lay heavy in her dark eyes.

“We'll do what we can, Mrs. Bell,” I assured her again, but it felt hollow.

After seeing her off, I ran into Officer Franks in the hallway, apparently on his way to my office. Although he worked with Harry and I, our relationship was rather on the cool side; I don't think he liked me.

“Detective.” he greeted, nodding. “The car is safely stowed in the evidence garage.”

“Thanks.” I nodded back, sparing myself further words as he turned and walked away. A warrant for Kate's dorm room and her laptop was right and important- if she was so closed off in person, maybe she was more open online- and I'd ask Jonah to look up Michael Bell as much as he could without just cause.

I'd already discussed a search in the woods where Kate's car had been found with Staff Sergeant Winter before the meeting. Or rather, I had mentioned it. The chances were minimal and of course we had no resources to spare for such an operation, so I wasn't surprised that Winter had declined.

But now that the car was there but Kate wasn't, the last shred of hope in Maggie's confidence that Kate would show up for her meeting with her mentor later today was fading.

We only had crumbs, which in itself was nothing unusual. When normal adults disappear it's more the norm. But Mrs. Bell's concern about her husband's possible entanglements made my already bad mood sink even lower.

And so I pulled out my phone to tell Nathan about it. He deserved a warning that his already rather ridiculous assignment might take an unpleasant turn.