Chapter 17 #2
“The company will be rehearsing the entire first act of the ballet starting tomorrow,” Armand said to Edward.
“That’s corps and soloists, plus Ivan, Veronica, Lily, Scarlet, and Sonja.
Maybe I can talk to the girls there, go over safety precautions, suggest a curfew.
Make sure they’re really sticking with groups instead of walking alone. ”
Alex turned his attention to Armand and Edward.
“Assign them groups,” Alex suggested.
“It’s going to be hard to tell adult women how to live,” Edward said. “Best we can do is suggest, but I don’t want to cause unnecessary panic.”
Alex bristled at the words. He turned back to them and frowned. “Maybe scaring them is best.”
“I’d like to avoid those tactics.” Edward eyed Alex. “In fact, with the police now picking up the slack, we can breathe a little easier. We can focus on rehearsals and the ballet schedule. I don’t want the company freaked out. No curfew, just casually suggest they travel in groups.”
Alex narrowed his eyes at the man. He wanted to tell Edward exactly what he thought—he was being foolish. Everything wasn’t fine, and Alex knew it.
“Correct me if I’m wrong.” He took a step into the hall and turned back to Edward. “But don’t ballet companies find ballet dancers to be somewhat of a necessity?”
“Why don’t you just tell me what you’re really thinking?” Edward asked.
Okay, here we go.
“Well,” Alex took a breath. “I think you’re letting your pride get in the way of the safety of your dancers. You want to keep everything normal, you want to live in denial, and you want to pretend everything’s fine so your investors don’t get scared off in light of this more extreme possibility.”
Armand’s eyes widened as Alex spoke, and he looked back and forth between the two men.
Edward tilted his head, pausing a moment before answering. “Alex, don’t question my business ethics. Just do the job you’re hired to do, which includes doing what I say.” He pushed past him and walked back to his office.
Armand gave Alex a shrug and started after his partner.
Alex knew Edward was stressed, and he wanted to find some sort of pity in that, but he couldn’t.
Edward could be incredibly selfish, and Alex had learned to navigate that minefield.
He would just go about his usual duties.
His job was to protect Scarlet, and that was what he would do.
He’d let the sharp-looking detective handle the rest.
Maybe he’s great at his job, he thought. Hopefully…
Alex couldn’t ignore the darkening cloud that threatened the entire company. He had an instinctive feeling that avoiding it could be a fatal mistake.
“What was that about?”
Alex turned to see Lance, Roland and Uly still hovering nearby.
“Mostly denial.” Alex sighed. “Listen, we’re gonna have to step up our game. Turns out the owner of that other ballet company may be into some heavy stuff and could be using his company as a front for human trafficking. He may or may not be targeting dancers here as potential.”
“Product.” Uly’s perpetual slouch straightened and he lifted his head like a retriever who’d caught sight of a tennis ball. “Ballet front, huh? That’s a good one. Not the best I’ve seen, but a good one.”
Alex frowned. “This is something you know about?”
Uly opened and closed his mouth a couple of times, and scrunched his face up in thought. “Well, I may know some people who know some people who’ve dealt with problems like this. Big trafficking outfit got taken down years ago outside of L.A. Could be some remaining threads from that.”
Alex relaxed, and he glanced at Lance and Roland, who both shrugged. “You know what to look for?” Alex asked Uly.
He nodded. “Sure. I can case the other company, if you want. Can also makes some calls to some contacts, see if they’ve heard anything.” He cocked his head. “That may be overstepping our bounds, though.”
“Sounds intense,” Roland said. “I could go for some intense right about now.”
“Okay,” Alex agreed. “Do what you need to do, and get back to me.”
Uly nodded, and casually walked away from them down the hall.
“Detective seems to think they grabbed Scarlet thinking she was still a corps dancer.” Alex sighed and shook his head.
“And so now they’re targeting whoever they can?” Roland asked. “That soloist is pretty high-profile.”
“Doesn’t seem like a smart move,” Lance commented. “Then again, I’m just a guy from Kentucky. I don’t really want to expand my horizons in human trafficking.”
“No, I agree, not a lot of this makes sense,” Alex said. “Least of all, some big crime outfit targeting a gay couple’s ballet company.”
Roland teetered back on his heels. “Monetarily, they’re a threat if the other company is in danger of closing. It endangers the front.”
“So, move the front.” Alex shrugged. “This is a lot of attention.”
“Well, seems like these companies like attention.” Roland shrugged. “And their former prima ran off with the other big boss. Maybe there’s a vendetta there? Maybe something someone isn’t telling us?”
“Ballerina politics.” Lance sighed. “This should be a reality show.”
Alex didn’t want to admit that Edward could be hiding something. Although, Alex wanted to trust he wouldn’t. Maybe Edward wasn’t thinking clearly, so Alex would have to stay extra focused on the situation at hand.
One thing was for certain. Alex needed to make sure Scarlet stayed safe … above anything else.