Runaway. Part 6

Natalie Towne was teacher crush material. She was youthful and elegant and had Jan ever been a high school student with a teacher like this, she'd have had a major thing for her.

Natalie handed her a report as she took a seat in front of the desk.

"What's this?" Jan said.

"A recent research paper Maddy wrote. When I heard she was missing and that investigators would be here to talk to us, I read it over again."

Jan leafed through the pages. They were heavily marked with red ink.

"It doesn't look like she did very well on it."

Natalie leaned back in the chair and crossed her legs. They were excellent legs, covered to the knee with a tailored skirt. Then she uncrossed her legs and moved her chair forward and Jan lost her view. She turned back to the paper.

"Actually, she did very well on it. This copy is my own and I marked it up last night as I was reading."

"Okay. Why don't you tell me why you brought it in?"

"Can I ask whether you have any idea what's happened to Maddy?"

Jan saw the look of concern on Natalie's face, more genuine than she'd seen from Maddy's parents.

"I'm afraid we don't know at this point."

"This is the first year I've had Maddy in cla.s.s and school just started a couple of months ago. I don't know her well. But she turned this paper in last week and it alarmed me. Maybe I should have said something to her parents about it."

Finally, Jan thought. Maybe someone knows something about this kid.

"First of all," Natalie said, "the paper is huge. I asked for fifteen pages and she gave me thirty. Kids don't do that. But she wrote very pa.s.sionately on the subject of the new wave of right-wing insurgency groups."

"As in the militias? That sort of thing?"

"Yes, in general. Less on the military aspect than on the desire of the these groups to live free of government interference."

Like the Objectivists, Jan thought. Like her own father. She felt a sucking sensation, like being pulled into quicksand.

"The thing that struck me about the paper wasn't the subject matter. That's interesting and timely and a good topic for research. It really was more about how she wrote about it."

Natalie reached over to the paper in Jan's hands and flipped through to the last page.

"Her summary describes her state of mind best, I think. It's what alarmed me when I heard she was missing."

Jan read the last paragraph of the paper.

"The range of opinions expressed by these conservative groups is very broad. As broad as America itself. Some are hateful, bigoted, and unrepentant. Some are crazed by religion. But some just want to be left alone, to live as true Americansin the pursuit of happiness. To live free of unnecessary and ridiculous regulation. To leave the truly talented unfettered so that they can soar. When those that crave that freedom are robbed by their government of the ability to experience it, they are morally obligated to leave that government in order to form their own more perfect society. Of course, this is viewed by the media and the average stupefied American as extremist. They can't understand those who are not content with the lowest common denominator. But their opinion does not matter to the gifted who seek to live with like-minded individuals. They will be living in a world apart."

Jan was silent for a moment. "She sounds much older than sixteen," she said.

"She's a good writer," Natalie said. "But her black and white thinking gives away her age. You remember that, don't you? If you could only have this or that, your life would be perfect. This is the right way; yours is the wrong way. It's all absolutes and very few shades of gray."

The idea that a sixteen-year-old would want to live away from the world seemed insane to Jan. It was precisely what she'd escaped from.

"I have no idea if this has anything to do with Maddy's disappearance, but I wanted to let you know about it," Natalie said.

"So you think Maddy may have run away to live with like-minded individuals, as she puts it?"

"I don't know. I've marked the areas in the paper where she advocates her position. See what you think."

Jan looked at her notebook. "I've heard the book Atlas Shrugged mentioned. Do you have any thoughts on why that book would be important to Maddy?"

"You don't need to know much about the plot of the novel to see why, and Maddy does reference it in her paper, which isn't really appropriate in a research thesis. Atlas Shrugged is a novel. Rand portrays the government as a collection of dunderheads h.e.l.l-bent on punis.h.i.+ng people for their creativity and production, especially if an idea or invention improves the lives of others. The government in her novel will find a way to rob you of any motivation to implement it."

"She's clearly anti-government, then."

"Yes, but we have to remember the context. Atlas Shrugged depicts a government that has powers ours does not, that takes steps toward socialism and communism that ours never has. It's a fictional US government, and it's in response to this fictional government that the hero of the book, John Galt, sets up a new society in a remote area of the country. It's a society where the individual will be freely rewarded for the work they produce and not concerned with what a government decides is in the best interest of the ma.s.ses."

"But she's too young to have been thwarted yet. Or even to see yet whether she has ideas good enough to be suppressed."

"True, though she's very intelligent and I don't doubt she has confidence in her ideas. That comes through in her writing. But I don't think she has a very clear idea of what she's running to."

"I'm sure she doesn't. I appreciate you reaching out to us about this."

Natalie tore a corner off Maddy's paper and wrote her number down.

"Please call me if you want to talk this over further. I'm really concerned about Maddy."

Jan gave her one of her cards and watched as Natalie walked out of the office on her excellent legs. Nice, but not Catherine Engstrom nice.

The next person up came complete with whistle around the neck, athletic shorts, polo s.h.i.+rt with the high school logo on the front, and...Yep, Jan thought, lesbian hair.

"I'm Yvonne Kuterasaminsky." The woman smiled. "Call me Coach. It's easier."

Jan grinned and closed the office door. Coach said with a chuckle, "Usually when a door closes around here, someone's getting an a.s.s-kicking. Am I in trouble?"

"No a.s.s-kicking today. I'm looking into Maddy Harrington's disappearance."

Coach nodded and sighed. "It's never a good thing when they take off, you know? I mean, even when it turns out they're okay and no real harm done, it's still bad that something made them leave in the first place."

"Any idea what might have made Maddy leave?"

"None," Coach said. "I only know her on the soccer field. And she's not even on the team now. She was with me for two seasons and then she didn't come out this year. Not sure why...she really seemed to enjoy the game. She played well and she played all-out."

Interesting, Jan thought. So Maddy wasn't just all about computers.

"How was she with her teammates?"

"Here's the thing. She was a good scorer and not selfish, and it's difficult to find both in a player. She usually scored every game. And all the girls would come up and congratulate her, but it wasn't the big hug and b.u.mp." Coach shook her head. "Girls that age, well, they hang all over each other. They're devoted to each other. Maddy didn't seem to have any of that."

"Were they mean to her?" Jan asked.

Coach thought a moment. "No. It was more that they never included her. And she didn't try."

Jan thought about that later as she waited for Peet outside the high school. She stood in the crisp air of a beautiful fall day and tried to understand what could drive a lonely girl toward the same forces that Jan had shot her way out of. But her job was to find her, not to a.n.a.lyze her.

Peet joined her out front.

"I just got a call from Vivian. I guess the deal has closed and we're supposed to be at the office by four for a company-wide meeting."

Jan's first thought was not annoyance but excitement that she'd see Catherine again.

Jan and Peet joined the large group of employees gathered in the first floor security division of TSI. Catherine entered the room with father and son Begala, and the crowd fell silent. She waited a beat before beginning.

"Good afternoon to all of you. My name is Catherine Engstrom, and I am Vice President of Corporate Development of Chartered Global Security. I know that the rumors are flying, and I'm here to give you the information you need and put your minds at rest. We are a fifty-year-old company based in London, specialists in all forms of services related to security and investigations, with offices in a growing number of US cities. We acquired t.i.tan Security and Investigation today, which gives us a very strong presence in Chicago, and therefore in the heart of the country. The owners.h.i.+p transfer is complete, so as of the present moment, we are your new employer.

"Now, many people panic when they hear their company has been sold. There will be some changes, of course. We'll need to conform your computer systems to ours, for instance, and we'll need to make sure there is some uniformity in procedures, benefits, that sort of thing. All of these details will be carefully explained to you as we move forward. I will be here on-site overseeing these processes, and Mr. Begala Junior will also be on hand to a.s.sist in this transfer.

"I want to make it clear, however, that we do not plan any wholesale layoffs. If there is an obvious redundancy, we will find you another job within the company."

Jan leaned over and whispered to Peet. "There you go. That sounds pretty safe." But Peet stared intently at Catherine, as if trying to divine some hidden meaning behind her words. Jan found it unnerving to have Peet so unsettled. She felt unsettled as well, but less about any change in her job situation than in the simple physical reaction she was having to Catherine. Another part was frustration. Catherine was completely out of Jan's league. She lived in London, an eight-hour plane ride away. And if that weren't enough, she was her new boss and a relations.h.i.+p would be very frowned upon. All of these things made Jan want her more, as if the number of obstacles increased the desire, independent of the object of desire herself.

Chapter Four.

Jan slipped out of the meeting and into the back lot. Her Jeep was close to the door, her reserved parking a privilege of her long employment and rank as a senior investigator. These were the things she had to show for years of piecing a life together, working diligently on countless cases of workers comp fraud, employee theft, cheating spouses, missing deadbeats, and runaway children. At sixteen, Jan had started a completely new life. She had to think of a new nameJan Roberts was the first that came to mindand then build a new ident.i.ty with the help of some experts in such doc.u.mentation she'd met through her LA contacts. Always at the back of her mind was the worry that someone from the camp or law enforcement was hunting her down for shooting her father. For twenty years, her work at t.i.tan had enabled her to live essentially like everyone else, which was what she longed to be. t.i.tan was her st.u.r.dy link to normalcy. Any talk of changing up that system made her brain shut down.

She headed to her favorite bar.

The bars in Boystown weren't close to the office, but they were where she liked to go for a beer. Her friend James hung out at Sidetrack; that's where she knew people and where she felt comfortable. The clientele was almost entirely gay men and that suited Jan just fine. She generally got herself in trouble with women. She had enough trouble right now.

James was sitting on a barstool near the window looking out over Halsted Street. He was tall, nearly bald, neatly bearded, turtlenecked. The last bit of his martini was disappearing down his throat as she walked toward him. He pulled out the barstool next to him with the tip of his Italian shoe.

"Here, darling, take a load off," James said, then, to the bartender, "Cory, please, it's an emergency. Bring this girl a beer. And a tini for me."

Cory brought a bottle of Bud and a gla.s.s. Jan poured her beer and drank before the gla.s.s was full.

"Tell me everything you know," he said, leaning on his elbow, staring right into her eyes. She knew he'd listen for as long as she wanted to talk. This didn't overly burden him since she never talked much.

"Our company was sold today. I had no idea it was going to happen."

"Oh, dear." James said. "Cory, we need a shot for the lady. Stat."

"I don't want a shot. I have to go back to work."

She drank the shot of bourbon anyway.

"Well, at least that means there's work to go to. They wouldn't lay you off. Not their super secret agent.

"Maybe it's time for me to move on."

James looked at her a bit. "It doesn't really sound like that's what you want."

"If they lay off any investigators, I'll give up my spot before I see Peet lose hers. Anyway, a new part of the country might be a good idea. A change of scenery." Jan drank some more and finished pouring the bottle into her gla.s.s.

"You just bought the condo last year. You'll get killed if you sell it now."

She waved her hand, swatting away his concern.

"Is it something about the new owners? Are they h.o.m.ophobes? Are they going to make you wear ugly uniforms?"

Jan laughed. "That's it. They're going to make all the investigators wear uniforms. Pink ones." She drank again. "No, I don't know that there's anything wrong with the new people. They arrived here today, bought the company, and told us about it after the fact. They're headquartered in London, and they left an executive here in charge of the transition."

"British?"

"Yes."

"Male or female?"

"Female."

"Hot?"

"Gorgeous."

"Oh, dear Lord. Why are you thinking of leaving?"

"It just doesn't feel right. They may want to change everything. I'll give it a few days before I decide anything."

James shook his head. "Waiting a few days probably seems like long, judicious pondering to you, but try to take your time. This is a really big decision. As long as they're not laying you off, you have time to see whether you like working for them or not. Remember, the job market is really, really horrible. Right? Why do you think I'm sitting here drinking martinis before five o'clock?"

"Because you're a lush?" Jan smiled.

"There's that."

Jan's phone rang and she saw it was Peet.

"What's up?"

"I just heard from the Winnetka PD. Maddy's car was sold two days ago at a CarMax in the northern burbs."

"Did they confirm it was Maddy who sold it?"