Heath
There was also the matter of the third mate.
If Clarke bonded him before winter break, they would need to take his feelings and schedule into account.
He and Clarke would need to nurture the bond, but he might not be free to take a vacation on short notice.
Making concrete plans wouldn’t be smart with so many variables.
One way or another, it would all sort out. Having his parents come out was an option. They would just have to be careful not to do or say anything that could expose Clarke.
He hadn’t discussed the possibility of teaching at Venus to Clarke yet. But in his mind, it was the perfect solution. Clarke loved her job, and helping the underage students adjust to their powers.
He chose the dining room for their meeting with Russell. The whiteboard was close for reference, and the table would be convenient for note-taking. It was a better setting for strategizing than the living room.
Rascal meowed, and ran to the front door, causing Heath to look in that direction. Sure enough, he heard the sound of a car in the drive, followed by doors closing.
Jace was parking next to Russell’s car when Heath opened the front door. Russell greeted Jace and Clarke before climbing the porch steps. He was dressed casually, and carrying a satchel.
“Hey, Heath. Thanks for having me over,” Russell said, then looked down. “Well, aren’t you a handsome fella? What’s your name?”
Russell leaned down to pet Rascal, who was weaving around his legs. “This is Rascal,” Heath replied. “He’s taken on the role of welcome committee.”
“And you do such a good job,” Russell said.
Rascal purred, and let Russell give him another scratch behind the ears. Then he ran to lavish attention on Clarke and Jace.
Instead of being annoyed that Russell basically ignored him in favor of his cat, Heath was pleased. He was being himself rather than trying to create a particular impression. It was honest. Showing himself to be an animal lover was proof in Heath’s mind that Russell was a caring person.
Heath hugged Clarke and kissed her on the cheek when they were all in the house with the door closed. Clarke took off the charm bracelet, and hung it on a coat hook by the door.
“If you’re ready, Russell, I think we’re all interested in hearing what you have to say,” Heath commented. “Having no idea how long this meeting might go, I put out some snacks in case any of you are hungry. We can graze while we talk.”
007 nodded. “That works for me,” Clarke said. “Thank you, Heath.”
“I never turn down free food,” Russell told them. “My momma trained me better than that.”
Heath waved them into the dining room, and they all settled at the table. Jace and Clarke passed plates and bowls around as Heath poured glasses of lemonade.
Russell took a chair facing the whiteboard. Placing his satchel on a corner of the table, he withdrew a tablet, pad of paper, and a pen. He perused Heath’s notes on the whiteboard without commenting.
“Don’t keep me in suspense, Russell,” Clarke said. “Have you discovered anything?”
“I don’t have any actual leads yet,” Russell replied. “I’ve been organizing my thoughts and researching Dr. Lauren Prentis for the most part.”
“That makes sense,” Heath said. “We don’t know if the missing students are connected, and investigating each of them could turn into a wild goose chase. It would also be time-consuming, with no guarantee of results.”
Jace grunted before speaking, “But we do know that she is linked to Charlie, and he wasn’t the target.”
“Exactly,” Russell confirmed with a nod at Jace.
“Hunting for leads on the students is important, but not what I feel we should be dedicated to in the immediate sense. The Clementine police department has open cases on most of the missing alumni from Mars and Venus. We’ll let them handle that end of it.
I do think everything is connected, although I have nothing to back up that theory, currently. ”
That made sense. Several of the graduates had last been seen in town. All of them had strong ties here, making it logical for police to gather information from friends and neighbors. Letting the locals do that legwork for them was smart.
None of the detectives in town were investigating the disappearance of Dr. Prentis, who may never have set foot in Clementine. Yet that could be a factor, and thus it would be their priority. Heath liked the way Russell’s mind worked.
“You think Dad, Dr. Prentis, and the missing students are all in the same place?” Clarke asked.
“They may or may not be,” Russell said. “Attempting to determine a location is jumping ahead. What I have learned about the alumni missing from Mars and Venus shows some similarities between them and Dr. Prentis, albeit they are considerably younger. That could be coincidental, but I doubt it. Since there is much more information available on Dr. Prentis, it’s logical to focus our investigation on her. ”
“Whoever is targeting these people wants the best of the best, those with the highest potential in their field of study, sport, or power,” Heath mentioned.
“Exactly,” Russell agreed. “That is one of the common denominators.
And we need to exercise great care. Dr. Lauren Prentis is a renowned veterinarian.
Zoos all over the world beg her to visit, and make lucrative offers, hoping to lure her away from the Denver Institute of Evolved Studies.
There is a waiting list as long as my arm of the zoos and colleges that have extended invitations to her.
“She was taken from a luxury tour bus at a remote rest stop. Yet, there were no witnesses. No one noticed she was missing until hours later. It’s damn suspicious, leading me to think the driver may be complicit.
All of this indicates that the abduction of Dr. Prentis was meticulously planned and orchestrated by a large, well-funded organization with a dedicated goon squad at their disposal. ”
“Shit! You’re right,” 007 said gruffly.
“The same can be said for the students, meaning it could be the same organization,” Heath guessed.
“Yeah, that’s why I think they are probably connected, despite the lack of evidence,” Russell said.
“Wherever Dad and Dr. Prentis are, it has to be large enough to accommodate a number of animals, probably a variety of species,” Clarke said. “I can’t think of any other reason for someone to go to such effort to kidnap her. It must involve animals somehow.”
“It’s the only thing that makes sense,” Heath agreed. “That won’t necessarily make it any easier to find them, though. These people have probably been careful to cover their tracks.”
“So, we somehow need to put all the pieces together, and compile a list of places that house a large number of animals that aren’t zoos.
Doing that would include every college with evolved students, which is a lot,” Jace said.
“Could the barns north of town be connected to this organization? Heath, you put that on the board due to the strange behavior of the animals.”
“The barns are owned by Mars and Venus,” Heath said. “There’s plenty of foot traffic. Wouldn’t someone have noticed something hinky?”
“And why didn’t my vision show the barns instead of Mars College if that’s the case?” Clarke asked. “The main clue probably isn’t in the barns.”
“I agree with all of you,” Russell said. “It isn’t likely that so many people could be hidden on college property unbeknownst to everyone. But it wouldn’t do to ignore the possibility. Better to cross that off the list.”
“Heath can put me in a meditative state, and you guys can ask me questions,” Clarke said. “I’ve been looking forward to exploring that further.”
“Your power is our best resource, Clarke,” Russell said. “We can use it to determine where best to put our focus. I have noted some topics and questions to ask with that goal in mind.”
“Not wanting to push her limits, we stopped after twenty minutes last week,” Heath said.
“I wasn’t tired at all,” Clarke told them. “We could go for longer.”
“Baby steps, Clarke,” Jace said. “Heath and I wouldn’t forgive ourselves if you ended up with a migraine because we pushed.”
“Ok, what if we agree on the most pertinent topics to cover first, and ask her questions for thirty minutes?” Russell asked.
“That shouldn’t strain Clarke, since twenty minutes didn’t take a toll on her, and many of her visions last for an hour.
If she’s fine, we can extend the next session by five or ten minutes.
At the first sign of a headache or disorientation, we’ll stop. ”
Heath appreciated that Russell was respectful of Clarke, and thinking of her well-being. He didn’t see her as a tool or means to an end.
“I’m comfortable with that,” Heath said.
“Same,” Jace agreed.
“Let’s do it. I’m excited to work with this aspect of my power, and see what we can learn,” Clarke said.
“Good. The first thing I want to do is assign tasks,” Russell said. “If you all agree with my ideas, we’ll ask preliminary questions that will assist us in performing those jobs. We can go into more detail next week depending on what, if any information we have acquired at that point.”
“Tasks?” Jace asked.
Russell nodded. “Jace, you have an excellent relationship with most of the police force in town. I’d like you to spend a night or two with some of your buddies. Express your concern about the missing graduates, and find out if they have any leads.”
“I can do that,” Jace replied. “Some of the guys have been nagging me to hang out, complaining that I’ve been antisocial this year.”
“Crap,” Heath said. “You have to do your normal thing even if you don’t learn anything about the students. We don’t want your friends and roommates getting too curious about why you haven’t been meeting them at your favorite watering holes.”
“True, but it’s not an issue at the moment,” Jace said. “I told them I’ve been staying close to campus due to the tension resulting from Mitch’s shit.”
“But now that things have calmed down, it would seem odd for you not to indulge in a guy night,” Clarke mentioned.
“I’d rather spend every free minute with you, Clarke, but I agree that deviating too much from routine isn’t wise, and I can multitask by finding out if the detectives have leads,” Jace said.
“What do you have in mind for me?” Heath asked.
“I would like you to focus on the tournament,” Russell said.
“Since we may not be able to solve this anytime soon, it would be best to have a plan in place to protect the students. As a professor, you will have access to information on all the students who plan to enter, who their coaches are, and the duties of auxiliary staff. That could be pivotal.”
“I’ll get on it right away,” Heath said.
Sleuthing wasn’t a strength of his. But Heath had a good relationship with the faculty and students. This should be a fairly easy task to accomplish, and could be important.
Hopefully, Charlie and the students would be found and liberated before the upcoming tournament. If not, they would need as much information as possible, and a strategy to protect the students. He liked having contingency plans, and being proactive.
Russell and 007 had large social networks that consisted of completely different groups of people. It was a distinct advantage. Between the two of them, they would hopefully come up with solid leads.
Delegating responsibilities intelligently was clearly something Russell was good at. He was already proving to be an asset. Heath was encouraged.
“Clarke, it isn’t safe for you to be in town more than absolutely necessary.
Mitch is still a threat, and just waiting for you to drop your guard.
Since you don’t know many people here, and have to be careful in your interactions, you will contribute primarily with your psychic power,” Russell waited for her nod of agreement before continuing.
“I will spend as much time as possible in Clementine, seeing what I can dig up on the staff. Hopefully something will point to a suspect we can investigate who may know where Charlie and Dr. Prentis are.”
“It’s a good plan,” Heath commented.
“Yeah, I feel more confident now,” Clarke said.
“Good. I think we have a strong team with a variety of talents,” Russell said.
They all snacked as they talked about working with Clarke’s power. It was relaxed and upbeat. Russell’s presence and strategy gave them all hope of learning something useful sooner than later.
When their appetites were satisfied, they moved into the living room after putting the leftovers away. Russell handed Jace a list of questions, and sat down where he could face the room. He seemed content to observe the process.
“This is interesting,” Jace said after scanning the page.
“I know it looks random and disorganized,” Russell said. “But these are basic things we need to know. The answers we get will help direct our focus for the next session, and the information we need to obtain.”
“Sounds good. Let’s get started,” Clarke said as she sat sideways on the couch with the sketch pad resting against her bent legs.