freedom awaited her.
She was a logical woman – even now under such duress – and she desperately had to pee.
So, at last, she let her body relax and peed in the bucket beneath her, listening to the splash of urine hit the metal pail.
S CENE S EVEN
Transfer Approved
"Captain Danvers, please," the man spoke in his most intimidating manner, although his tone barely fazed Sergeant Jane Deal, who was sitting at the front reception desk. She was a veteran of the force, used to taking flak from angry people, and pretty much the worst in human behavior. One glance, she knew the type well: filthy rich, condescending, hardly able to tolerate the chaos of the busy police station. You'd think bugs were crawling up his Brooks Bros suit, the way he grimaced at the tiny world around him.
"I'll see if he has time to see you. Your name, sir?"
"Proctor. Loren Proctor."
Jane knew the man; no one who read the newspaper or watched TV news could avoid his distinctive, scowling face. It had been plastered everywhere since his daughter turned up missing – odd saying, 'turned up missing.' If she was missing, how could she turn up?
will see me."
Before Jane could buzz the captain on the intercom, he emerged from his office and motioned the man his way.
Loren Proctor leaned on the front of Alain Danvers' desk and leveled the stern-faced police captain with a vicious stare. "Two weeks! It's been two weeks! What the hell have you been doing?"
Alain was rarely moved by such histrionics. To give himself some distance from the man looming threateningly before him, he leaned back in his chair, adopting the professorial air so common to him and adjusted his glasses.
"Sit down, Mr. Proctor and we'll talk."
Proctor's florid face grew redder for a moment, as if he was ready to lash out again, but then he seemed to back down, if ever so slightly, and sink into the chair behind him, put in his place but not defeated.
"Mr. Proctor. I know the slow progress is frustrating. But I can assure you, we are investigating every lead we have. We've conducted at least a hundred interviews and have a few more to go." He sighed, leaning forward on his desk. "Unfortunately, whoever took your daughter left few clues. The fact is, sir, women sometimes disappear and don't come back. I don't think it's the case with Kat. I think someone has her, but that someone doesn't seem to want a ransom paid – or anything else, at least not yet. But I assure you, we are aggressively investigating every lead."
Proctor pulled back upright, fuming.
"And I thought by now that X-club would be shut down! You haven't done a damn thing about that."
"Sir, the X-Club has violated no laws."
"Prostitution? That's not against the law?"
"There is no prostitution going on there," Alain returned calmly. "Trust me, they have been investigated every time we get a Bible-thumping, born-again elected, or on the force, who thinks they can shut down anything that smacks of porn. Unfortunately, such campaigns rarely pass Constitutional muster. As repugnant as you may think the activities at the X-Club are, they are still legal."
"Yes, I'd heard that you're soft on sleaze like that."
"Soft, no. Realistic, yes. I'll fight child porn with every tool I have, and a great deal of fervor, but what happens between consenting adults should be protected."
Loren Proctor smugly smiled, then zeroed in on the captain again with a cruel stare. "It's people like you who make society a haven for perverts, perverts who snatch beautiful girls like Sally."
"Like Sally?" Impervious to the insult, Danvers raised his brows, "or Kat Bloom?"
"The name change was just a phase. My daughter and I haven't been especially close, but I did love her and she knows that. She would have come back to us soon. I'm sure of it. But with this…now her mother has
She was a logical woman – even now under such duress – and she desperately had to pee.
So, at last, she let her body relax and peed in the bucket beneath her, listening to the splash of urine hit the metal pail.
S CENE S EVEN
Transfer Approved
"Captain Danvers, please," the man spoke in his most intimidating manner, although his tone barely fazed Sergeant Jane Deal, who was sitting at the front reception desk. She was a veteran of the force, used to taking flak from angry people, and pretty much the worst in human behavior. One glance, she knew the type well: filthy rich, condescending, hardly able to tolerate the chaos of the busy police station. You'd think bugs were crawling up his Brooks Bros suit, the way he grimaced at the tiny world around him.
"I'll see if he has time to see you. Your name, sir?"
"Proctor. Loren Proctor."
Jane knew the man; no one who read the newspaper or watched TV news could avoid his distinctive, scowling face. It had been plastered everywhere since his daughter turned up missing – odd saying, 'turned up missing.' If she was missing, how could she turn up?
will see me."
Before Jane could buzz the captain on the intercom, he emerged from his office and motioned the man his way.
Loren Proctor leaned on the front of Alain Danvers' desk and leveled the stern-faced police captain with a vicious stare. "Two weeks! It's been two weeks! What the hell have you been doing?"
Alain was rarely moved by such histrionics. To give himself some distance from the man looming threateningly before him, he leaned back in his chair, adopting the professorial air so common to him and adjusted his glasses.
"Sit down, Mr. Proctor and we'll talk."
Proctor's florid face grew redder for a moment, as if he was ready to lash out again, but then he seemed to back down, if ever so slightly, and sink into the chair behind him, put in his place but not defeated.
"Mr. Proctor. I know the slow progress is frustrating. But I can assure you, we are investigating every lead we have. We've conducted at least a hundred interviews and have a few more to go." He sighed, leaning forward on his desk. "Unfortunately, whoever took your daughter left few clues. The fact is, sir, women sometimes disappear and don't come back. I don't think it's the case with Kat. I think someone has her, but that someone doesn't seem to want a ransom paid – or anything else, at least not yet. But I assure you, we are aggressively investigating every lead."
Proctor pulled back upright, fuming.
"And I thought by now that X-club would be shut down! You haven't done a damn thing about that."
"Sir, the X-Club has violated no laws."
"Prostitution? That's not against the law?"
"There is no prostitution going on there," Alain returned calmly. "Trust me, they have been investigated every time we get a Bible-thumping, born-again elected, or on the force, who thinks they can shut down anything that smacks of porn. Unfortunately, such campaigns rarely pass Constitutional muster. As repugnant as you may think the activities at the X-Club are, they are still legal."
"Yes, I'd heard that you're soft on sleaze like that."
"Soft, no. Realistic, yes. I'll fight child porn with every tool I have, and a great deal of fervor, but what happens between consenting adults should be protected."
Loren Proctor smugly smiled, then zeroed in on the captain again with a cruel stare. "It's people like you who make society a haven for perverts, perverts who snatch beautiful girls like Sally."
"Like Sally?" Impervious to the insult, Danvers raised his brows, "or Kat Bloom?"
"The name change was just a phase. My daughter and I haven't been especially close, but I did love her and she knows that. She would have come back to us soon. I'm sure of it. But with this…now her mother has
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