“Oh, I’ll walk with you,” I said. “It’s on my way home.” Right. I just came out of the incubator yesterday. Police station. Code name for your meeting place with LaReau, where you are about to lead me. And this time, my encounter with him will end differently.
Christie gazed up at me and the terror drained from her face. She broke free from Captious and threw her arms around me. I hugged her tight. Scallion could wait. This was where I was supposed to be.
“You really shouldn’t be in this part of town at night, Rinnie,” Captious told me in his most authoritative teacherly voice. “It’s dangerous. Stay close to me.”
“You got it.” Close enough to give you a psionic body slam. I held Christie’s hand as Captious herded us up the steep hill toward the courthouse, a huge stone building that consumed an entire city block, beginning at the top of the hill on Main Street. It was home to numerous lawmakers, tax offices, courts, and the Greensburg Police. One small problem. This late at night, the courthouse was locked up tight. It closed at five. Other than the fact that his lips were moving, that’s the reason I knew Captious was lying about where we were going. I was anxious to learn his real destination, and to hear the lame excuse he would have for not going in when we passed by the police station.
When we crested the hill, the main entrance of the courthouse was completely dark. It might as well have had a megaphone blaring Go away, we’re closed! To my surprise, Captious didn’t even attempt to go there. Instead, we crossed Main Street and walked down the hill along the north side of the courthouse. I suddenly realized where we were headed. At the end of the courthouse block sat the city parking garage. Perfect place for an exchange. That must be where LaReau waited for his delivery.
My fists clenched in anticipation. I had never even spoken rudely to a teacher before, and now I was going to have to beat one to a pulp. I was surprisingly okay with that. Although beating said teacher would totally compromise my secret identity. To beat or not to beat, that is the question.
Suddenly, Captious stopped and unlocked a windowless door on the side of the courthouse building.
“In here,” he said, swishing his hand toward the open door.
The corridor was dark, but I could see light far down the hall. Normally, light at the end of a tunnel is a good thing. But there was nothing normal about a teacher leading a kidnapped child and an unsuspecting teenager into a dark building at midnight. I jumped back, shoving Christie behind me.
“I think you’ve had one too many power drinks.” Captious reached into the doorway and hit a light switch. He patted me on the head and pointed to a brass plaque on the corridor wall.
“Greensburg Police Hall of Justice, established 1892,” I read out loud. Oops. My face grew hot, and I grinned apologetically.
“Rinnie, I am one of the few people you can trust. Please. Let’s get this poor child back to her parents.” He smiled and led Christie down the now bright hallway. Shocked, I followed him in. This night’s events had me seriously rattled.
As we approached another door at the end of the hallway, voices grew increasingly loud. No sooner did I clear the entrance when the stench of stale cigarettes and unwashed bodies made me choke. The chairs and benches were packed with more dirtbags than I had ever seen. A harmless looking man with a thin, stringy beard shifted his eyes between Christie and me. He was in handcuffs and chained to the bench. The poor man’s hair was filthy, and I felt sorry for him. One side was plastered to his scalp. The other side stood straight up as though he’d been riding with his head out the car window like a dog. The kids in school worked for hours with mousse and styling gel to accomplish what I was sure this man had created by pure neglect.
He smiled at me with small brown teeth.
“Hello, girls,” he said in a syrupy sweet voice as we passed him.
I gagged quietly from his stench, and decided that Mummy’s Magic Mix must have scraped ingredients from him. A very uncomfortable feeling settled in my stomach, and suddenly, I didn’t want to be there anymore. It wasn’t the smell…there was something else. His voice was more familiar than it should have been. Christie had moved closer to me, and terror was in her eyes. Then I realized who I was looking at.
LaReau had grown a beard.
Captious turned quickly and punched his finger into LaReau’s forehead. “Don’t speak to them, you detestable abomination.” As we continued walking, Captious wiped his finger on his pants.
“Who’s he?” I asked. Did the cops have any idea who was chained to that bench?
“A dog who eats his own vomit,” Captious muttered. “Not worth the air he pollutes.”
Really? Captain of the Fan Club he was not. So much for my theory that Captious was in league with Mr. Smelly.
Captious stopped at the clerk’s desk. “Chief in?”