Angel's Dance (11 page)

Grant shook his hand and even added in
a squeeze to his arm. Both men were smiling friendly enough, but
Clear had the distinct feeling of being caught between two bucks
during mating season. Not the best place to be.

“
Good to see you, old
friend.” Grant replied. He gestured to Clear. “This is my associate
Clear Angel. She has come from Montana to give us a
hand.”

“
And what? You think we
can’t handle it on our own?” There was a glint of steel in Bryce’s
eyes, but then he chuckled. “Never you mind it. And Miss… er. Or is
it Mrs. Angel?” The man pushed his way on over and offered his
hand. Clear took it gingerly.

“
I’m not married, if that
is what you’re asking,” Clear replied, feeling a little sick at his
cold clammy hand.

“
And what fine skills have
you got, what’s got my old friend here dragging you halfway ‘cross
the country to come play with us old dogs?”

Clear looked at him a little
bewildered. “I’m a behavioral analyst,” she offered, glancing at
Grant.

“
She.. well, she mostly
works as a consultant,” Grant added, offering a tight smiled to
Clear.

“
Ho now, you know we ain’t
got no budget for that,” Detective Bryce barked.

“
I am not here on your
dime Detective. This is a favor. Grant saved my life a few months
back.” Clear ducked her eyes.

Those narrow eyes delved back and
forth between the two, then glanced at Laura. “Turnabouts fair
play!” He smiled and Clear resisted the urge to throw up. The man
was definitely an astute detective, but he gave her the heebie
jeebies.

Grant redirected Bryce’s attention.
“Listen, we wanted to see if you would know of a young girl who may
have gone missing recently. She was a Goth and a ballerina.” He
nodded to Clear, who showed Bryce the picture. She saw the flash of
recognition across his face and then it immediately
closed.

“
Friend or not, I can’t be
talking about this sort of thing with you. I’ll do what I can to
help you find your girl, you know that; but other cases are off
limits.”

Clear interrupted, “We have it on good
authority that this young woman knew Kat. We are trying to find her
to question her, but no one has seen her around lately.”

“
Good authority? What sort
of good authority?” He eyeballed Clear and she turned to
Grant.

“
The kind of authority
that doesn’t like talking to police,” Grant replied mysteriously.
Clear wasn’t sure exactly what he was implying, but Bryce
apparently bought it.

Bryce eyed him then harrumphed. “Well,
good luck on that. You ain’t gonna find her. I’ve tore this city
apart looking for her. She’s a runaway from Peoria. Shame too. Her
parents are pretty well off. They pay for her to go on this
traveling dance camp thing and in Chicago she up and disappears.”
Bryce shook his head like it was a shame, but everything about it
felt like false sincerity. Clear got the distinct impression he
didn’t give a rat’s rear and this was his ‘condolences’ speech,
slightly modified.

“
What makes you say she is
a runaway?” Clear asked.

“
Eh, oh, well the troupe
called her parents because her bags were gone. They thought there
might have been an emergency and she had left without telling them.
But she didn’t leave. None of the rail lines or bus workers
remembered seeing her, no taxi drivers. She is probably still in
the city. When was the last time your daughter saw her?”

“
A couple months back,
maybe,” Clear answered, not sure this was correct, but really the
best she could go on.

“
Hmm… yeah, after she
jumped ship. I figured she was still in the city. Well, her parents
can hope after she gets whatever out of her system she might come
home.”

Clear frowned, trying not to cry
again. She knew that girl was not going to be coming home. She
glanced at Grant pleadingly.

“
Um.. you think there is a
chance that we could go with you to talk to her parents?” Grant
shot off.

“
What for? I told ya, she
was with your girl after she baled on them. She hasn’t had no
contact with them. How you figure they could help?”

“
Maybe she knew someone in
the city. They may not even realize they know something that could
help lead us to her.”

Bryce shook his head. “Man, I done
played all your little head games with them. They got nothing. Had
never been here, didn’t know no one here. There is
nothing.”

“
Yes… but you didn’t have
a behavioral analyst look into it,” Clear pointed out, hoping it
sounded more true than it felt.

“
She has ways of getting
information that are… almost magical,” Grant added.

The man smirked and Clear felt even
more uncomfortable. She had the distinct impression the man’s mind
was somewhere in or very near the gutter!

“
What the hell. Why not.?
They put a call in earlier this week. Won’t hurt to drop in and
give ‘em the word, would it?”

Chapter Seven

They had been on the road for two
hours and Clear was ready to scream! The Detective was driving at
an unusually fast rate that honestly terrified her. He seemed
determined that he had to out-do Grant in every way and always had
a snide remark to anything Clear had to say. As the sign for Peoria
flashed by, Clear breathed a mental sigh of relief. She and Grant
had made arrangements to stay overnight and would catch the bus
back when she was done probing.

Clear chuckled at Grant’s surprise
about her being a behavioral analyst, and his creative little lie.
She would have to pocket it away for another day. Detective Bryce
didn’t seem to quite believe it. Fortunately, if he pushed, she did
have a degree on hand. She was fairly sure that this whole trip was
simply his opportunity to dig and see what was happening with
Grant… and perhaps how long he planned to stay this time. The
thought sort of unsettled her.

She had never thought to ask Grant why
he had left Chicago to come to Montana. There was a story here and
she could sense it in every relationship she encountered from his
old life. It was a bad story too; more than just a simple divorce
and a need for a change of scenery. Grant was running from
something.

She shoved the thought from her mind,
opening up to the sprawling little town coming into view. Along the
river there were several factories and plants, but to her right
there were parks and some fields. Soon neighborhoods came into view
and Clear noticed that the homes were modest, but well-kept. The
feelings from the town were less overwhelming than Chicago as well.
Life was simpler here, cleaner.

Tapping on the glass between the front
seat, Clear motioned for them to roll down the window. She resented
the fact that she was placed in the back of the police car like a
common criminal, but had not complained, because she certainly
didn’t want to ride up front by herself with the detective. She
actually appreciated the bit of privacy the glass had provided. The
Bryce rolled down the window for her and she inhaled the breeze. A
lot could be told about a town from the way it smelled. Despite the
factories, the breeze had a damp mossy smell. It was
invigorating.

Clear leaned back into the seat
letting the sun hit her directly and letting the breeze wash over
her. She closed her eyes and could feel herself beginning to relax
for the first time in days. The peace in this town was surprising,
given its size. She almost, almost, felt as if she were back home.
Pondering this, Clear sat up to see more.

The highway was coming into the metro
area and Detective Bryce took an exit. The neighborhood was a
little nicer than the ones she had previously seen. The yards were
a fraction larger, the cars a little newer. As they passed a high
school, Clear noted the sprawling sports fields full of teenagers.
As was bound to happen when Clear was anywhere near teenagers; her
hormones began to rage, making all of her feelings a little more
acute. She contemplated Detective Bryce and decided that she really
didn’t like him. She didn’t know what his beef was, but she
couldn’t imagine that Grant could do anything to deserve the
intense feelings Detective Bryce had for him. Thinking of Grant set
her off on another tangent and she had to mentally slap herself and
remind herself that the teenagers were to blame for these feelings.
She tried to block it out as much as possible and hoped that the
girl’s parents didn’t live too close by.

Fortunately it did not appear that
they did. After another ten minutes, detective Bryce opened the
window between them. “Hey, you hungry? There’s this great little
place up ahead and I figured we could have lunch before you gotta
do what you do.”

Clear couldn’t deny that she was
indeed hungry, but the thought of spending any more time with this
creep really bothered her. She shrugged and the guy grinned at
her.

“
Believe you me, you have
never had a burger like the burgers they got here!”

Five minutes later they pulled into a
mom and pop shop. It was actually fairly large and obviously
well-attended. Clear suspected Detective Bryce’s assessment was
probably correct. They had to wait several minutes for a
table.

Scooting into the booth, Clear glanced
to Grant, pleading him to sit with her. He moved in quickly beside
her.

“
So, what’s your thing?”
Detective Bryce said.

Clear looked at him
blankly.

Grant glowered.

“
Look I ain’t no boy
genius, but this…” he waved his hand at the two of them. “Whatever
this is… this is not just a professional relationship.” He arched
an eyebrow at the two of them. “I didn’t want to say nothin’ in
front of Laura, but I am a bit curious, see?”

Clear glowered at him as well. “Excuse
me?”

“
Aww, come on now. A girl
like you?” He looked her up and down appraisingly and she tried
hard not to shiver. “You don’t run off with a guy to play the hero
for nothing.”

“
It is not for nothing.
His daughter is missing. He asked for my help. Why wouldn’t I
help?”

He shrugged. “Why would you is my
question.”

Clear rolled her eyes wondering if he
was dense. “Are you telling me that you think I must be getting
something out of this?”

“
No one does something for
nothing, is all I’m sayin’.” The man once again
shrugged.

“
Right, and saving a
girl’s life is nothing?” Clear growled. “I mean, don’t you do it
every day?” she added, hoping to sound a little more tactful than
he was.

“
Yeah, sure… and I get
paid.”

“
Are you telling me that
you wouldn’t do it, if you didn’t get paid?” Clear
gasped.

“
Ehh…” He wiggled his hand
in the so-so gesture. “I’d be getting something out of it one way
or ‘tother for sure. Which leads me back to my original question.
What are you getting’ out of it?” He gave Grant a wicked
smirk.

“
Back off Bryce. She isn’t
like you,” Grant growled.

“
Sure thing, there’s
nothing goin’ on here. She is just a
really
good Samaritan,” he said in a
very sarcastic tone.

Grant started to rise. “Watch
it…”

Clear placed a hand on his arm and he
went back to his seat. She could feel the anger and even violence
radiating off Grant and it scared her a little. There was
definitely more going on here than there seemed.

“
Yeah, yeah and that was
nothin’ neither…” Bryce scoffed, his shrewd eyes catching the
gesture.

“
Look I don’t know what
your deal is, but you are a very sad, very angry little man. I am
sorry that you think the whole world has an angle and that people
don’t help other people out of the kindness of their hearts,” Clear
replied heatedly. “Maybe that’s the cold city building up around
your cold heart, but where I come from people do things for other
people. They do things for people they don’t like and for people
they don’t know. I was taught to help when I could, even without
immediate rewards or benefit. Yeah, maybe a few years from now I
will be in a situation where I need Grant’s help and then I will
benefit from this act of kindness, but that is not why I am doing
this. I am doing this because that is how I was raised,” Clear
glowered, realizing that her outburst was more angry than it
deserved and wondering if she was feeding off of Grant’s hostility
for this man. She pulled herself together and tapped Grant’s
arm.