Red Alarm [A Detective/Thriller Story] DISCONTINUED

Chapter 21

Cole led her to center stage, eyeballing the chandeliers up above. His feet, slowly tapping, following every note the pianist hit with his fingers. He began to orbit around the fair maiden, a lion circling its prey.

"What are you doing?" stammered Atarah.

He gave a curtsy bow to the lady. He welcomed her with an open hand, "Let's dance mademoiselle."

She snorted. She had now verified that her partner in crime or should she say justice, was as cheesy as mozzarella. She gave a courtly nod she learned in France and took the palm he offered. Whatever it is he planned, she hoped it would work.

Atarah's eyes bugged out. Her right hand was now intertwined with his, the other rested on his broad shoulders, Cole's fingers made its way through her waist - every single touch of skin - she felt it.

"Detective," she murmured. "Everyone's staring at us."

He laughed, "That's precisely what we want."

The visitants in their wine grape glasses, even the cherubs around the dome shaped roof and the spotlights on the dancefloor. All eyes on him and her. She felt twirling inside a kaleidoscope where she saw pinkish rose gold sparkling stars. A wave of nostalgia hit her thoughts. Way back to her childhood, way back to Montauk Hill.

"My little princess," her mother always said every night she couldn't sleep. She would sing her lullabies or tell her stories about daring sword fights and princes in disguise.

"Mother," she replied back then. "I want to be like that knight."

Olivia chuckled, "Prince Philip?" she pointed at the illustration of a prince wielding a sword and a shield, slaying the fire breathing dragon. "How about the princess? Don't you want to be Princess Aurora?"

"Nope," she shook her head. "I don't want to be a scaredy-cat. I wanna be the one to save the day."

"You surely will sweetie," she gave a peck on her forehead. "Someday."

Right now, she felt like she was that knight in shining armor she'd been looking for but also, the one who needed her saving - was her.

Carefully, he leaned down on her. The feeling of his breath under her skin was a hair raising experience for Atarah. It sent shivers down her spine. She inhaled a big gulp of oxygen.

"Now. Study the people around you," he continued. "Is there something, someone out of the ordinary?"

She did what she was told. That woman clinging on her boa seemed overly happy, she thought. Nope. She's just admiring the scenery. Everyone is admiring the scenery. Except....
A man in a sleek black suite was facing the direction opposite the crowd. He was tall, neat outline but his back was the only thing she saw.

"Stop right there!"

He paused on his tracks. She could definitely feel it, he was smiling.

Suddenly, the notes tangled in the air. It was followed by hard strumming. A forceful one. The violin was having a riff off against every other instruments. The guests, bewitched by their dance a few seconds ago, turned their applause to the player. It made her flick an eye also. That haunting sonata. As she peeked back at him, the sliding door from afar was slid open.

The lieutenant cut off her dancing feet and sprung on her heels, "Detective Carter he ran into the garden," she cried.

They both bolted out the backyard. And as if fate favored the wrong hands, Atarah furrowed lines on her forehead. The seven foot tall manicured bushes that greeted them from the parking lot were part of a whole maze.