Black Tie Event

Chapter Seventeen

"Why are you just now showing real concern? You sounded very cavalier on the phone."

I sighed and looked at the ground. "I didn't want it to be real. But, it's not exactly getting fictional."

Beckett sat down across from me at the kitchen island. We were supposed to be cooking, but obviously other matters were taking precendence.

"I don't want you to freak out, because that will get us nowhere."

"How can I not freak out, Allison?" I demanded. "She's out there in mortal danger, and it's all our fault."

"Hey," Beckett spat firmly, standing back up and pressing her hands to the counter. "This is not our fault."

"Then whose is it, Beckett? I saw those bruises and I didn't do anything."

"Because you couldn't do anything."

"I could have taken those photos."

"Photographs wouldn't have kept her here."

I blinked rapidly several times, just feeling the hollowness that seemed to fall in the realization that she wasn't there. What seemed to jar me, perhaps more, was the normalcy that seemed to exist outside of me and Allison. Cora and Ana were concerned, but not proactive. And Collin Shaw was in his home theater, watching some football game with his buddies, not even bothering to get up in light of what had happened. It had now been eight hours without Lucy, and he wasn't acting like it. He was acting like your typical amoral man.

"You know what you can do," I offered, changing gears. 

She furrowed her brow. "If I did, I'd be doing it."

"Call Bagley."

"Why him?"

"Because, this isn't our jurisdiction, and we can't turn it back to Harwood until we're ready to make an arrest. And if we're stuck undercover, we can't investigate on our own. We need the police from Green Falls on this night and day."

"They will be, as soon as we make the report. Luke doesn't have anything to do with it. He's training as a detective, but as it is, he's still in blue."

"We need a missing person's report."

"It's been eight hours," she said. "Not a missing person yet."

"Then call Bagley."

"What can he do?" she demanded, growing hysterical.

"He can get our case to the top of the pile!" I pressed. "Instead of thrown in a box with the hundreds other Jane Does that get overlooked every day."

"You of all people should know that's not how it works."

"And you of all people shouldn't be so optimistic! God, Allison, you have such a fucking big head all the time. Why don't you use it?"

"Would you stop channeling your feelings towards me? Look, I know you're upset but you're being a bitch and I'm not going to be sympathetic if you keep on attacking me."

"I'm not attacking you," I argued. "I'm just trying to make you do what you know you should be doing."

"What I should be doing is dismissing you as a partner."

"Oh, right," I said, laughing mirthlessly as I ran a hand through my hair. "There you go again, acting like my higher up."

"I might as well be! For two heads, I do all the thinking around here."

"Right, Allison. Good to know your ego doesn't fail in times of crisis."

"I'm sorry, okay?" she cracked, not meaning it. "I'm sorry I'm fucking proud of myself as a detective. I'm sorry I know what I'm doing. I'm sorry it's so horrible working with me, and I'm sorry you hate sex crimes so much. Most of all, I'm sorry you're too fucking scared of being shot again to go back to homicide where you belong."