Chapter 2

Two Days Later

Gwen, the hair stylist, held up the mirror. “How does that look?”

I frowned, trying to be objective. It wasn’t a style I would have chosen for myself. I tried to take myself out of the image and imagine meeting a girl with hair like this. Some of the girls here favored pixieish cuts of this type, though not usually quite this short.

I suddenly realized the frown was exactly the problem. I had always been attracted to people who looked like they were happy about the way they were.

I looked across at Runner. Patty was just finishing combing out his hair, while exclaiming again how beautiful it looked. “And I don’t think I’ve ever seen hair this black. And the way it shines, I thought it would be greasy or oily, but it’s not. It just does that on its own.” Patty hadn’t wanted to make any changes other than to even out the ends, just beyond shoulder length.

I smiled at Runner’s continued wide-eyed wonder at everything around him.

There, I thought, looking at my own reflection again. I was right. The smile helps a lot.

I had to admit that Gwen had succeeded, in some subtle way, in making my hair look stylish, even though it was barely an inch long anywhere. Some had been longer than that, but Gwen had needed to even it up. I grinned at Gwen, who was biting her lip. “Thanks, Gwen. You did a great job with what there was to work with.”

Gwen smiled back. “Thanks. You should come back in a couple of weeks, after it grows a little. I can do a bit more with it then.” She removed the cloth from my neck.

“I’ll do that.” I looked across. “Are we ready to go?”

Runner gave me a blank look. “I don’t know.” He looked up at Patty.

Patty smiled. “All done here.”

Runner grinned at me. “It didn’t hurt! When I saw all that stuff,” he gestured at Patty’s instrument tray, “I thought it might be like...” He pantomimed Carol drawing blood from his arm with the needle.

I smiled and shook my head. “I promise I’ll let you know when something might hurt. That doesn’t happen very much.” I looked up at Gwen again. “You heard we’ve got a puppygirl, right?” Puppy was with Melissa and Jana, experiencing some new variations on the sexual play she liked, as the two girls cemented their friendship with her.

Gwen laughed. “Yeah, I heard that. Not something I would have expected.”

“Could I bring her here in a day or two? She won’t exactly understand what’s happening, but I can keep her calm. Her hair will start out like mine just was. I want you to do this same thing to it.” I indicated my new style.

Gwen grinned. “I’ll give it a try.”

Late Afternoon

I returned from the Dean’s office where I’d been on the phone to both Detective Reed and Steffi, and found that Jana had moved on from letters and was now doing numerals with Runner. This was a little different for Runner: he already knew the names for the numbers from one to nine, and now only had to learn the symbols. Runner expressed puzzlement that none of the shapes of the numerical symbols seemed to have any connection with the amounts they stood for, but accepted her explanation that it wouldn’t bother him once he learned them,.

Runner had discarded his clothes, of course. I had done my best to explain the difference between public and private places; Runner, as usual, asked endless questions. Runner liked the softness of the cotton, but he still preferred to be naked, as he had been his entire life until a few months ago. I had assured him it was okay in a room with friends — that counted as a private place.

Runner looked up and grinned at me as I entered. “Jana just tried me with some of the flash cards. I knew some of the numbers.”

I returned his smile. “I think you’ll know all ten by the end of today.” I had tried to word that carefully, avoiding implying that Runner would then know everything about all numbers. Wait until he gets to putting the digits together to make bigger numbers, I reminded myself. That might take awhile.

Reluctantly, I went on, “Are you going to be okay tonight? With me not here?” I hated to leave Runner so soon, but I really wanted to help Detective Reed trap Andrew tonight.

Runner nodded. “Melissa and Jana are going to take me to the caf to eat. I can work more on learning to use the...” He hesitated, frowning. “ ... upencils?”

I smiled. “Utensils. The fork and spoon and knife are called that.” I had worked on those with Runner at breakfast and lunch.

Runner flashed the grin he always gave for new words. He would probably not forget that one again. “Then after that, Holden is going to work with me on hanging. And I want to show him the Game...” Runner was referring to the one with rocks and circles, “ ... and then I’ll sleep with him, and he’s going to show me new ways to sex.”

I was so glad to have three close friends to help with Runner’s education. Runner’s thirst for knowledge was more than any one person could possibly quench. Gradually, as Runner came to know more of the students, the job would be split more ways.

There was more to it than that, of course. I was anxious to make sure that all of Runner’s needs could be taken care of when I was gone. I had not yet told Runner that I was planning to die within the next couple of months. I wasn’t sure yet how to bring that up. Any subling in my world was happy to see a friend or lover achieve a satisfying snuff, but I was uncertain how Runner would see it. Luckily Runner had learned in childhood of a subling’s need to become thanerone, but I suspected Runner might picture that happening in an indistinct far future time. I needed to feel out Runner’s understanding of the subject soon.

Through the window to the courtyard, I saw Melissa with a Frisbee, playing Fetch with Puppy. Puppy showed no interest trying to catch it in her mouth, as real dogs seem to do instinctively. That was just as well: the human jaw wasn’t really built for that. But Puppy seemed to be learning to anticipate where the Frisbee would land, galloping each time to that spot to snatch the Frisbee off the grass in herteeth and running back to Melissa with it. Once Melissa took it, Puppy would bark at her until she threw it again. Puppy sounded happy.

Puppy’s needs also had to be provided for. Unlike Runner, Puppy would not be able to anticipate or understand my permanent departure. Nonetheless, I felt optimistic about her future. She still showed a strong preference for Runner or me if we were around, but she was starting to become attached to Melissa. And Runner, of course, would be here a long time.

I held out my arms. “I’ll be back tomorrow.”

Runner sprang off the bed to give me a tight hug. We kissed, and I reflected on how well Runner had learned to do that — and suddenly realized it was reminding me just a little of Jana’s kiss. Of course. Given how excited Runner gets when he’s learning something, obviously he’s kissed Jana several times today.

I rubbed my cheek against Runner’s, brushed my hand down Runner’s back and broke off the hug. “When I come back, tell me all about your night with Holden.”

Runner nodded vigorously. “I will.”

I was startled to find my lip quivering as I closed the door. I was worried about separation being hard for Runner. I didn’t even think about me.

I headed for the Dean’s office. Detective Reed should be there by now.

I sat beside Detective Reed in the second seat of the limo, behind Karl, the driver. I was completely out of the habit of dressing this way — the dark blue knee-length skirt, the frilly white blouse. I’d chosen a dark blue slave choker to go with the skirt. I said, “I know this restaurant, but I’ve never been there as a slave. Slaves are okay there, right?”

Reed nodded. “They don’t mind, as long as you sort of recede into the background. Until your big moment, of course. I’ll order for you. Just remember to speak only to me.”

“The hard part will be not saying anything to Andrew. We’d have lots to talk about.” I frowned at Reed. “I don’t understand why you don’t have enough to arrest him already.”

Reed sighed. “He had a long time to plan, and he’s been careful. We keep running into all these dead ends. We thought we’d got lucky when we traced those two femmes who took you — a married couple, by the way. They used a stolen credit card and matching fake identification at the limo rental agency, but the clerk was able to describe one of them well enough that we got a good sketch, and we got a call identifying her after her picture was put out on TV. But right away we found that she and her spouse were both dead. They’d apparently used the money they got for pulling the job to stage a huge catered party, with themselves as the main event, something they’d always dreamed of. Their dads hanged them together, with the whole neighborhood watching. Kind of surprising they didn’t ask you for some tips on hanging while they had you.” Reed gave me a small smile, then sighed again. “Nobody in their family knew anything about where the money was from. They suspected it was something illegal, but couldn’t give us anything useful even when we dangled a reward in front of them. And of course, the information that they’d taken you to Purity Island died with them too.”

I shook my head. “But still, knowing it had to be Andrew...”

“Well, you can’t say we exactly knew that for sure. But we checked all we could on him. His whereabouts during the kidnapping were easy to determine, and he wasn’t anywhere near the action — he was actually in the hospital waiting room at the time. We checked his phone records, but whatever arrangements he made don’t seem to have been done on his personal phone. Nothing actually pointed to him at all, other than what Ms. Bloom passed on to you and your Dean. That got us a warrant to search his house and dungeon, which he’s now equipped as an exercise room, of all things. We wanted to get at his personal computer, but the warrant didn’t cover that — invasion of privacy and all that. We were only allowed to try to look for your physical presence on his property. We got one interview with him with his lawyer present, and since then they’ve managed to shut us down.”

“I understand Steffi hired detectives on her own. Couldn’t they find anything?”

“Oh!” Reed laughed. “I thought you knew. That would be me. And my staff.”

“What?” I stared at him. “But you’re with the police.”

“I’m not employed by the police, no. But I’ve done a lot of work with them in the past, and they trust me. We share ideas and information. When I’ve been saying ‘we’ all along, I mean the team of people trying to find you, including police.”

“But at the dock ... Lieutenant Sims introduced you as ‘Detective Reed.’ Aren’t you ... I’m sorry. Isn’t that like impersonating an officer, or something?”

Reed smiled. “Not at all. I am a detective. Sims has taken to introducing me that way because it adds an aura of authority. As long as he and I don’t actually say I’m with the police department, it’s all legal.”

“I ... please, don’t take offense, I’m just wondering ... why not have an actual, official police detective doing the work you’re doing?”

“No offense taken. But when the trail got cold, I assumed a more active role. The police have other things to do. I don’t. They moved on to those other things, and I stayed with this. One thing I’ve done is have an associate hack into Andrew’s e-mail account. Nothing there worth noting. Aside from that, I’ve been working on learning his habits. That’s how I know where he’ll be eating dinner tonight. I know who his friends are, who he sees on a daily basis ... I’ve been hoping to catch him with some shady characters, but I suspect that since the snatch, he’s severed all contact with his point man, whoever it was.”

I shuddered. If I hadn’t had Runner’s and Puppy’s help, I would never have gotten onto the ship. And without the ship, it turns out that Steffi would have been my only other hope. Nobody else had continued searching. A tear ran from my eye. “Thank you. I really appreciate everything you’ve been doing. I’ll thank Steffi later too.”

When we arrived at the restaurant, Karl declined the offer of valet parking and drove into a nearby lot. The three of us walked to the restaurant. It was familiar: my family had occasionally eaten there in years past. It was one of the best in the city; Reed had needed Steffi’s influence to get a reservation on such short notice.

I carried the large overnight case that reminded me of Runner’s carry-all bag. To outsiders, it looked as if I was carrying the necessities for my “Master” — Reed gave a brief head-nod to a man seated nearby. I looked questioningly at Reed, who nodded back. When we arrived at our table, Reed indicated a particular chair to me. I followed slave protocol, and stood behind the indicated chair. I waited for Reed and Karl to take their seats before I did. As I sat, I put the case on the floor beside me in easy reach, its top open.

While Reed was studying the menu, she murmured to me, “Andrew’s reservation is for a half-hour from now. His table is the one directly behind you.” I had noticed the “reserved” sign on it. “I’ll tap your thigh when he comes in. Absolutely don’t turn around to watch at that point.” I nodded, and Reed went on, “You’re sure he won’t recognize you from behind?”

I smiled and brushed my hand along the side of my head. “I can’t imagine how. He’s never seen my hair like this.”

Reed nodded. “It helps that he’d never expect to see you here. But I just want to make sure we won’t tip him off too soon.”

The waiter came, and Karl ordered a huge chateaubriand steak. Reed opted for a chicken dish, and ordered an artichoke salad for me.

Reed and I tried to make small-talk while we waited for our food, but I responded absently. Later on, I couldn’t remember any of what we talked about, except for one question about what I’d eaten on the island. I picked at my salad once it arrived, my heart speeding up as I waited.

I saw Reed’s hand moving toward my thigh to make the Andrew-is-here signal before it got there. I heard the movement behind me, the chairs scraping the floor. I heard a female voice murmur, and clenched my fist when I heard Andrew’s laugh in response. It’s him! He’s five feet away from me now!

Reed completed the diagram he had begun earlier on a napkin, now showing Andrew’s location in relation to me.

My heart was thumping hard now; I felt sure Andrew must be able to hear it. I tried to still my shaking hands. I looked down at the napkin, then up at Reed, who gave me a quick double-blink.

I quietly reached into the overnight bag and scooped up my prop for the evening: a satellite phone, slightly battered and grimy. Reed had purchased it and banged it up for the occasion. I held it at my side, inconspicuous. Then I concentrated on a mental image of Runner, how eager Runner would be to show me what he’d learned in bed with Holden tonight. The smile, nearly a laugh, it brought to my face was just what I needed. I swung that expression around to my right, twisting in my chair to face Andrew. Andrew, his eyes drawn to the sudden movement, looked up.