Angel's Dance (19 page)

Grant had hit on Clear’s curiosity
about Tony’s relationship with Bella, so Clear focused back in on
their conversation.

“
So, what was the nature
of your relationship?”

Tony fidgeted a bit. “I told you, we
were dance partners.”

“
That’s it? I mean, she
was a pretty little thing, wasn’t she? All those hours together…
practicing….”

“
She wasn’t like that,”
Tony insisted. “Bella was very… focused. Determined. She didn’t
have time to play games and she certainly didn’t waste practice
time on… silly hormonal urges… yeah, that is what she called
it.”

“
When she shot you down?”
Grant pried.

“
What? No… it was,
nothing… just… we wanted to use the dance room late one night and
we… sort of walked in on someone else… using it.” He had gone fifty
shades of pink saying this. Clear could feel the embarrassment
emanating off of him. The embarrassment was not because of what he
saw, but because just thinking about what he saw was turning him
on.

“
And you figured, love was
in the air, so you suggested that you two could join them?” Grant
quirked.

“
NO!” Tony turned away and
Clear figured that was probably almost exactly what had happened.
“Look… Bella and I were really close, but all she cared about was
dance. I thought we were heading into something more, but after the
show she probably would’ve been done with me.” He looked abashed
and for a moment Clear could truly feel how he had hoped this and
it was almost sincere, or at least as sincere as a horny teenage
boy could be.

“
So, you had a thing for
her? But she was only interested in being your dance partner? Bet
that pissed you off a bit,” Grant scoffed. Clear realized this kid
was a suspect, but her senses didn’t indicate anything like that.
She figured Grant still had to do his thing, so she stayed silent.
The clothing was not really giving her anything. Sweat, music,
general things, but certainly nothing sinister or even particularly
dramatic about Bella.

“
Hey, there are plenty of
fish in the sea,” Tony muttered.

“
And you absolutely sound
like you believe that,” Grant quipped.

“
Look I’m not like...
well, like a lot of these guys. Sue me for getting a little bit
emotionally attached. When you spend that many hours with someone
as beautiful and amazing as Bella… it happens. But I’m not
desperate or anything. There are plenty of girls in this studio who
dig what I got to offer.” He spread his arms out, resembling a
football jock. “If Bella was too caught up in herself that was her
loss, man.”

Suddenly Clear locked in on something
and the conversation between Grant and Tony faded out in the
distance.

Everything was dark and in deep
shadow. Clear felt disoriented and tried to place what was
happening. There was music coming from somewhere nearby and it was
very loud. But she was not near the music. It was hot and humid
and… stuffy. She was having trouble breathing, the air was so
oppressive. There were voices and people moving about, but Clear
was only getting glances. Everything seemed
disproportionate.

All at once Clear realized that
whoever she was seeing from was kneeling between the racks of
costumes, hiding. The person’s legs began to burn. The nose itched
from a feather on a costume nearby. The heart was racing and so
loud in her ears, that Clear couldn’t focus on the many
conversations going on around her.

There was a flurry of movement and
more light flooded the area, then almost all of the dancers were
gone and the bright light snapped out. Clear saw the person’s hands
in that brief moment. She was seeing through a girl, probably a
young girl. Chipped purple nail polish and nibbled nails, jeans and
sneakers. The light shifted again and Clear realized it was the
side curtains. Two people came off the stage.

The girl who was hiding in the
clothing rack shifted position, trying to get a better view of the
two people.

“
Another fantastic
performance.” What sounded like Tony, said to the other person. The
biting sarcasm was painful. Tony stomped off the stage. The girl
started to rise, then stopped, realizing there was someone else
there. She crouched back down and strained to see and hear what was
going on between the two.

“
Ahh, mia Bella. That poor
boy is so besotted, but that doesn’t make him wrong. Que
magnifico….” The accent sounded like a bad Italian job to Clear,
but she was no expert on accents. What little she could see of the
man, was simply a large looming shadow.

The shadow moved to Bella and reached
for her pulling her out of the limited light and the girl’s heart
rate jumped up again. She was scared, but also a little thrilled
about what she was hearing.

“
Stop it!” Bella snapped.
“I am in the middle of a performance.” The plaintive whine was
painful.

There was heated
whispering and the girl once again strained to hear. Her palms were
sweating. She knew that if she was caught here, she would be
in
so much
trouble. But she waited, leg muscles screaming, eyes and ears
straining.

“
I know I am not the one
you truly want,” Bella gasped.

“
Ahh, mia bella…” the rest
was lost.

“
She is just a kid. Leave
her alone.” Again, more of a plaintive whine.

“
Beauty knows no age or
bounds. Bella. Do not be jealous, you are more to me than she… but
to think what the two of you could do together….” And more was
lost.

Clear’s stomach flopped at the double
entendre in the man’s voice, but obviously the young woman had no
idea. The thought excited her, it didn’t make her ill. Clear was
almost positive she was seeing through Kat. But what theatre were
they in when this happened? She tried to get some sort of bearing,
something to give her a clue. Then the vision ended and Clear found
herself sitting on her butt with Tony and Grant looking at
her.

Grant had been watching
Clear for several minutes and recognized the vacant look on her
face. She was into something. He kept the questions going with
Tony, waiting for her to come out of it and hoping Tony would not
notice. “So, if Bella wasn’t hooking up with you, was there anyone
else she
was
hooking up with?”

“
I doubt it,” Tony
scowled. “Like I said, Bella wasn’t that kind of girl.”

“
Well, was there anyone
else who wanted to hook up with her?” Grant probed in
frustration.

“
Probably. I mean, you saw
her, right? She was hot and talented. That kinda hook up is more
than just good. It does things for your status around here. Talent
rubs off, they say.”

“
Anyone in particular?”
Grant asked, half-watching Clear. She had been at this for quite a
few minutes. He was hoping she was having more luck than he
was.

Tony shrugged, looking a little
uncomfortable. Grant almost missed it, focusing on Clear, but the
silence dragged on. “Come on man. This place has got to be full of
it. Give me some names.”

“
There weren’t really any
serious pursuits. Not that I saw. Rumor was… that she was off
limits. That she was with someone.”

“
Who? Who would be
off-limits in this place?” Grant growled.

Tony shrugged again. “Someone better
than me.”

“
Someone she was dancing
with? Or training with?”

“
Mr. Lando… well, I don’t
think he is like that. More interested in other
pursuits.”

“
Such as?”

“
This place! Can you
imagine what a scandal like that would do to his business?” Tony
shook his head. “Besides, his wife would rake him over the coals
for all he was worth. That woman is… a tiger… and not in a good
way… in the rip out your heart to feed her young kinda
way.”

“
What about their son? I
understand he is a teacher here too.”

Tony’s eyes wandered away. A good sign
that he didn’t really want to talk about this.

“
The son?” Grant
pressed.

“
Louis… is a talented
dancer. He mostly spotlights talent and then trains individual
dancers. That is, when he isn’t working on his own projects. He
always has a lot running. And he is almost always the main
performer in most of our productions.”

“
Was he in the Chicago
performance?”

“
Yeah.”

“
Did he dance with
Bella?”

Tony simply nodded.

“
Did they practice alone a
lot?”

“
I… I don’t really
know.”

Grant just stared at the
kid.

“
Probably.”

Then their conversation was
interrupted by Clear crashing to the ground. They rushed over to
her and Tony stood there uncomfortably. Grant offered her his hand.
“You ok?”

The haze and confusion was still over
her and Grant hoped Tony didn’t notice. Clear reached for his hand
quickly and carefully. She laughed and said in self-deprecation.
“Well, now we all know why I’m not a dancer!” Standing and dusting
herself off, she ducked her head under the rack. “I tripped,” she
muttered, fishing around. She pulled out a backpack, “on
this.”

Grant saw the hello kitty keychain
dangling from the zipper and noticed the wear from where a baseball
normally sat in the back pouch of the bag. He could feel the world
go into tunnel vision as he stared at what he knew was Kat’s back
pack.

Clear was amazed at how quickly Grant
began tearing around. She could feel the rage build up and the dam
about to burst. She grabbed him by the arm and it took all of her
strength to pin him against the wall. She completely ignored the
absolutely terrified Tony and she quickly plastered herself against
Grant as he started to try and break free. Leaning in close, she
whispered harshly in his ear, “Calm down!”

“
You don’t understand!!”
he moaned, once again trying to break away. His arms were pinned to
either side and although in general he was much stronger than
Clear, she had the stronger legs.

“
I absolutely do!” she
hissed again. “I do know that is
her
bag. I know that you think she
is here and I also know that she is NOT here, but someone here
knows where she is. I am almost positive of that. But if you go
tearing about acting like a mad man you will get us kicked out of
here and give them a heads up to get rid of her. You
do not
want that!” She
reminded him. As she felt the wave of hysteria beginning to pass,
she began gently rubbing his arm to slough off more of the negative
energy.

“
Calm down Grant. We are
getting closer. This is good, but we have to handle this very
carefully. If we do, I promise we will get your daughter back
alive. I
promise
!” She knew even as she said it that she was probably making
a big mistake. She knew that Bella was dead and she knew that the
person who had taken Bella and Kat had absolutely no compunction
against killing. It was only a matter of time when this lunatic
would tire of Kat or would dispose of her to keep from getting
caught. But she felt her words helping to calm him and that was
what mattered right now.