North American Vampire Council & Past Calling (Hypernaturals 12 & 13)

Clueless

Morgan rubbed at her chin. "I am going to your house first thing. I want to look at all Cherlynn's possessions. Have a look at her computer. Her car. Her purse. Even if there are not direct clues, get an idea of who she is. I may need to talk to her friends and your neighbors. Adrian and I have found that a re-canvas of a neighborhood can turn up things that the officers do not. They tend to ask different questions than we do."

I nodded. I hope this one does not lead us to atomic weapons.

"Absolutely. Whatever you need." Ken agreed.

"What is your relationship to Cherlynn's friends?" Morgan asked.

Ken rolled his eyes. "Good. They love to tease me. One girl was having a bachelorette party at our house. Usual stuff, I guess? Lingerie and sex toys. A copy of the Kama Sutra, illustrated. They were giggling and laughing and wanted me to come into the living room and play with them. By that, they meant they wanted me to do a striptease. They had a porn video on the TV. They were kind of drunk. I drove most of them home. The ones that did not crash at the house. Nice girls. Earthy. They loved that I blush easily. Despite all the teasing and whatnot, they always told Cherlynn she was lucky to have a man that loved her. A good, solid, reliable man. So Cherlynn said, in any case."

"None of the friends made passes at you?" Morgan asked.

"No serious passes. No private ones. They would say stupid things when Cherlynn was sitting right there."

"Example?" Morgan prompted

"Oh. You know. "Hey. Cherlynn. I haven't had sex in a week. Can I borrow a cup of husband from you? I'll pay you back.' That kind of thing."

Morgan nodded. "Cherlynn would respond how?"

"Laugh and say something like 'No, girl. I got mine. You go get your own.' Or something like that." Ken said.

"Not angry or jealous?" Morgan asked.

"Not that I could see. She treated it like they were being silly because they were." Ken said.

"I just realized that you and Adrian are both dumb in the same way." Morgan said.

"Ouch?" I told her.

"What do you mean?" Ken asked.

"I mean that if Cherlynn had said 'yes' to her friend or friends, you would have had another lover. Maybe more." Morgan told him.

"No way." Ken said. "You can't know that."

"Ken: I know a dumb man when I hear it. I was with you for a while, you know. Your general lack of awareness about women was cute. So: I know that." Morgan disagreed.

"Then why didn't Cherlynn get angry?" Ken challenged.

"Because she also knew that they would take 'no' for an answer and that her friends were complimenting her choice in a mate." Morgan explained. "Adrian is similarly stupid. I finally had to seduce him because he just was not taking a hint."

"Oi." I said. "I am terrible at hints." I admitted. No point in bringing Vera into this discussion.

"Well, Morgan is not wrong about Adrian and his general cluelessness about women, but she is leaving out the great big part where she was even stupider." Angel semi-defended me.

"We were not talking about me." Morgan told Angel.

"Aannnd ... you were super stupid." Angel said with emphasis on the word 'and'.

"I was." Morgan allowed. "It was not about what he wanted or what I wanted. I was very aware of those items."

"I don't understand. If her friends were serious about having sex with me at a party, and if Cherlynn knew they were, why did she get so unhappy about my folder? Assuming I had nothing to say about it, which I think I do, why was she so unhappy about someone I have not seen in years, and that has never, once, ever been a threat to her? You are saying her friends would have had sex with me right in front of her. That makes no sense." Ken asked, unhappily.

Angel took that one. "Because, Ken. The friends that flirt in front of her do it in front of her. No secrets. You kept Morgan as a secret, and that looks guilty. Layer on all the other things. That Morgan is semi-famous, that she is 'the one that got away', and she appears white, especially in a newspaper picture. For you to be with her means you would not have to hear anything about who you married. We know Cherlynn was getting it from her father and maybe others, about her being a black woman married to a white man. She would very naturally assume the reverse is true."

"It is, sort of, but I didn't care. From my end it was bad, but half the time it wasn't about her skin color but her figure. Sometimes it was both. That was the worst actually. As if I married her because she is top-heavy. You know what? It's not all it is cracked up to be. Her back aches all the damn time. I won't get into details, but neither of those aspects of Cherlynn had anything to do with why I fell in love with her." Ken said.

"Her white husband has a memories folder of an apparently white woman. Cherlynn knows an important thing about you. You looked in her eyes when no other man did. Meaning you look beyond the physical and the trite perceptions that revolve around it. Morgan is a woman of accomplishment, and Cherlynn is a housewife, and sometimes when a woman makes that choice, to be a stay at home mother, the world gives her a lot of mixed messages about their worth. You found a sensitive spot. You made it worse by not telling her about Morgan." Angel explained.

"How do you explain Morgan?" Ken asked, in no little pain. "Nothing I could say about her was going to sound good to Cherlynn. She was never going to understand that she is my wife, that I did not settle, that the life we have together is the one I want."

"Might have tried that for a start." Angel said.

"I'll drive down to Houston and start at your house. First thing tomorrow we are taking your house apart. If she calls before that? Good. If the MPR gets a hit, we follow that lead. Otherwise, we start from the house and the neighbors." Morgan said. She looked a little grim. I understood. No ransom. No taking anything. That rarely ends up well.

"Sam: what can I help you with?" Morgan asked.

"I want you to find my daughters." Sam said.

"They do not know they have a little brother, do they?" Morgan asked.

"No. They don't. I am not trying to intrude. My Ex's took them, and they have not tried to find me. I only want them to know I am alive, and that if they are interested in meeting and getting to know them. I have no idea where they are, what their mothers told them, what their current family situation is. They may not want to have anything to do with me." Sam said. "Nothing has changed since we were partners except time has passed. Ken's situation made me realize I need to see how my family is doing, however, that might be. I barely have to tell you anything, as you already know most everything. I have nothing new to add.

"OK. Done. I will find them too. Ken's situation first, as it is recent and critical. If this is criminal, the more time goes by, the worse it might be." Morgan said.

"Of course." Sam said.

"I guess we are packing up the RV tonight." I said to Angel.

"Sounds like it." Angel agreed.

"I assume you guys have a hotel or something up here?" Morgan asked.

"Yeah. We got rooms." Sam said.

"OK. Come over for dinner. Meet my family. Maybe some other questions will occur. We'll head to the swamplands early tomorrow." Morgan said.

Ken and Sam looked at each other and were distinctly uncomfortable.

"Look: You guys can't do better than eating at Casa de Gato in terms of food. Austin is a foodie place and all, but we really strap on the feed bag there." Angel said. "Come over. Meet the family. Have some lovely drinks. We'll talk more, and get your cases sorted out."

"Or, I can beat your asses. Both of you. At the same time. One hand for each of you. Easy peasy." Morgan said.

"I have never had my ass threatened this often in one day since high school gym." Sam said. "Also: Easy Peasy? Who are you?"

"I'm a geologist. I never got my ass threatened at all until I went to that club with Cherlynn." Ken said.