Page 18 of Captive

"Except her car is in its parking spot and Ten hatesflying."

"Train?" Silvana followed rule one for the first ten minutes of the car ride through town before breaking into what others have termed the Silvana sideshow. He's a nice enough guy when you look past his lack of skills as a detective, but he's the last thing I need right now. It is like babysitting a big, dumb kid who likes to talk and laugh at stupidjokes.

"Or maybe a bus," Silvana adds. "You can take one of those luxury cruise buses anywhere in the country. They're real comfy and they serve good food. Probably not five star stuff but better than plane food. Shit, did I tell you about my flight to Denver on one of those economy planes?" Again, it only takes one look from me for him to put a quick end to his plane trip story. "Nothing. Not even a lousy bag of peanuts or pretzels," he blurts quickly just to give me the cliff noteversion.

I'm trying to picture Ten sitting on a crowded bus with a load of chatty gray haired tourists talking about baked bean recipes and their grandchildren's birthday parties. There just wasn't any fuckingway.

I walk into the kitchen. The coffee pot is clean and dry, another big clue that Ten hasn't been here. Aside from a half tray of eggs, a bottle of ketchup and some cheese that was blue but that definitely was not blue cheese, the fridge was empty. Ten rarely cooked. She preferred to eat out, but this was pathetic even by herstandards.

I shoot down the hallway to her room and think about how mad Ten would be if she knew I was going through her stuff. Her bed is made. Another anomaly. I pull open the closet. Her favorite sneakers are sitting on the floor. There's no way she would go on a vacation or anywhere withoutthem.

It is time to hit the streets and talk to some of our connections. My mind keeps going to the day in Clark's office when Ten asked him to send her undercover to find whoever it was that was kidnapping runaway girls and clobbering billionaires. But I push the thought out of my head. There is no way Clark would send her undercover on something like that. It's way too dangerous. Not just for Ten but foranyone.

I head back to the front room. Silvana walks out of Ten's kitchen with his arm buried in a box of Lucky Charms cereal. His fist pulls free and cereal and marshmallows sprinkle the kitchen floor. I don't even know what to say. I just hold out my arms inquestion.

"Sorry, Maddox, but the medicine my doc has me on makes my stomach hurt if its empty." He shovels in the handful of cereal and makes a show of rolling down the inside cellophane bag before closing thebox.

"I'm sure Ten won't notice the stretched box or spilled cereal. Let's go. I want to talk toNorville."

"Norville? Isn't that your snitch?" he talks over his mouthful, and I instantly remember another major complaint from his pastpartners.

"No, it's my first grade teacher, I want to talk to him and find out why the hell he encouraged me when I told him I wanted to be a cop." I wave him out of the apartment so I can lockit.

Thankfully Silvana has swallowed the cereal before he blurts out a laugh. "You're so damn funny, Maddox. Everyone told me you were, but I said 'I don't know that Maddox seems kind of intense'. Kind of mean, you know? But you're not. You're a funny guy." He keeps blathering on as I walk past him on the metal stairs leading down from the apartment. "No wonder all the women have the hots for you. I mean, other than the obvious, the whole big shoulder, movie star facething."

Silvana reaches for the passenger side door. It's locked. He waits for me to climb in and unlock it. Instead, I start thecar.

Silvana taps politely on the window. "Hey, Maddox, it'slocked."

I stare straight ahead at Ten's shabby little car and wonder just where the hell she couldbe.

Silvana taps again. "Gotta open up, buddy." He says with a nervous laugh. "Come on, Maddox. Fun time isover."

My phone rings and I yank it from my pocket, hoping its Ten. Tiffany's voice floats through the phone. "Hey, my big honey bear, I just want to remind you that we have a cake tasting date today at Shirley's Cake Shop. I texted you theaddress."

"Come on, Maddox, let me in." Silvana has pushed his pillowy face against thewindow.

"Isn't it a little early for them to start baking a cake? The wedding is eight months away." Normally I'd be down to taste a bunch of cake but today wasn't a good day forit.

Tiffany laughs but it sounds edged with irritation. "Funny man. Shirley's cakes are really popular. You have to get on her schedule months inadvance."

Silvana peers into the front windshield. His cheeks wobble forward like a dog with jowls. "Come on, Maddox. Let mein."

"Hey, Tiff, I've got to go. I'll see you at thebakery."

I slap my hand over the door lock button and open the door. Silvana thuds down in the passenger seat with the same laugh. "Thought you were gonna make me walk back to thestation."

"I was seriously thinking about it." I pull out of the parking lot and head toward Norville's favorite hangout, the poolhall.

After his cereal feast, Silvana dropped into nap mode while I drove across town to the shady pool hall where Norville liked to hang out. Silvana snored along with the beat of the music, but he woke up as soon as the car slowed to astop.

I turn off theengine.

Silvana rubs his chubby fists into his eye sockets, reminding me of a pudgy faced kid just getting up from a nap. He sits up higher in the seat. "Sorry, must have dozed off. I didn't get much sleep last night. Sleep apnea," he adds even though I don'task.

"And here I was thinking that you were having a wild threesome with two hotwomen."

Silvana laughs. "Don't I wish. Boy, do I wish. There are these two sisters who live in the apartment next tome—"

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