Chapter Three
I watched Valeria walk away and was not sure what to think.
She was attractive and well-dressed, but beneath it all, I got this vibe of violence lurking just under the surface; not the usual machismo I had encountered from cops in the past, more like a wild cat on the prowl.
Was that someone I wanted looking for my sister?
Dominique would have her pegged as the person who would betray her in the third act after their first meeting.
But something there also reminded me in a strange way of Robert.
Even if she appeared more like a person to wreak terrible vengeance than to be your guardian angel, she had seemed steadfast when she told me she would find her.
I shook my head. I could sit here all day—well, probably not without buying at least one coffee—thinking about the situation, but that would not help Nisha. I needed to get my ass moving.
I got up and headed out to my car. Okay, the first order of business was to get the animals to a kennel.
Who knew what was going to happen for the next couple of days?
Some sleep would have been nice, but since the condo was now a crime scene, that was not going to happen.
Well, I always felt a shower was worth about two hours of sleep, so I headed to the gym in the complex.
After a shower and a change of clothes, I felt closer to a regular person. Now, what would Dominique do? If Nisha had a personal locator, that would be helpful. She did have a phone, so that was worth a shot.
It was a short drive to the local cellular store. I walked up to the counter and put on my best “gee, I am a helpless female” expression. I really hate using it, but it is effective in a lot of situations. I looked at the name tag of the guy behind the register.
“Hi, Bob, I am having a little bit of trouble. I lost my phone. Is there any way you can tell me the last place I used it?”
“I am not sure I could do that.”
“Bob, please, I have replaced my phone twice this year already and I just can’t do it again.
Can you do it just this one time?” I leaned closer to Bob.
“Please, I would really appreciate it.” Yes, I know Gloria Steinem was rolling over in her grave and she isn’t even dead yet, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
“Um, okay, I would need to see some ID.”
I opened my purse and pulled out my sister’s license. Once, years ago, I had lost a bet and had to attend jury duty as Nisha, and ever since then, we have started carrying copies of each other’s identification. There were days when it paid to be someone else.
“Well, by using the GPS on your phone, I can see that the last call was near Lindbergh Road and Highway 270. I can’t tell you anything more than that.”
“Oh, I remember now. Thanks, Bob; I know just where to look. I am going to give you the best customer service score.”
Bob leaned forward. “Is that all?”
“I promise the next time I come in I will have something special for you.” I pulled back.
I smiled as I thought about what would happen the next time my sister came in to get a new phone, then the smile faded as quickly as it had come.
I took a deep breath. No, my sister would be getting another new phone soon, just as she had many times in the past (it had been the truth that she had lost two phones in as many months).
I was not going to allow myself to think any other way.
So, I was once more on the road. I stifled a yawn as I pulled out on Lindbergh Road and headed toward the highway.
The trip was a short one and soon I was looking around.
There on the corner was a comic book and game shop.
I remembered my sister’s voicemail and thought about that con she had attended.
Could her disappearance have been about that?
It seemed unlikely, but then again some of my sister’s gamer friends were kind of out there.
“Nisha!”
I looked around as I walked through the door to the shop. There in the corner, a twentysomething man waved frantically at me. I waved back. He got up from a table covered in dice and books and almost ran straight into me.
“Are you okay? When we saw your car open and trashed in the back parking lot, we were worried?”
“Is it still back there…” I made the universal sign for “I completely forgot your name” with my right hand.
“I’m Thomas; we’ve been playing Facade for like a month.”
“Sorry, Tom, it’s been a rough couple of days, and I am a little fuzzy.”
“It’s Thomas, and that’s okay.”
He looked at me sideways and I figured I would not be able to pull the deception off for very long.
“Here, I pulled your keys out of your car to make sure no one took it.”
“Thanks.” I grabbed the keys out of his hand and looked at the back of the shop, but there was no obvious way out to the back.
“C’mon, Nisha.” He grabbed my hand and started to drag me back behind the counter.
The guy staffing the cash register gave me a dirty look but made no move to stop us; he just picked up his cell phone.
We walked through a storage area and went out through a large iron door.
As we exited onto the rear parking lot, I could see my sister’s ’68 Camaro, parked, taking up two spaces like she always did.
I leaned over and peered into the driver’s side window.
The car had been trashed; someone had taken a knife and slashed the seats, and the glove compartment had been rifled through.
“She’s going to be so pissed.”
“Who is?”
Damn, I had forgotten for a moment that Tom, I mean Thomas, was standing next to me. There was not much point in continuing the charade.
“Nisha is going to be pissed. I’m her sister Sah.”
“Wow, she told me she had a sister but not a twin.”
“We tend to hold that back to give us more options.”
Thomas got a wide smile on his face, and I reached out and smacked him on the back of the head. “Not those kinds of options. Now focus, when was the last time you saw my sister?”
“Monday. We were supposed to play a game of Facade, but she called and said she couldn’t.
A couple of hours later, she came in and bought every book and supplement the store had on the game and ran out the back door.
We quit playing around seven in the morning, and when we were going to get breakfast, we found her car. ”
“Well, crap, that’s not that much help.” I turned around and leaned on the car.
“What’s going on? Is she okay?”
“I don’t know. Hey, what is the game you guys were playing?”
“It’s the coolest thing; it’s like D20 meets the World of Darkness meets Warcraft.” He stopped as he noticed my eyes glazing over. “You don’t game, do you?”
“I play Halo, does that count?”
“Kind of, but not really. The Facade is a role-playing game, you make up a character, usually a shapeshifter of some kind, and then you get together in a group of other people. One person is the game master, who decides on the story and challenges of the game, and the other people work together to complete the mission. Facade is different than most role-playing games because not only can you play it with pencil and paper, but you can also go online, and some people even get together and dress up like their characters and do a live-action version.”
“Kind of weird, but I can see my sister getting into it.”
“Well, she liked the game, but she was also asking all sorts of questions about who were the organizers of the events, what was the company that put out the supplements. Which was understandable since Facade went from pretty much an unknown game to making more money every month than Dungeons do the math.”
“Damn.” I was apparently in the wrong business. “Okay, well, it’s someplace to start, thanks.” I started to walk back to the shop.
“Hey.”
I stopped and looked at Thomas. “What?”
He pulled out a business card. “Call me if you need anything. Your sister was a class act; she was smart and beautiful but never thought she was better than any of us. If I can help find her in any way, I want to help.”
I took a quick look at the card. Thomas White Computer Solutions. I slid the card into my back pocket. “Thanks.”
I walked back into the store and strode around, looking for a copy of this Facade game Thomas had been talking about.
After a few minutes I caught sight of a large hardbound book and reached out for it.
Then a thought came to mind. In one of my books Dominique had hidden information behind a license plate.
If Nisha was going to leave me a message, that might be where it was.
A quick dive into the trunk for a screwdriver and I was removing the front plate.
“Bingo!” There was a note. I snapped a quick picture of it with my phone since I tend to lose any piece of paper that spends more than an hour in my pocket.
Stowing my phone in my purse, I sat down against the driver’s door to study it.
I had barely had time to scan it once before a hand shot out and grabbed it from my grasp.
I looked up to find a hulking form towering over me.
The guy was huge and clad all in leather like a wrestler who was too big a fan of KISS; I hardly had time to register the moon tattoo on his chest before he smacked my head into the car.
Stars swam in my vision, and he grabbed me by the hair and pulled me to my feet.
“Bitch, we have been looking for you. Lycos doesn’t like people wasting his time.”
The guy stuffed the note into his pocket. He took a close look at me like something wasn’t quite right. He changed his grip on my hair and ripped a handful from my head.
“Fuck!” I had never thrown a punch in anger before, but there was a first time for everything.
I smashed my fist into his nose, and while some blood trailed down after the impact, it seemed to have no effect.
He held the hair up to his nose and took a big whiff, then put it in the same pocket with the note.
Great, scary and kinky, just what I needed right now.
I reared my hand back for another punch, but before I could act, he slammed his forehead into my face.
Suddenly, I was on the ground again. I was going to have to reevaluate my fight scenes.
This shit hurt. He reached down and pulled me to my feet again.
“I’m not supposed to kill you, but if you keep resisting, I am going to have to start hurting you.”
“Start?” The stars were back.
He smiled and started dragging me toward a giant pickup truck. Time to start fighting dirty.
“Let go of me!”
I took hold of his wrist and attempted to separate him from my arm, but it was not budging.
It was a sad fact of genetics that a girl in good shape was never going to be as strong as a man in good shape, and this guy was way into steroid territory.
But that’s okay. I know another fact: regardless of how big you are, it still takes the same amount of force to dislocate one of your fingers.
I slid my hand forward, grabbed his index finger, and snapped it backward with all the strength I had.
There was a loud crack as the finger went in a direction nature never intended it to go, but like the punch, it seemed to have no effect on him; check that, it had made him very pissed.
He stopped and turned to look directly into my eyes.
I maintained my hold on his finger and ground it around.
He balled up his fist and sent a furious jab to my midsection; instantly, all my breath left me, and I hung limp, only his other arm keeping me upright.
“I told ya, bitch.”
He did; I had to give him that. He started dragging me to the truck again. I tried to resist further, but somehow, my brain did not feel connected to my limbs anymore.
He was brought up short by the sound of someone bursting through the back door of the gaming store.
“Let her go.” Valeria had her badge out as she made the demand.
The thug looked at the badge and scoffed. “Hey, Cat, I know who you are, and you know who I am, so just walk away.”
“Not going to happen.” Valeria put her badge away and got into a fighting stance.
“Hey, detective, not trying to tell you your job, but he’s kinda tough. Pull out your gun and just shoot him.” Still not sure my brain was working right, but it seemed like good advice.
“Shut up,” both of them responded.
The thug let go of me, and I found myself on the ground again.
“Hey, cat, you want some pain? I don’t mind giving it.”
What is up with this “hey, cat” stuff? Is this guy stuck in the seventies?
The two began circling each other. The thug lunged at Valeria.
Then, she was just gone from where she had been, flowing around her bigger foe and smashing her elbow into the back of his neck.
The thug staggered but whipped around and threw a punch at Valeria’s head.
She stepped back, dodging to the left, and threw a kick into his midsection without much effect.
“That the best you got? I guess you’re right; you’re not a man anymore.”
Valeria’s face hardened. “So, you want to make this personal, okay.”
The thug charged Valeria and threw another punch.
Valeria caught his fist and used his momentum to drag his arm behind his back and drive his head into Nisha’s Camaro.
Valeria let go of the thug and stepped back.
The thug turned around groggily, and Valeria launched a vicious spinning back kick to his chin, putting him on the ground.