by Geonn Cannon
Ari looked to make sure Kimmie was in position before she began searching. She was on the opposite side of the rink and, when she saw Ari, she unzipped her track jacket and shrugged it off her shoulders. She was wearing a sports bra underneath and, despite being middle-aged, her body was worthy of distraction. A few players glanced over, nudged the player next to them, and soon as least half the heads on the ice were turned toward the woman who seemed to be innocently doing her stretches.
Ari opened the bag and reached inside. The iPad was sitting right on top of everything, protected by a red leather cover. She closed her fingers around it and started to pull.
“Hey, what the hell is she doing?”
Ari thought she recognized Noel Harden’s voice, but didn’t waste time by looking over to confirm. She pulled the iPad free, stood up, and ran for the locker room. She heard the swish of skates on ice and the clatter of sticks being thrown down. She had a mental map of the building and planned her route as she ran down the ramp. Through the locker room, out into the service corridor, through the big double doors to the main lobby, then outside. Then, if she could block the doors or otherwise slow their pursuit, she would go to the car. If not, she would run alongside the building into the woods. If she couldn’t shake them, the wolf sure as hell could.
Her plan began to fall apart once she got past the locker rooms. The double doors to the main lobby were locked, so she had to keep running. The team’s shouted voices echoed off the cinder block walls of the locker room, but she couldn’t make out what they were saying. She heard gear being thrown to the side as it was shed and tossed aside. She revised her escape route; there was a door leading out to the parking lot she could use.
A door opened in front of her and Oborin stepped out. Ari slammed into him, unable to stop, and spun to the side. He was so startled that he backed up into the door and closed his arms around the empty space she had just vacated. She kept a death grip on the computer, holding it to her chest like a quarterback going for the game-winning goal. Oborin shouted to his friends that he was “right on top of her,” and his voice really did sound like it was right in her ear.
“Stop that bitch!” Muldoon shouted. The echo was so bad that she couldn’t tell if he was ahead of her or behind.
She didn’t feel the hand in her hair until it was pulled taut. She cried out as her forward momentum was suddenly stopped, but she spun around and faced Oborin. She brought the iPad up and drove the sharp edge of its side into his forehead. He cried out and let her go, stumbling back with both hands over the strip of blood that was welling up where she’d hit him. She turned and saw a door that miraculously opened when she put weight against the press-bar.
Now in the lobby, she had a clear route to freedom. Hoping and praying she hadn’t damaged the computer against Oborin’s skull, she found reserves of energy and put on an extra burst of speed.
She was halfway to the exit when something slammed into her hard enough that she momentarily wondered if she had somehow been hit by a truck. She was knocked off her feet and landed hard, rolled head over ass, and then skidded a few feet across the linoleum like the world’s largest puck. She had lost her grip on the iPad but the pain in her back and shoulder was too distracting for her to care at the moment. Heavy footsteps pounded into the lobby and she could tell she was surrounded.
“Up,” Muldoon said. “Get her up. Get her on her fucking feet.”
Someone grabbed her under the arms and hauled her up. As soon as she was standing, someone else punched her. She’d been punched before, but the power and anger behind the blow was literally staggering. Ari’s knees immediately unlocked, her entire body sagged in the direction of her punch, and whoever was holding her up almost went down with her. Her bells were still ringing when he punched her again. This time she felt the wet tickle of blood at her nose and across her bottom lip. She went limp and let her puppeteer support her weight.
“No, Steve, twice was enough,” Muldoon said.
“Steve,” Ari said. “Steve Aulie. That’s the one who punched me? Okay. I’ll keep that in mind. Remember that, Steve-o, that’ll come up later.”
Aulie said, “Shut the fuck up, thief.”
Ari turned her head and spit blood at him. Her hair was in her face and her vision was alarmingly blurry. She hoped the punch hadn’t knocked anything loose, but at the moment she had more pressing concerns. The entire team had gathered in the lobby. Most of them looked confused, but there were enough angry faces for her to be legitimately afraid. She flipped her head to get the hair out of her face, alarmed by how much that simple gesture hurt, and scanned the men until she found Muldoon.
“Oh, was that your bag? My bad.”
Muldoon didn’t take his eyes off her. “Oesterle, take her into the main office. Lindholm, Aulie, help him out. And someone find Oborin. Everybody else, back on the ice.”
Oesterle, the man who was apparently holding her up, hauled her forward. The whole Newton Five, an empty office, and her with no backup. The odds were bad enough that she couldn’t even think of a quip to put her mind at ease as they dragged her out of the lobby.
#
The office was unfinished and unfurnished, with only a metal folding chair and a makeshift desk made of plywood sitting on buckets occupying the space. Oesterle dumped her in the chair and moved behind her. He crossed her wrists and was able to hold them together with one hand.
“Give me something to tie her up with.”
Lindholm said, “Sorry, I left my handcuffs in my other uniform.”
“Shut the hell up and give me a shoelace or something.”
Ari’s head had cleared somewhat, but the pain was beginning to radiate through her. “You guys really aren’t thinking this hostage situation through. I’ll be sure to mention that on Yelp.”
“Shut the hell up,” Oesterle said again.
“Kind of a broken record.”
Aulie came into the room, eyes locked on her as he closed the door. He had a skate dangling from one hand. “Who are you really? You’re not the mascot. You come here to snoop on us?” He bent down, lining up their faces. “You the one who stole my pill? Huh?”
Ari returned his gaze without saying anything. Oesterle was still holding her hands.
“Thieves like you need to be taught a lesson. Old school. You know how sharp our skates are?” He lifted the skate so she could see the edge. Ari instinctively leaned away from it. “I knew a guy in San Jose, fell down during a game. One of his teammates accidentally skated over his hand.” He winced and made a “fllp” noise with his lips. “All four of his fingers, sliced right off. They managed to sew them back on, but they never looked the same. Like little fat sausages.”
Oesterle said, “Jesus, Steve.”
Aulie glared over Ari’s head at him. “This little bitch almost got away with Coach’s computer. You know what’s on that, right? You know what she could’ve done with that?”
Muldoon came into the office, also glaring at her. Oborin was right behind him, holding a bloody towel to his forehead.
“So who are you?” Muldoon asked. “Journalist? Groupie? How’d you convince Ike to hire you, because you’re sure as hell no mascot.”
Ari said, “Consider me karma.”
Muldoon gestured to Lindholm. “Go check her car. See if you can find out who she is.”
Lindholm left. Once he was gone, Aulie put down the skate and reached for her pockets. She squirmed away from him. “Hey, watch it, handsy.”
“Don’t flatter yourself,” he said as he pulled out her wallet and phone. He flipped through the wallet, but her identification was outside in the car. When he tried to unlock the phone, he was prompted to enter the password. “What’s the code?”
Ari said, “U-Y-K-U-C-O-F. Have fun unscrambling it.”
He took a step forward, but Muldoon stopped him. “You’re the only one who has broken any laws here, Miss ‘Fletcher.’ You stole from me. The boys here are just being overzealous in defending my prope
rty. I appreciate that. Thank you, boys. But there’s no reason to make this antagonistic. Just tell us who you are and why you wanted my iPad. Maybe we can still have a good laugh at this and let you go. No harm, no foul.”
“You saw your boy tackle me out there, right?”
“Like I said. Overzealous. Do you want to sue him for injuries you received while stealing from us? I’m not sure that would go over well for you.”
Lindholm came back in. “Olsson had already gotten into her car. Broke her window though.” He smirked as he handed over a card. “Bitches Investigation.”
Aulie snorted. “Appropriate name, at least.”
Muldoon read the card and then flipped it at her face. All pretense was gone now. “You’re that fucking private eye who’s been looking into the team. I thought Halphen scared you off.”
Aulie twisted to look at the coach. “Wait, there was a private eye investigating us? When were you going to tell us that?”
“I thought it was taken care of.”
Oesterle said, “This bitch showing up out of nowhere wasn’t suspicious?”
“Halphen dealt with everything. I just assumed it was a guy, not a ninety-pound cheerleader.”
Aulie looked at her again. “So you were the one who stole my pill.”
“Ariadne Willow, private investigator. And yeah, I know all about how you’re doping the team with Cynosylline. Do they know about all the bodies you’ve left in your wake? Detroit and Phoenix. Those are the ones we know about. How many more are there, Muldoon?”
“This…” He sighed and shook his head. “This isn’t how I wanted things to go. Who else knows about the Cyn?”
“Enough to guarantee you’ll never coach again.”
He held up a finger. “One more chance, Miss Willow. Who else knows what you’ve found out?”
“You’ll understand if I keep that to myself.”
“Okay. Steve.”
She didn’t see the blow coming. Aulie was already swinging when he twisted back around. His fist connected with her jaw. Oesterle tightened his grip to keep her from falling out of the seat, but her brain clicked off before he finished the follow-through.
#
Dale texted Ari with ‘Lunch?’ around noon. She assumed Ari was still in Tukwila, but she liked making the offer just in case. She waited half an hour before she warmed up some leftovers and ate it at her desk. She had just finished when an email arrived in the official Bitches account. Someone named HatTrick@NewtonIce had sent them an email with the subject line Re: Security. “Ariadne, here are the pictures I was able to get. Some of them are blurry but I couldn’t enhance. Is that real BTW? Zoom and enhance? Anyway I hope these work for you. If not there are more.” Dale clicked through them and downloaded the best of the bunch. Muldoon and four Totem players involved in an exchange at the rink’s locker area.
She went into Ari’s office to use the high-quality printer, running off three copies of each picture on photo-quality paper. One copy would go in their files, one to GG&M, and the other would go to the authorities. Once they were all collated and labeled properly, she went back to her desk. She distracted herself with work and only looked at the clock once, maybe twice an hour until it started getting closer to four. She told herself Ari had gotten caught up at the rink and locked up the office.
She was still enjoying the sensation of walking without the aid of a crutch, but she still called an Uber to take her home. She watched TV for an hour before she texted Ari again. ‘Update?’ She waited another half hour before she started making dinner. While it cooked she called Ari and listened to the line buzz in her ear. She transferred the food she cooked to Tupperware and put it away without eating any of it. She called Ari again. She texted. Mostly she paced and chewed her fingernail. The pain in her ankle returned, but she thought it was probably just in her head.
Finally, she took out her phone and called Diana. “Hi, Dale. Everything all right?”
“I… don’t know. I’m not sure.” She explained the situation, along with the fact that Ari had been silent all day. “When she’s working she can go a few hours without responding to a text, especially if she’s working undercover. But it’s night, it’s dinner time, and not even a text from her saying she’s going to be late. I know you have your own stuff going on—”
“Where are you? Are you at home?”
Dale wiped at her eyes before any tears could fall. “Yeah.”
“Stay put. I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Lucy…”
“Lucy is fine. I’m out the door right now.”
Dale sniffled. “Thank you, Diana.”
She went outside and waited in the driveway. When Diana arrived, she got in the passenger seat and told her where Ari had been going the last time they spoke. They got onto I-5 and fell into silence. Dale didn’t want reassurances that Ari was okay; she knew it would just be hollow comfort and she was grateful Diana wasn’t offering it. But after a few minutes, the silence became oppressive.
“So… h-how is, uh, how is Lucy handling the whole wolf reveal?”
“I was more surprised than she was, actually. She’s known about wolves longer than I have. It’s like being the last kid on the block to find out about Santa Claus.” She shifted in her seat. “It feels really good to finally have it out, though. I didn’t even realize how much it was weighing on me until the weight lifted.”
Dale nodded and looked out the window. “Ari and I have been talking about doing something like you and Lucy did. Maybe not marriage, but… something. Some kind of ceremony.”
Diana said, “Well, you two are the most married couple I know. Might as well make it official.”
When they reached the Tukwila exit, Dale took out her phone to look up where the rink was located. She gave Diana directions and soon they had pulled into the parking lot. Dale’s chest tightened when she saw there was only one car present, parked under a security light as if it was a prop left onstage after a play ended. Diana pulled up behind it and they both got out. The driver’s side window was broken.
“Wait, don’t…”
Dale looked at her. “Don’t… touch anything? In case it’s a crime scene?”
“It definitely is a crime scene,” Diana said. “Someone broke into the car. We don’t know what that means yet. We don’t know that it means anything. Tukwila has a pretty high crime rate for a town of this size. Let me just… I’ll call it in.”
Dale stayed back and looked at the car, trying to see into the past. When that didn’t work, she turned and looked at the dark and abandoned rink. She’d last heard from Ari seven hours earlier. At some point during the day, something had obviously gone horribly wrong. Ari had gotten into tight spots before, and she always managed to get out of it. She was captured by Wayne Corbett, she was imprisoned by assholes who dosed her with wolfsbane, and she’d escaped both times.
But Ari had only gotten out of those situations because Dale found her, Dale went looking and saved her at the last moment. She’d already been gone for hours and Dale had no idea where to even start looking. Behind her, she could hear Diana on the phone with Tukwila Police.
“—ctive Diana Macallan with the Seattle PD. I think we have a missing person in your city…”
Chapter Twenty
She’d woken up briefly in the car, but whoever was sitting beside her pushed a pill into her mouth and then squirted a water bottle between her lips. She swallowed rather than drown and soon slumped over again. When she regained consciousness a second time, the world seemed to be unsettled. Her body seemed to be swaying even though she was lying still. It hurt too much to open her eyes, but she knew her arms were handcuffed above her head in a stress position. Her muscles throbbed but didn’t hurt, which worried her. She could hear the players talking on the other side of a thin wall.
The first voice was Lindholm. “—fuck girls when they’re like that? Why not just break into the damn morgue? At least then you have less chance of getting caught.”
Oborin said, “Hello? DNA?”
“Fuck, man, there will be DNA even if you rape her.”
“Whatever. We’re just lucky I had the pills or else Anton would’ve had to keep knocking her out. Coach wouldn’t have liked that very much.”
Ari’s head rolled forward. She couldn’t get her bearings. The room felt like it was on a caster, constantly spinning around her as a central point. Her skull was throbbing. Everything hurt, but especially her shoulders and her ass. She shifted her weight and finally opened her eyes. She was in an oak-paneled room with a leather couch along one wall. The windows were oddly shaped, like car windshields. But she wasn’t in a car; she was in a room. She was seated with her back against a bar. The counter extended overhead, and the metal base of two stools framed her line of sight like bars on a jail cell. The part of the sky she could see through the window was purple-gold with dusk, but she could see no buildings to identify where she was. The smell of salt water was incredibly strong.
Oesterle was sitting across from her. He noticed her movement and stood up, moving toward the door. “Hey. She’s awake.”
Muldoon shouldered his way into the room. Behind him, she could see Aulie glaring at her before the door was closed on him. Muldoon walked forward and crouched in front of her.
“Welcome back, sunshine. How’s your head?”
Ari blinked slowly. “So what’s the game here? You gonna kill me? Cover up drug use with murder? All your boys agree with that plan?”
“They’ll do what I say. Because what I say protects them, keeps them safe.”
“How well did that work out for the guys you left behind in Arizona and… a-and the other one. Detroit state.” She squeezed her eyes shut. The world continued to sway and roll. She raised her voice. “Did you guys do your research on the pills he’s shoving down your throats? You know what it does when you stop taking it? When Muldoon moves to the next city and you’re stuck paying for your own supply? And when the cash runs out, well… well, he’s a ghost by then, so what does he care?”