Olympus Drive Book 3: According to Plan

Chapter 24

Detective Stamos

"Hi Good Morning, don't worry Basil is sober and nobody is in prison, you just may have a new grandkid I'm working on that though—,"

"What—"

"A half grown one we found it on the porch, not a new-new one though I would not strictly be surprised about that either-----shit let me call you back," I say, hanging up as I see a familiar pink figure bop into my office.

"I need a favor."

"I am actually begging you to stop Ubering yourself places you want to go," I sigh, rubbing my face, as Dara walks up to my desk.

"This man," she shows me a print out of a newspaper article. "I need whatever you have on him."

"Thyme. Back in Winfell. You helping him open a gate to the Underworld---? Got a good explanation?" I ask, folding my arms. She's nine, dressed in purple jeans and sparkly pink shirt and tutu, along with great big shimmery pink boots, and for whatever reason wearing a helmet. That is not stopping me from being excessively annoyed with her.

"I'm handling it. He has a week. He needed to find Anna who is finding her mother," she says.

"What happened to the first rule of the Underworld?" holy shit I'm quoting Rhea now. That bastard. How dare his words and his sweatpants wearing dog hair covered self exist in my brain?

"Don't go to the Underworld unless your Mensa candidate sister is guiding you with maps?" she asks, innocently.

"Jerk. Why are we looking into this guy?" I ask, pulling the piece of paper over to myself.

"Thyme and Anna found him in the Underworld. He's claiming not to be dead. From the public records I searched, his wife reported him missing two months ago. But they've never found a body," she says.

"Okay. We'll look into it. Have a seat. Does your mom know where you are?"

"Is my mom satisfied with where she thinks I am? Yes," Dara says, sitting down and taking off her very big sparkly girl backpack, to start getting out papers and a laptop.

"Dara," I sigh.

"She signed me up for a reading club at the library," she says, glaring at me.

"She is trying because she know you like to read," I sigh, "That is an attempt."

"I don't read what other little girls read so it's not like it's any fun. It just reminds me of how I'm different," she mutters.

"I know you don't. But she is trying to understand you. Let her have that," I say, "Just because it isn't working—she is trying."

Dara nods.

"Here," I hand her a book from my desk, "Read that and we can talk about it, all right?"

"Faust ?" she frowns, "Is it a girly book?"

"No. You'll find it funny, a little light reading while you're plotting the liberation of Cuba or whatever you do in your spare time. Now, help yourself to my computer, see if we can solve a missing person's case. Meanwhile, I have a hit and run which is rapidly turning into vehicular homicide," I say.

"Really?"

"Yeah, a classmate of the twins. Of course Luna found the car but—we're still looking for the person who was driving it," I say, "Forensics found the victim's blood—but so far the sweep of the car and running the VIN is coming up blank. They're not done yet though."

"Huh, let me know if you need help with that," she says, seriously.

"I will. Now we're gonna text your mom and tell her where you are---,"

"But---,"

"No buts. We tell parents where we are. I'll let her know you're gonna hang out with me for the day," I say, no harm in her sitting at the station she does it often enough.

"She's not gonna care," Dara mutters.

"She will," I say, as I text Maria that I picked Dara up because she called me. That sounds believable.  She replies: okay thank you. Are you gonna take her to her dads?

Me: that's up to you.

Her: go ahead. She's happier there

I sigh. She could try harder for her fucking kid. I'm just saying. The kid wants to be wanted. She's just too damn logical to admit it. She's been like that her whole life though. Just because she's smarter than well probably most everyone, doesn't mean she doesn't have the emotions of a little girl.

"Read the book all right? And pull me information on the missing person, we'll go over it. I'm gonna go see what forensics is pulling out of the car," I say. It had better be something good. This is not a situation I want super powered teenagers taking into their own hands.