Angel's Dance (27 page)

“
Is she in immediate
danger? I mean, as long as we have him and Bryce has his dad? Do we
have time… time to get her right?”

Clear looked at him a little confused.
“I… I don’t…”

Louis began screaming from inside. “I
will kill you, you fucking witch! I WILL kill you and that little
whore! I swear!!! You will never be safe from me!!”

Grant rested his hand on the hilt of
his gun and Clear looked from the gun to him. “Yes,” she said
firmly. “She is not in immediate danger. Get your warrant or
whatever it is you have to do. She will be okay until we get what
we need to lock him away for good.” She sighed. “I… I also know
where Bella is. And he wasn’t careful about it.” She shivered. “He
will get nailed for that as well. Trust me. He isn’t going to ever
be able to hurt Kat, or anyone else, ever again.”

Grant could feel himself relax as she
spoke. He pulled out the cell phone and called Bryce.

Bryce was very caught up in the mess
back in Peoria, but he got Grant in touch with his partner, a newer
detective. Detective Inman listened to the story that Grant and
Clear had created to protect Clear and prevent the whole Fruit from
the Poisonous tree from biting them in the ass.

They were sitting in the precinct and
could still hear Louis screaming down the hall. Detective Inman
looked at them both pointedly. “He’s denying everything you are
saying.” he sighed. “He says he didn’t tell you
anything.”

“
Then how would we know
this stuff?” Grant asked casually.

Inman shook his head. “Well, according
to him, Ms. Angel here is a witch and pried the information from
pictures and his own mind.”

Clear chuckled, “Well, it would appear
that he is trying to build an insanity plea.” She shook her head.
“Although, I suppose that profilers might seem like witches
magically getting information from the guilty.”

Inman frowned. He looked to Grant.
“You know, you should have brought him in for questioning here,” he
said reprovingly.

Grant resisted the urge to punch this
insolent little pup, but he put on a contrite face. “We could only
have done that if he was an actual suspect. At that point he was
only a person of interest, at best. I can’t help that he gave us so
much information on-site that we had to proceed there. There wasn’t
really time to bring him in or to call you in. Not really.” Grant
hoped the kid wouldn’t call his bluff.

The detective rubbed his chin
thoughtfully. “Do you know what Bryce is up to in
Peoria?”

Grant looked to Clear and they both
nodded. “We have a fairly general idea, yes,” he
responded.

“
Well, I think that
information should be enough to corroborate your story. I submitted
for a warrant. We should get something back soon. I have already
started mobilizing a task force.” He stared hard at Grant again.
Inman leaned into Grant and Grant leaned in as well. “Look, I get
that this is your daughter. I also get that cops look out for each
other. But between you and me, there is more to this than you two
are telling me. I just want
you
to know that
I
know that. And I’m pretty sure Bryce knows it. “
Grant stared him down as hard as he was staring at Grant, not
flinching, not even blinking.

The man suddenly leaned back sighing,
“And given that we have already found five bodies… I’m guessing
nobody else will really care about a junior detective’s opinion
that there is more to this. No sense rocking the boat, I
suppose.”

Clear took a deep breath and Grant
realized that she had been holding it. He glanced at her as
Detective Inman answered the phone. She gave him a brief smile. “He
really means that,” she whispered. “He won’t say anything.” Grant
nodded to her curtly.

“
Alright, that’s our go,”
Inman announced loudly as he hung up the phone.

Clear and Grant were with Detective
Inman as they entered the flat. Grant kept an eye on him so that
Clear could do her thing unnoticed. They moved quickly, and Clear
was obviously doing her thing quite well. They reached the back
stairwell and Clear stopped them. She knelt down and noted some
scraping on the ground in front of a book case. Grant and Inman
grabbed either side of the shelf and moved it forward. There was a
door behind it. The door handle had been removed. Grant reached
into it and pulled it back carefully.

The door revealed a room under the
stairs. Grant flashed his light around the room. There was nothing
else. Clear dropped to her knees feeling around. Grant shone his
light down for her to be able to see.

“
Here,” she murmured,
pointing to a small ridge in the floor board. Grant looked around
the room. There was a coat hanger on a hook. He handed it to Clear
and she pried the hook up under the lip. As she pulled it up, Grant
slipped his flashlight under the ledge then he and Inman grabbed
the edges lifting it up. Clear had caught his flashlight so that it
would not fall. She was already getting ready to climb down the
ladder that had been revealed, but Grant stopped her with a shake
of his head. Inman pulled his gun out, and headed down slowly,
keeping his light pointed down the whole time. Grant and Clear
followed suite.

They reached the bottom and Grant
could hear noise. It was muffled. He looked to Clear and she
nodded. It was Kat. But where was she? They moved down what
appeared to be the space between the walls and suddenly Inman
stopped. He indicated a door. Grant came up next to him, following
police protocol, despite Clear’s assurance. Inman took one side of
the door and Grant took the other. Grant turned the knob, pushing
it open and Inman shown the light into the room, taking in all
directions quickly. He gave Grant the all clear sign and Grant
entered the room, with Inman right behind him. They had entered an
old basement area as far as Grant could tell. His light bounced
around the room until it alighted on the far corner. There was a
large bed and on the bed a girl was flailing frantically. Her arms
and legs had been tied to the poster poles and there was a bag over
her head, but Grant knew it was his little girl.

He ran to her and pulled the bag off
her head. Her face was screwed up in anger and violence and he
could tell that she was saying some very nasty things, though he
couldn’t understand her shouts because of the rag binding her
mouth. He was suddenly bathed in light. Clear had found the light
switch. As he reached behind Kat’s head to remove the gag, he saw
her suddenly process what she was seeing. Her face went lax with
surprise, the muffled cursing stopping. Her eyes went wide with
comprehension and she began to sob.

“
Shh, sweetie! It’s ok.
I’ve got you,” he murmured as he pulled the binding from her mouth
and went to work on her arms. He got one free and she wrapped it
around him, making it harder for him to get the other hand free.
She was sobbing uncontrollably and it took him a moment to realize
that she was saying something. As he got the other arm free, she
locked onto him and he couldn’t even move. He hugged her back and
realized what she was saying.

“
I knew you would come for
me! I knew you would come for me!” He stroked her hair
reassuringly, his throat so tight he couldn’t really
speak.

“
Of course,” he tried to
say, “Of course I came for you.” It was all he could croak out. He
clung to her as hard as she clung to him. He was only vaguely aware
that Inman was speaking into his radio. “Subject has been
recovered.” He didn’t care about anything else, as long as he had
his little girl. He knew that they would have to move her soon, but
he couldn’t stop hugging her and she wouldn’t let go of him
either.

Inman tapped his shoulder. “Alright.”
He put his hand on Kat’s shoulder, very gently. “Let’s get you two
out of here, yeah?” He smiled at her gently and she just sobbed
harder. Grant suddenly realized her legs were free and with effort
he scooped her up as he had picked her up a million times when she
was little. She wasn’t so little anymore. She wrapped her legs
around him and buried her head in his neck still
sobbing.

He didn’t know how he did it, but he
managed to get her out of that house without putting her down. Out
front there was an ambulance and it took all his strength to get
her to let go and let the EMT’s check her out.

“
I promise, I’m not going
anywhere. They just need to check you out.” he whispered soothingly
as he held onto her hand. In the early morning light he got a good
look at her. She was pale and drawn. Her hair was matted and
filthy. She had easily lost ten pounds, ten pounds that she didn’t
have to lose. Her clothing was rumpled and falling off of her. He
patted her hand.

She wiped at her face with dirty hands
smearing more dirt across her face as she wiped her tears away. “I
must be a mess.” she whispered through cracked lips. He could tell
that the sedative the EMT had given her was starting to kick
in.

“
No… you are the most
beautiful sight in the world!” he assured her, cradling her face in
his hand. “You are alive and…” He almost choked with the emotion.
“And you will be fine.” He smiled at her. “You haven’t been more
beautiful since the day you were born.” he whispered. She threw her
arms around him to the EMT’s agitation. Grant shrugged at the guy
and he nodded back.

“
Well,” the EMT said. “We
need to take her in to check her out properly, but.. you’re right.
She is going to make it.” He reached out for her. “Come on miss,
let’s get you to the hospital.” The panic and terror flashed
through her eyes and the EMT said soothingly. “Your dad can ride
with you. No problem.” She looked to either one then nodded. The
EMT helped her in.

“
Just a second,” Grant
said. “I need to call your mom. What hospital are we headed to?”
Grant asked the EMT.

“
Northwestern
Memorial.”

Grant nodded and pulled his cell out.
“Hey Laura. We got her. She is ok. Meet us at Northwestern.” He
hung up and climbed up into the ambulance with Kat.

As they pulled out Grant looked
through the back window, hoping to see Clear. He knew that she was
probably leading them to Bella’s body now. He hoped she was
ok.

Chapter
Nineteen

Clear was emotionally, mentally and
physically exhausted. She had led them right to Bella’s body, just
as she knew that she could. She sat dully watching them load the
poor girl’s body into a body bag. Louis had not wanted to keep the
bodies as trophies like his father had done. He did want to be able
to visit the girls every now and again, though.