Chapter Seven

We were at my house again. With one slice of cold pizza in the refrigerator. There was peanut butter, but no bread. There was one box of crackers, but they were garlic flavored, which didn’t seem like a tasty combination.

Inspiration/desperation again hit.

“Chanse, I need another favor,” I said as he answered his phone. “What’s Carmen’s name,” I asked Nathalie. “Carmen Gecklebacher,” I repeated to Chanse. “Cell-phone number, probably Wisconsin.” It took him a minute.

You’re slipping, Micky, I told myself as I dialed her number. I could have done this yesterday.

“Look, I told you I’ll meet you later. I can’t talk right now” was how Carmen answered the phone.

“What?” I asked, deliberately mumbling, curious enough—or enough of an asshole—to see if she would continue.

Her voice was a harsh whisper. “I’m with Coach in the hospital. I don’t want him to know about you, okay? If I spend enough time with him, he won’t be suspicious when I need to get away.”

I was willing to bet that she hadn’t been smart enough to cover her mouth with her hand, depending on whispering to make sure no one overheard. I was also willing to bet that she was young enough to not be aware that harsh whispers carried very well and everyone in the vicinity had probably heard her. Maybe Coach was on enough pain meds that he would think he was dreaming.

I switched to my professional, don’t-mess-with-me voice. “Carmen Gecklebacher? This is Michele Knight. We met under unfortunate circumstances last night. I need to know—”

“What the hell?” She demanded, “Who is this? How did you get this number?”

Ms. Gecklebacher was pissing me off. I suspected that Nathalie’s estimation of her was much more accurate than her brother’s. She was game playing and obviously not overly concerned with the kids she was supposed to be looking after.

“I’m in investigations and law enforcement.” That was stretching it, but not far enough to break. “It took me about thirty seconds to get your phone number. I need to know where your group is housed, because last night Nathalie Hummle got separated from them and we need to get her back where she belongs.” Giving her no time to take umbrage, I said, “Give me the address.”

“I’m at the hospital,” she said.

“So you have no clue as to where the group is staying?” I packed as much stupid-young-kid-who-is-clueless contempt into my voice as I could.

“I don’t really know the address.” The petulance came through the line clearly.

“I can either take Nathalie to the hospital and leave her with you, or you can give me enough information to find where the group is staying.”

That focused her. “It was somewhere off Williams Boulevard.” She seemed to think that was enough.

It took literally about twenty questions for me to get enough directions and descriptions, such as “We passed a pink building that sold daiquiris,” for me to feel I would be able to return Nathalie to her group.

“Thanks, Carmen,” I said, not meaning it at all. “Oh, and you’re way too young to be screwing Coach, let alone screwing him and screwing around on him.” I hung up on her surprised yelp.

Nathalie had been listening to my phone conversation. “Carmen’s not going to be happy,” but she said it in a way that let me know Carmen’s happiness was not her top priority.

“She doesn’t know me, and if she sits and thinks about it for a few minutes, she’ll know that I can’t know that much about her.”

“But it’s true,” Nathalie said. “She gives Coach blow jobs in his office in the church rec area.” She blushed when she said “blow jobs.”

“How do you know?” Carmen was certainly a suck-up to those she thought could benefit her, but that didn’t mean that actual sex was happening. Coach would be an idiot if he took her up on it.

Nathalie’s blush spread across her face and down her neck. “My mom had baked an apple cobbler that I took to youth group. I was supposed to get the pan, but forgot, so I went back for it…”

“And you saw them.”

“Well…I saw her disappear on her knees behind his desk and he got this weird look on his face and started breathing funny…” Her face was bright red and she was staring at the floor.

“Enough details. I don’t think either you or I want to know more than that.”

“And Enid came back with me and she saw it too and I think she told some others.”

“Coach is an idiot. Carmen is too, but she’s also young and stupid. They were bound to get caught. If it hadn’t been you and Enid, it would have been someone else.” Nathalie seemed guilty, knowing something she shouldn’t and being part of having that secret spread around.

This was a mess. I briefly considered just keeping Nathalie until it was time for her to get back on a plane. Coach and Carmen didn’t sound adult enough to care for this group. Coach might have been adequate except for occasionally thinking with his dick, but he was out of commission and that left Carmen, who clearly was only worried about getting away with sneaking around. However, someone had to be the host, and presumably some adults were involved there. Plus my own life was enough of a mess. Cordelia was supposed to be back in a few days, and the last thing we’d need for our meeting was a teenaged house guest.

“Time to take you back where you belong. We’ll stop and get an oyster po-boy on the way.”

Дата добавления: 2015-11-14