CHAPTER 82

     They stood outside the house for a moment. Teddy and Ravenna were already waiting in the car. It was a bright Monday morning,Dylan was headed to work while Carly was headed back home. 

            "Thanks for coming over for the weekend. Even though I wasn't here all through, I had the best time."

              "Thank you for having us. It's not every day you see people embracing those that are not their family," she said that looking at the kids in the car. "You are a special one Dylan, that's why I love you."

  She stepped closer to her.

             "I'll always remind you Carly,family is not about those you share blood ties with,it's all about someone you would bleed for. The people who would bleed for you. You,Teddy,Ravenna,Carl...you are all that to me. And I love you too."

    She pulled her into her arms in a tight embrace. She closed her eyes letting the contact sink in.

             "I can't wait for the day we will make this permanent. The day you won't have to go back home," she added.

               "Me too. I want to be right here waiting for you everyday in the evening. I long for the day I will be the one you come back home to every day and make love to you until the sun shines again."

She smiled, "I would really like that." She looked over to the car then back into her eyes.

                "Yes you can kiss me," Carly stated. She looked at her in surprise wondering how she had known what was going on in her mind.

              "How did you know I was going to ask you that?"

Carly laughed, "Your face, you always get that look in your eyes whenever you want to kiss me. That's something that hasn't changed since the first day we kissed back in highschool. Remember you asked me the exact same question?"

               "How can I forget?"

                 "That was the first time my body reacted to such intimacy. I remember very clearly how my heart fluttered at the thought of having your lips on mine. I still feel that way whenever we get too close and the anticipation always leaves me wanting to tear your clothes off and make love to you so,come on and kiss me."

   Dylan didn't wait to be told that a second time,she moved in and kissed her fully on the mouth, right there on the porch. The moment their tongues met,her body bursted into flames and she had to fight hard to prevent her hand from straying all over Carly's body. They were outside and the kids could be watching them. What kind of parents would they be if they continued being that intimate in front of their kids? Their kids? Oh wow. She broke off the kiss abruptly at the thought. 

               "What is it? Your face just turned blue," Carly asked.

  Instead of saying what she had just thought, she diverted into another topic.

                 "Yesterday I might have told someone that you are my wife."

    Carly laughed, "Someone I know?"

                "No,I actually said to them that I have a wife."

                  "And that's bothering you?"

                  "I mean..."

                 "Hey,relax. It is perfectly fine. I actually feel so good that you see me as that."

                  "Yeah?"

                    "Absolutely. Don't act so surprised." She kissed her lightly then looked away. "I have been thinking about something."

               "Okay."

               "Since I'm back permanently and the largest part of the pressure we had is gone,I should look for a job in the schools around."

              "Is that what you want?"

               "Yeah,I'm not going anywhere again Dylan. Also,I want to be able to help with the bills when we move in together. I also don't want to stay in doors all day long."

               "Okay,I will support the decision you make for yourself."

              "Okay. Go to work now,I'll see you soon."

                "See you soon Lee and take care of yourself."

               "You too. Don't go jumping in the middle of cross-fires without your vest. I'll kill you myself if you do."

                  "I won't, I promise."

                       ★★★

      Some minutes past eight,Dylan walked towards her desk. Kenny wasn't there yet but she knew where he was. After forcing Melissa into spending the there,she had made sure she would get to school early and be there in time for her test. She had offered to get up early to take her but Kenny had jumped right in offering the same saying he didn't have anyone to leave early in the morning to go to work but she had. They had agreed that she would be back with him immediately the test was over so that she could help with their investigation. 

 Several minutes passed before they got there and the moment they did,they all headed to the interview room where they could discuss the case more freely.

             "First of all,I am sorry about yesterday for not giving you a choice of where you would spend the night," she said once she had locked the door behind her. "We had to take all the necessary precaution to prevent you being kidnapped or even worse."

              "It's okay. You might have saved my life and a night here wasn't as bad as I had thought. I would probably not have slept in my own dorm room."

              "How did your test go?"

             "I think just as it would have gone even if I had gone back to school. Anyway, I don't care about that. Right now I want to do what I can to help you rescue the others."

               "Okay,glad we are on the same page." She had only gotten into her own issues just to make a friendly conversation and to make sure Melissa would cooperate after the force she had used on her the previous night. She dropped several photographs on the table. "Can you tell us if you recognize this guy?"

            "Is that the one who was after me yesterday?"

            "We ran a check on his car and it is registered under him. He goes by the name Bernard Cooper. We compared the photographs to the face we saw last night and he is the same person. Ever heard of that name?"

                "No but I think I have seen him again before."

                "Where and when?"

                "In the night club. I have seen him several times but never really paid any attention  to him and he never approached me like the other guys. He just watched and left," she appeared to be in deep thought for several minutes as if trying to recall something.

                 "What else do you remember?"

                "I think I once saw him talking to the school head sometime back. I had been summoned there because I had been missing classes a lot and I can recall seeing a tall guy with the exact same scar at the exact same spot." She pointed at the scar that ran across the guy's nose to his right cheek bone. 

               "Did they seem close?"

               "They looked like they were arguing about something and the head seemed angry with him. He looked at me once as I sat outside waiting to be called inside and his look wasn't so friendly."

                "And you are positive it is him?"

               "I am," she nodded.

                "When was this?"

               "Uh...About three or four weeks ago."

                "That is around the time Maisie had Mirabelle disappeared."

                "Oh God! Do you think he took them?"

                "It's likely." She looked at Kenny who had the same idea she had pasted across his face. "I think we need to pay the school head another visit."

               "I will drive."

                 "Can I come along?" Melissa requested. They looked at each other undecided. "Please, I want to be there if you find out something. I want to be there if you are going to look for Mirabelle."

                 "It's not safe for you Melissa. Sit tight and let us do our job."

   She stood up and walked towards her boldly as if challenging her.

             "I love her and I would do anything for her even though she doesn't know that yet. Just like you would for that woman you love. I'm going with you and if not,I'm not staying here either. I don't care anymore about what happens to me. I can even have myself kidnapped just so I can go bring her back. So,make a choice detective because you have no right to hold me here against my will."

     A part of her knew that Melissa was probably bluffing but something else told her otherwise. Love made people do dumb things,get their selves in trouble without thinking first and if Melissa loved that girl as much as she claimed, there was no guarantee she couldn't do exactly what she had said."

                "I just have one question, why didn't you do that before?" 

                "Because I thought they had done some sort of arrangement to run away and leave me behind. When you told me Maisie was dead and now Mirabelle might be in the hands of that guy,everything has changed and I want to do what I can to look for her."

               "Alright, let's go. But you will stay in the car all through, got it?"

 She rolled her eyes but nodded when she gave her a fierce look.

                      ★★★

         The principal was about to take his midmorning breakfast when they got there. As though he had instructed the secretary to let them through immediately they came again, she permitted them to go on in without asking any questions or calling her boss first. He put down a cup on his desk and sat down more attentively to listen to them.

           "I have been hoping to hear from you soon. Do you have any news on their whereabouts?"

            "Not at the moment." 

There was no change in his face, definitely no disappointment. Wasn't that supposed to be his reaction especially if the student's parents were threatening him like he had claimed? She dismissed it anyway and went straight to what had brought them there.

             "We are however following up something we feel it could help." She motioned to Kenny to show him the photographs.

            "A witness saw this guy here some time back. They said that you were arguing about something," Kenny said without giving out much detail. 

             "That's Bernard Cooper. He used to work here as a janitor,night shifts and I fired him several weeks back. What has this got to do with the case of the missing students?"

             "We think that he might know where they are if he isn't the one holding them." At that,he seemed confused for a moment but it disappeared quickly. 

            "Well,shouldn't you be out there questioning him instead?"

Dylan observed him for a moment. The guy was avoiding both of their eyes pretending to look at the photographs. There was definitely something he was not telling them.

            "We will be on our way as soon as you tell us where we can find him."

   The guy thought for a while then sighed. He opened a drawer and produced a notebook. He looked at a certain page he seemed to have listed several addresses then copied something on a separate piece of paper. "This is the last address I know of. I usually list each one for the entire staff so it is easier to refer to."

                "Okay thank you, we'll be in touch."

               "Good luck detectives."

   Dylan turned for a second at the door and looked at the principal one more time. He sat down appearing to be thinking since his face was all furrowed and stiff. She wasn't sure if it was the news that his former member of staff could be involved in an illegal business or if it was something else. After the experience with Taylor and Kelley,she knew not to dismiss any fishy feeling that came from inside her.

              "I don't trust that guy," she said when she caught up with Kenny as they got into the car.

             "Oh,glad you can read my mind. He knows much more than he is willing to let us know."

             "Melissa, how well do you know your school head?"

             "The guy is a pig. He can sleep with just any woman he comes across. There's a rumor that he has slept with almost half of the female students in campus and their parents. Also,he once disappeared for a whole week and no one knew where he had gone to."

               "Let's get to Bernard first,we will look into him later or might even learn something from this guy."