by Hopkin, Ben
After the brief struggle, Mala seemed to realize what was going on. At least it appeared that way, as she stepped back and gave a small chuckle.
“I have to admit, I wasn’t expecting you to pull out my chair for me. Sorry I fought you. That was very gentlemanly of you.”
Okay, this is tricky, but for future reference, don’t do something polite if you have to wrestle her for it, Trey spoke in his ear. That was information that would have been useful several moments ago.
There were some significant issues with this arrangement. The major one being that Trey and Maggie could not see what was happening.
Maggie. That was another piece of this strange puzzle. When Darc had heard her voice for the first time, there had been another unusual upheaval in his interior emotional landscape. There was no logical reason for any sort of reaction, but he was having one nonetheless.
In the meantime, Mala had opened up her menu and was looking through the options. Darc did the same, seeking solace in the orderly words and numbers that greeted him there. He scanned the document, looking for something palatable, and chose the teriyaki beef as the most likely candidate. For all that Darc had learned about basic Japanese as an intellectual exercise, he had never eaten Japanese food, and the teriyaki seemed nonthreatening for the most part.
By the time he looked up, it appeared that Mala had already ordered her food. The waiter looked to him, and Darc communicated his choice.
“Would you like to share some gyoza for an appetizer?” Mala asked.
He glanced back at the menu and decided that gyoza did not seem to be too unusual. “That would be fine.”
Lighten up, Darc. You sound like a math professor. “That would be fine.” Come on. Trey’s speech sounded slurred. Was there an issue with the connection?
Ha! Teaching. Darc. That’s funny. It was Maggie, whose speech was also sounding distorted. Darc touched his finger to his ear, attempting to adjust the wireless piece without drawing attention to it.
“Are you feeling okay? Is your ear troubling you?” Mala asked.
“No. I am fine.”
Whoa. You almost got busted, dude. Better watch that. Trey started giggling. There was something wrong, but there was no way for Darc to ask what it was without alerting Mala.
Perhaps it was worth a trip to the restroom. He stood up and began walking off, only to have Mala call after him.
“Where are you going?”
“To the restroom.”
You can’t just get up and go to the bathroom, Darc. Tell her where you’re going first. More advice from Trey that would make more sense to Darc if he could answer back. He moved off in the direction of the men’s room, stepping in front of a thin man in glasses who was about to enter.
“What the hell!” the man protested. Darc looked at him, and the man backed down. “Hey, when you gotta go, you gotta go.” He motioned for Darc to precede him. Darc moved into one of the stalls and locked the door.
Are you trying to get into a fight at the restaurant? Trey demanded.
“No, I am not,” Darc answered back. “I needed to talk to you.”
Oh, hey, cool. I get what you’re doing now.
“There is something wrong with our connection. Your consonants are slurred and your speech pattern sounds altered. Also, you are giggling.”
Heh, heh. He said “giggling,” Trey said, giggling more.
Darc, it’s okay, Maggie interjected. We’ve just had a little wine. Don’t worry about it. Go back and sit down. She was sounding altered as well, but was clearly less so than Trey.
“If you are intoxicated, I am not certain that your advice will be appropriate,” Darc said. The strands of light swirled off the sound waves generated in the earpiece, confirming Darc’s words.
Dude. I promise that my drunk dating advice is better than your normal stone-cold sober stuff. Trey’s volume had risen, as well as his pitch. That could be indicative of irritation or fear. It was likely the latter. Maggie was often terrifying.
Darc, you’ll be fine, Maggie stepped back in, after giving Trey a shushing sound. You’re already doing better than you did on our first date, and I still married you. Just remember to think of what she needs instead of what you want. Got it?
“Yes.”
Good.
Darc moved back into the main area of the restroom, where the thin man was looking at him with a certain intensity. Perhaps he was watching Darc to see if he would wash his hands? Trey had mentioned that social oddity which existed at restaurants. It was one of the few rules that made logical sense. The destruction of dangerous pathogens on the skin was rational. It was the social aspect that made no sense. Why would someone else care that Darc washed his hands?
He moved to the sink, and the thin man followed, taking the sink to Darc’s right, apparently to do the same thing. Darc leaned over to turn on the faucet.
Hey, Darc, Trey said. Just curious, but what’s the time frame on boob touching tonight? I gotta take a leak and I don’t want to miss it. Darc’s partner started laughing until there was a sharp noise that sounded like a slap. Ow!
“You are acting in an inappropriate manner,” Darc replied. “Remember that I know multiple ways to kill you without being apprehended,” Darc responded.
The man to Darc’s right backed away from the sink, his hands still soapy and dripping. He neglected to turn off the faucet as well. When Darc turned to look at the man, his face blanched and he bolted for the door.
Strange.
Darc left the bathroom and headed back to the table. It was clear that the help coming from his partner was at least partially compromised.
Their food had arrived, however. Darc’s teriyaki beef and Mala’s raw fish. The bands and pathways of light swirled around her dish, calculations clarifying in his mind. There was information here that needed to be shared. Preferably before she began eating.
“Raw fish has been shown to carry anisakis, which is a parasitic worm which can cause extreme gastronomic distress including vomiting and severe diarrhea for up to three days if it lodges in your stomach. If it takes up residence in your intestines, it will need to be removed laparoscopically.”
Mala looked up from her fish, her skin tone changing to a lighter, slightly green shade. She said nothing, which encouraged Darc to continue.
Darc, what are you doing? You took her to a sushi restaurant for crying out loud. Don’t start dissing the chow. And never, ever use the word diarrhea on a date. Trey’s tone was adamant, but it was also clear he was still intoxicated. The possible risks to Mala’s health seemed more important than Trey’s drunken concerns.
“There is also the danger of vibrio vulnificus, streptococci, Esherichia coli and fecal coliform if proper care is not taken by the chefs,” Darc elaborated. “Although this establishment appears clean, so that is most likely not as great a risk.”
Darc, seriously, stop. This time it was Maggie. Her reduced state of intoxication made her a more reliable source, but he was not convinced.
As Mala pushed her plate away, a slim Caucasian man in a suit approached their table. He appeared to be a manager. That was fortuitous. Darc would be able to discuss with him the freezing processes used before transporting and preparing their fish.
“Excuse me,” the manager said. “I am so sorry, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave the restaurant.”
“What on earth for?” Mala asked, her eyebrows lifting.
“Another customer has accused your date of threatening his life in the restroom.”
Mala looked from Darc to the manager and then back to Darc.
Darc was uncertain, but this did not seem to be a positive development in their date.
* * *
Mala was pretty sure that this had been the most painful date of her life. There had been moments, right up front, where she had thought that maybe, maybe, there was a chance that this was going to work.
All of those ideas had quickly fled with the one-two punch of having h
er meal spoiled by graphic depictions of biological terrorism committed in sushi restaurants and then being expelled forcibly from that very establishment. She had to admit, it had been memorable if nothing else.
“Darc, I think it’s just time for me—” Mala began, when her cell phone rang. It was Pyper, her supposed marijuana-using babysitter. Mala answered the call, her hands trembling. Getting a call from the babysitter didn’t seem like it could possibly be a good thing.
That suspicion was confirmed by Pyper’s frantic tone. “Dr. Charan! I went in to check on Janey and she wasn’t there.” It sounded like she was doing all that she could not to cry. “I looked everywhere in the apartment, but I couldn’t find her.”
“All right,” Mala replied, her mind racing. “I’m going to give you three places to check, and then I want you to go down to the security desk on the first floor and see if they’ve seen her. Check in the closet in my bedroom, the one in the hallway and under the sink.” Those were several of the places that Janey liked to hide with her bear when she wanted some alone time. It was possible she had just gotten overwhelmed with the idea of being there with a babysitter.
But even as she thought it, Mala was sure that wasn’t the case.
“Okay. Okay. Dr. Charan, I’m so sorry,” Pyper sobbed, giving way to her tears. “This has never happened to me before.”
“Pyper, it’s all right. Take a deep breath and try to calm yourself. You won’t be able to help if you’re panicked.”
“You’re right. You’re right.” The babysitter took a moment, and then responded with a more normal tone. “I’ll call you once I’ve checked those places.”
Mala hung up the phone, fighting the rising fear that arose from her gut. “Darc, Janey’s gone missing. We need—”
Before she’d finished, Darc had grabbed her by the arm and was sprinting toward the car. He seemed to be speaking into the air in front of him, the words making no sense whatsoever to Mala.
“You heard? You are not in a state to drive. Wait five minutes, then call the station. Use whatever personal leverage you can to escalate this beyond regulations.”
The words might make not sense, but the focus and intensity that radiated off of the bald detective as a palpable force, that she understood. It was something she’d seen before, and it almost always related to Janey.
Mala had forgotten how hot it was.
“Whom are you talking to?” Mala demanded. Nothing here seemed even close to sane or rational. It was like the world exploded with the call from Pyper.
“I am conversing with Trey. We are connected via a Bluetooth device stuck in my ear canal.” He pressed the button on his keychain fob to unlock the car as he sprinted around to the driver’s side. “Oh, and Maggie is present as well.”
“What?” Mala asked, her mind imploding. “You’ve been talking to Trey and Maggie while we were on a date?”
“This seems to be an inopportune moment to discuss it, but yes. They were helping me with the social aspects of our communication. Unsuccessfully.” That last word seemed to be directed more at the two linked to them by the wireless device.
Mala shook her head, trying to refocus on the task at hand. “You’re right. We’ll talk about this later. We have to find Janey.”
“Trey, our excursion tonight may have to wait.” He paused, then nodded at something Trey must have said. “You are correct. That would be easier.” Turning to Mala, he pulled his cell phone from his pocket and pushed a series of buttons. “I’m turning this to speaker.”
Trey’s voice echoed from the cell in the confines of the car. “Mala, I’m so sorry. I mean, about Janey. Well, about the other too, but that’s not important right now.” His speech wasn’t as precise as normal, which helped Mala to understand Darc’s earlier comment about Trey not being in a state to drive.
“If Pyper can’t find her in the apartment, I’m not sure where to go next,” Mala confessed. There were so many options, but then also so few, especially when it came to a six-year-old girl. It’s not like she could go far. Unless…
Darc seemed to be thinking along the same lines. “We have to acknowledge the possibility that Janey has been taken.”
Once again, Mala was struck by how attracted to Darc she was in this moment, no matter how inopportune the timing was. This was the relationship that Mala cherished. The mutual respect and sympatico that existed between the two of them in moments of crisis. Even her perception of his face had changed. The sharp lines of his cheekbones and jaw, which could be off-putting, were strong and determined now. It was as if he were lit from within by his sense of purpose.
Shaking off her attraction, Mala thought the whole scenario of Janey getting taken through. “I have no idea how that could have happened. I put her to bed, Pyper came and I left with you. When…?” She stopped herself. “The shower. Someone could have come in while I was taking a shower.”
“Trey,” Darc said. “You heard that, correct?”
“Yeah, buddy.”
“There was a window of opportunity. With the current cases clearly linked with the others, those close to the other investigations could be targeted.”
Mala felt her heart constrict. “Is that what you think is going on?”
“It is unlikely, but knowing Janey, so are the other options. We need to view it as a viable scenario.”
This was the worst of nightmare situations for Mala. She couldn’t fully process what was happening right now. She was scrolling through vision after horrific vision of what could be happening to the little girl, when she felt a tug on her arm.
She let out a small scream, leaping up in her seat and then twisting around to see what had pulled at her. As if this night hadn’t been bad enough.
But when her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the back seat, she could make out a form huddled in the back seat. Two forms.
It was Janey. And her bear.
* * *
She knew when it was time to stop hiding.
Janey thought that she would probably get in trouble, but it had been worth it. Even the part where she had to stay in the car for so long with her neck getting all cramped up. Oh, and with Popeye griping the whole time. That hadn’t been fun at all. He hadn’t stopped complaining since they first hid. Actually, he hadn’t stopped complaining since they’d left the apartment.
But when Mala and Darc saw her, Darc pulled off to the side of the road right away. Janey jumped over the back seat right into Darc’s lap and he just held her for a minute. It was almost like it had been when Daddy had found her that one time she’d gotten lost in the forest. Except that Darc didn’t smell like her daddy. Or talk as much.
Mala watched them for a minute, a weird look on her face. Popeye said she must still be hungry because she’d had Japanese food that didn’t ever fill you up. That was silly.
And then Mala was hugging her too. Popeye kept saying that he was getting cramped, but Janey knew he liked it. He couldn’t fool her.
Then the hug was over and Mala was talking to her. “Janey, don’t ever do that again. I’ve never been so scared.”
Janey knew that it had been bad to make Mala afraid like that. But she had needed to see Darc. She had drawn Mala a picture while she was waiting in the car, and she pulled it out and handed it over.
Mala took it and started to cry.
It was a picture of a badge, with Mala and Janey and Popeye and Trey and Maggie all inside of it. They were all holding hands.
Janey thought it was a happy picture. She didn’t understand why Mala was crying.
“I believe her drawing represents--” Darc began.
“I know what it means, Darc,” Mala answered in between her crying. “I know.” She leaned in to hug Janey again, and she whispered something in her ear.
“I’m sorry, Janey.”
Janey felt something swell up inside her belly and then she was crying too. She didn’t even know why. Darc looked at her, and Janey could tell he didn’t understand either. She just shr
ugged at him and kept hugging Mala back.
This had been the best night ever.
* * *
Trey stood in the middle of Mala’s living room, sipping at his black coffee, doing what he could to sober up. The anxiety of Janey’s disappearance had left, but had now been replaced by the awkwardness of getting busted by Mala for the whole Bluetooth-in-the-ear bit.
In retrospect, that may not have been one of his finest ideas.
Janey was still wrapped up in the blanket that she had used to hide herself in the backseat of Darc’s car. Trey had to admit, the kid had showed a lot of creativity and sheer cojones in managing to hitch a ride without getting caught. Girl had skills.
The babysitter was waiting to be picked up by her parents, Mala having decided that Pyper was too distraught to drive. The young woman’s eyes were red, Trey could only assume from a long bout of crying. He couldn’t even imagine what it must feel like to lose someone’s kid.
It was getting later by the moment, and if there was any chance that Darc and he were going to be able to get on that ferry tonight, they had to get going soon. It was the only reason Trey had shown up, for crying out loud. Being in the same apartment as his coworker he had tried to pull a fast one on wasn’t the brightest idea. But bringing up the topic of leaving right at this point seemed a tad insensitive.
Darc, however, seemed to have no such qualms.
“We need to leave. The ferry will be departing within the half-hour,” he said.
“What ferry? What’s going on?” Mala looked up from comforting Pyper. She’d been alternating between Janey and the babysitter since they arrived back at her apartment. Not that Janey seemed to need any comforting. She seemed perfectly content to hang out with Mala, Darc and Trey. Seemed that was her plan all along.
“It’s the case we’re working on,” Trey answered. “Remember the one a couple of months ago, before the whole freaky real estate guy? The pentagrams? They’ve started back up.”
“You mean the one that you wanted Janey to work on?” Mala clarified, her tone challenging.
“Hey. Not me. Darc. Darc wanted Janey to work on it.” Trey had no problem throwing his partner under the bus right now, especially right after outing the whole Roxanne trick. Okay, there had been a pretty compelling reason for it, but still…