Horror at Blackstone Part 1 of 3.

Mia Carlo was a small woman. Her body barely measure three inches above five feet. Mouse brown hair thick and flowing made her seem a bit bigger than the truth. Like a cat, before you wet it. Eyes, large and expressive shown with an intense almost jewel green hue. Shapely and tightly wound was a way of describing her too. Nathan did that often. Shapely and tightly wound. What ever did that really mean? Mia not yet twenty had her entire life ahead of her. But it was not her life that troubled her--not technically--past or present. Mia had a friend that had gone missing. Mia hated mysteries to the point that she refused to read all but the most popular or engaging. Dan Brown managed to get her to buy two of his books. And Agatha being a personal best for her managed to wrangle five reads. But over all she hated not knowing and the process of figuring out things to their "logical" or operational conclusion. Still Michelle was missing and the police were doing nothing.

Usually when someone says: The police are doing nothing that means that they are not moving fast enough for this person or that person. Not true in this case. They were doing nothing at all. Really. A small stone house built on a hill and over looking flat ground till everything around it turned to dense woods...this was the place Michelle disappeared from. Her car was found, door open and the radio playing. Her purse ended up being in the kitchen of the house. The contents as far as Nathan could tell were undisturbed. The police issued a brief statement to the press and took a report. The end.

Now thirteen hours after she'd been listed as missing Mia was on her way to Blackstone. The house was actually grey in color and no family named Blackstone owned the property. The owner was a man named Elisha Bailey. Mia spoke to him on the phone. Kind of an old world accent, rather British, that hinted of mystery. Mystery, the hated venue of which to tell a story according to Mia. Still here she was driving thirty five miles out into the deep countryside. Nathan vowed to meet her at the house. He'd gotten the key from the female caretaker this morning and would be waiting on a call at Tellam's bed and breakfast. Mia figured she'd call about five miles out since the B and B was about the same distance from Blackstone. Mia pushed harder on the accelerator. The sooner she got to the place the sooner she could look around and find nothing and still feel helpful to Nathan and like a good friend to Michelle.

As she approached her destination Mia dialed Tony. The phone rang until voice mail. Tony was Michelle's half brother and no one had been able to reach him either. Of course Tony was negligent about answering calls and was often out of touch for days at a time. Michelle's mother and father were dead and her only family in the state was a brother that could not be reached. Nathan convinced the police to get involved after a great deal of badgering on his part. Michelle and Nathan had plans to meet at Blackstone after she showed the house to clients. Nathan found her car and the front door open and the purse. He called the police after looking around for a few minutes did not yield Michelle into view. Of course it was two hours before they came to the property to do anything. To make things worse only two deputies showed. Mia kept going over the seeming uncaring attitude, according to Nathan, of those in authority. In fact even her real estate office said not to worry for at least a while longer. What did that mean? Mia gave up on Tony and dialed in Nathan. "Good, I'm on my way." Mia smiled. "Okay." she said in that drawl that people seemed to love to hear in this area. Living in the Bayou for half her life made her voice quirky and unique according to her friends and the strangers she met. Whatever? "I will wait for you in the driveway." Nathan's voice came through the phone in crackles and pops. "Sure thing, I'll be there in about ten minutes." Nathan unlike her was not a transplant, he'd lived in North Carolina all his life.

Mia pulled into Blackstone drive and the drive wound tightly through dense woods on either side of the road. Barley big enough for one car. Her little red Corvette didn't take well to the tightly packed earth. After a half minute the woods yielded to a huge open area. Atop small hill was the small house. Not much bigger than one might imagine a cabin to be. Mia pulled the car, unknowingly, to the very spot that Michelle parked before she went missing. In about a half hour it would be dark. The quietness of the place was not spooky but perhaps forlorn. Lonely? Lost? Unrequited...

Pulling back her hair into a ponytail she adjusted the mirror and refreshed her lipstick. Crimson red. She got out of the car and waited. Standing around while the wind blew and the last light of the day faded wasn't her idea of a good time. 'Come on Nathan.' The thought unbidden that someone was watching her out in the woods curled up like a snake, ready to strike, in her minds eye. Someone watching you and you can't see them. Secretly seeing and waiting for something. Weakness? Night? Night-time. The person in her imagination was waiting for night and the cover it would bring. Dear God. "What is wrong with me?" She spoke aloud. Mia gazed at the house. The walls were heavy grey stone and the door was of some ponderously thick wood. Small, narrow, glass panes adorned either side of the door. They were only barely windows. No one could climb out of those slits except a small child and from even this far away she could tell they did not open. The enemy she'd created in her mind was still watching and coiling up to the point of becoming fear. Not simple apprehension but true fear of being alone at this place. A quick thought to combat the stillness and her figments was to play music. Mia turned her car radio on. The rock station was playing something good from Three Days Grace. She huffed. Sitting there she began to muse. Her car door was open. She was playing the radio. She was a small, cute and vulnerable young woman out in the middle of no place. Michelle's car had last been here and right now...Mia reached in and started to turn off the radio. Why? Because the situation was similar and Michelle was missing. Mia shook away her apprehensions. But then she looked down the winding road that lead into the tall and oppressive trees she'd driven through. She turned herself all the way around, looking. Tall trees and darkness fast replacing light. A chill went through her and goosebumps formed on her arms. The little green shirt she was wearing and her tight black jeans suddenly felt restrictive. Her attention honed in on movement, movement and light. A vehicle, a white sedan, broke the treeline and kept coming. Nathan was here. Finally. The car came to rest a few feet behind hers.

Nathan was a tall and lanky fellow. He had muscles befitting a runner. Dark brown wavy hair was un-kept at the moment. His hazel eyes were tired and his grey business suit all rumpled and over worn. The tie hung unhappily around his neck. The blue of the tie made him less attractive Mia decided. She pointed, as he approached her, in a playful voice she offered, "Wear a red tie next time Nate blue doesn't cut it for you." Nathan looked at her unfazed. But he did manage to put his big arms around her and squeeze. "Thank you for coming Mia." It was then that the realization that Michelle was gone and Nathan could not find his fiance' and that tie color mattered not a damn at this moment. "Okay, so what do we know.?" Mia offered. Nathan retorted, "I am at my wits end. They would not let me search the woods and I had a heck of a time getting the key for the landlady." Nathan shook his head and collected his thoughts. "Okay..."

Mia watched as Nathan tried to pull together what he knew into coherent thoughts. He was tall and kind of sexy in this light, blue tie or no, and Mia smiled inwardly at herself for thinking this as he explained the situation that was the cause of them meeting. "Alright, her car was almost exactly where yours is now. The door was open and the radio was on at about the volume you have yours." Mia's lips pressed together so as to make an exaggerated kiss and her eyebrows went up. "Oh?" Nathan offered, "Spooky right?" Mia cocked her head so she could look directly into Nate's eyes, "Not comforting at the least." She said the last word with a hiss then she huffed out air. Nathan turned off the radio and closed the door. "Let me show you the inside of the house." It wasn't a question so Mia did not get to say yes or no or have any answer that would settle the outcome. Time to go into Blackstone.

The inside of the house was lit. There was no furniture she could see. The room opened up to a large living area and a fireplace to the left. To the right was a door. "Come on, this way to the kitchen." Mia followed. Through the redwood door was the kitchen. An island sat in the center of the grey slate floor. Double sinks and a brand new dish washer along with two refrigerators. One to her left and the other down the way and in the corner to the right. The fridge on the right was against a blank off white wall. The kitchen was a long rectangular box with only one way in and out. Mia stepped in. Nathan pushed back the wavy hair from his eyes motioning, "This is where I found her purse. Nothing seemed moved or gone. But her keys are missing..." Mia held up her hand, "Wait, what?" Nathan shrugged at her and continued on, "Her keys are missing but other than that nothing..." Mia interrupted again, "Hush up and listen to me Nathan." The boyish face paused, Nate's jaw went slack and he got a quizzical look not unlike that RCA dog. Mia smiled at him cutely before going on but all the while she held up her hand to be sure Nathan knew to remain quiet. "Okay, something is wrong." Mia paced back and fourth while talking. Her words came almost in concert to her pace. Her arms moved about as if that helped her think. Perhaps it did. "Let me think." Nathan was glad to if only she'd think of something like where the heck Michelle was at. Or come up with some evidence to get the police on the stick. Nathan waited but not long...

"Okay, let me think." She said it again. 'Oh God,' Mia walked all the way around the island almost gyrating as she talked, "Purse, keys, door, radio...not the right combination is it?" Nathan had had enough, "What the hell are you talking about Mia?" The little woman stopped in her tracks and tilted her head. The island was between them now. She pointed at him as if she had a gun. Thumb the hammer and index the barrel. "This makes no sense, not logically, for her keys to be missing. The reason is Nate, dear lord think, the radio was on when you got to the place. Did you take the keys?" Nathan shook his head offering no words but hand motions instead. Mia nodded, "Fine, you didn't take the keys, well someone did. What's more it happened while you were in this house the first time. And, honey bear, if her purse was neatly sit on this island and she was in this kitchen then..." Mia's eyes suddenly widened with shock. Nathan looked at her dumbfounded. "what, Mia?" Racing from the house Mia flung open the ponderous wooden door into the deep twilight of the outside world. She marched to her car and studied it like she'd never seen it before. Nathan strode up beside her, "Are you crazy? Just tell me now instead of making me find out later." Mia glared at him for a moment and then put her hands on her hips. Nathan stood like a statue and waited for Mia to stop looking at him like she could kill. "My guess is...I think that Michelle did not come up here alone. If she came into the house and everything was fine, if, then that means the person with her stayed in the car to listen to music." Mia slapped her vehicle to punctuate the theory. "So, someone took the keys from the car after I went in the first time? Someone was with Michelle? That makes no sense they would be missing too Mia." Mia retorted, "Or the person that disappeared Michelle dullard boy." Nathan gawked, "What?" Mia waved a hand and gave a half smile to diffuse Nathan. It worked. "Look, it is just a theory and I'm no cop..." This time Nathan interrupted Mia. He pulled his cell and started going through contacts. "What are you doing?" Nathan shrugged at first then offered, "I'm going to call Tony again, been trying to get him all day." Mia shook her head. "Won't do any good I've left him five voice messages already." Nathan kept sifting contacts. "Hey, when you came out after searching the house when did you notice the radio was off?" Nathan stared at her strangely for several unnerving seconds, "Well, when I got here I turned off the radio but left the keys in the ignition." Both of them paused amid the purple twilight and the cooling air and simply gazed at one another. "Nate, when did you know the keys were gone?" Nathan gave it thought, "After the police checked around I noticed the keys were missing from the car just before they towed it away." Mia raised both eyebrows and tilted her head. "Michelle's keys have her address on them, imprinted on a metal thingy don't they?" Nathan shook his head in affirmation. Then pressed the button to make a call. "Did you tell the police that the keys were missing after the fact?" Nathan looked almost angry as he responded, "Yes, they said it was not a big deal." Mia huffed. Nathan returned the sentiment. "Look Mia..." Abruptly, "Shut the hell up." Mia exclaimed. Nathan pulled the phone away from his ear intent on telling Mia to kiss his ass but before he could do so Mia snatched the phone from Nathan. She closed the phone, reopened it and sifted contacts. "Shh, don't breathe a word." Nathan hunkered down to be eye level with her and was about to say something but a queer look in the cute little girls eyes dared him to do so. Quiet. Mia touched the Little green telephone button on the phone and held the thing by her side. Nathan breathed in quietly. Mia whispered, "Do you hear that?" Nathan strained to hear anything other than the lazy wind but hear it he did. somewhere barely audible was a ringing cell phone. It just barely could be heard. In fact one could easily imagine it a figment, a non-sound, of imagination. "I do hear that, who did you call?" Nathan reached for the phone as Mia closed it and handed it to him. As both stood close together his hand over hers poised to take the phone Mia answered, "Tony."
end part one