Page 16 of Bishop's Flight
Joy Anthony looked confused. “What?”
Brigid needed the conversation back on track. “Did other kids at school tease him for having visible security?”
Pete snorted. “Obvious, man.”
“I’m not a man.” Brigid leaned forward and allowed her amnis to leak into the room. Nothing specific or pointed, but the electrical charge could create a low level of anxiety that humans perceived on a subconscious level. “And it’s not obvious to me. Did he hate it?”
Pete dropped the cocky look on his face. “Yeah. He hated it, but he didn’t complain or anything. I think he knew his moms were involved in some dangerous stuff, you know?”
Brigid looked at the boy’s mother. “Did you know?”
The woman looked uncomfortable, but she nodded slightly. “I don’t have any specific knowledge and I don’t work in criminal law, but there were rumors.” She quickly added, “Children aren’t responsible for their parents. Lucas is a nice boy, and he was welcome in our home. That’s all that we cared about. Do you think someone in that world—the criminal world—took him?”
Brigid leaned back and kept her eyes on Pete. “My partner and I were hired to find out.”
“Shouldn’t you call the police?”
“If you want Lucas dead, you should do that.” Brigid looked at the mother. “Do ya want the boy to die?”
The woman gripped her son’s arm so hard her knuckles turned white. She shook her head.
Brigid turned back to Pete. “Did Lucas have a girlfriend?”
Pete was slowly realizing that his friend was in very serious trouble. “I don’t think so. I mean, he said there was someone he was talking to online, but he showed me a pic and…” The young man shrugged, clearly uncomfortable. “I mean, guys like us don’t get girls like that, you know? She was a complete catfish.”
“What do ya mean?”
“She was superhot. She looked like one of those girls video game companies hire for conventions, you know? It was probably just someone using a picture.”
“Was the woman in the picture blond?”
“Like, dyed blond maybe? It was hard to tell in the picture, but I think she was part Asian? I’m not sure.”
Brigid pulled out a screenshot Lee had printed for her. “Is this the woman in the picture?”
Pete leaned forward and frowned. “Yeah. You mean she was real?”
Brigid showed the picture to the boy’s mother. “Have you seen her? Do ya recognize her? She might've been around the school or in the neighborhood at night.”
Joy Anthony shook her head. “I don’t remember ever seeing her. How old is she?”
Possibly far older than Lucas. “We don’t know who she is. This picture was taken from casino security.”
She glanced at her son. “Is she a… a predator?”
“We think she may have been used to lure Lucas away from his guards.” Brigid put the picture away. “If you see her, call us. Don’t confront her. Don’t attempt to speak to her. Keep your distance ’cause she could easily be dangerous.”
“Holy shit. She’s like, real isn’t she?” Pete’s eyes were the size of tea saucers. “Like, he wasn’t making her up.”
“What did he say about her? Be specific.”
“Uh…” The boy furrowed his brow. “He said he met her on Discord and they liked a lot of the same games and stuff. He said she was really into chess.” Pete rolled his eyes. “Lucas was like, really into chess. Everything in life was about chess. He actually used to say that to people, you know? Life was a chess game and most people didn’t have a clue about the rules.”
That sounded like a young man raised around vampires. Brigid remembered feeling similar things when she left the comfort of her childhood home and moved to university. She’d been astonished at all the humans living around her in ignorance.
“So she liked chess and he met her on Discord?” Brigid was sure Lee had mentioned something about that. “Did they ever meet? Did he mention having plans to meet her?”
Pete blinked. “I think maybe so. Last week he was all… I don’t know. He was, like, goofy or something. I asked him what his deal was, and he said something about that weekend changing his life or something. I don’t know what he was talking about, but maybe he was going to meet this girl.”
