Apprehension by InSilva
Disclaimer: not mine, not mine.
Chapter Two: Vanishing Act
Wind and rain lashed down unnoticed by Isabel and Tess as they stood and watched the police car disappear into the distance. Unconsciously, they moved until they were shoulder to shoulder.
"They'll be taken to the local precinct," Isabel said eventually. "Come on, let's go and find them."
Cuffs biting into his wrists, Rusty sat on the backseat and looked Danny over.
"You ever think that evening dress maybe isn't the luckiest look for you?"
Danny's fingers were busy checking out the cuffs securing his hands behind him. He gave a little grunt of annoyance: they were the real deal.
"I keep hoping this might be a bad dream," he said and gave Rusty a meaningful look. "And I would like to rewind to the part where you were stupid enough to-"
"Oh, I had to and you know-"
"Not your-"
A loud snort interrupted him. "Always my-"
"Rus." Quiet and pained.
They looked at each other.
"It'll be OK," Rusty reassured him in a low voice. "I'm hardly going to be banged up for throwing a punch. Jails would be heaving if that was the case."
Danny was silent and the worry and the fear ran rampant through his eyes. Rusty sighed.
"Should have known Terry was up to no-" he began and then almost seamlessly, "So, what's the form? We get to the station and they book us in? They're gonna take our photos right? Now I know why you wear black tie to go to prison. And how easily does that fingerprint stuff come off any-"
"Terry?" Danny cut through the diversionary tactic and his tone was sharp and so were his eyes. "What about Terry?"
There was a sliver of hesitation as if Rusty was daring to imagine he could lie and get away with it.
Rus.
There was warning in there and Rusty grimaced in the face of the inevitable.
"Before you and Isabel sat down, Terry sent Tess a message. On a programme delivered by a helpful steward. Told her she was looking good." Rusty took a deep breath. "He was up in one of the boxes, watching her."
Unblinking, Danny stared at him.
"You didn't think to share this with me."
"I didn't want to spoil the evening. Terry disappeared before the thing started and Tess was-"
"Leave Tess out of this!" Danny hissed. "How could you not tell me?"
"It didn't seem important," Rusty argued. "I mean it seemed Terry, it seemed a petty little dig but…" he tailed off and then added quietly, "I guess I was wrong."
Oh, you think?
The fury on Danny's face was no less ferocious for being silent and its unusual subject bit his lip.
Separated from them by the metal grille that ran through the middle of the car, Clyde and Bawtry sat in silence, the car travelling steadily onward.
Wolfwhistles accompanied their entrance into the police station.
"Enough of that," a cop admonished the group of youths in his charge who promptly dissolved into sniggers and lewd gestures
Tess flushed and Isabel smiled tightly, coldly tolerant, as they made their way to the main desk.
"Sergeant…Tyler," Isabel acknowledged, reading the namebadge. She radiated instant command and authority and Sergeant Tyler stood ever so slightly taller. "My friend and I are trying to locate two men who were arrested earlier this evening."
Tyler ran a thoughtful tongue over his bottom lip and his gaze over the pair of them. Presumably it wasn't every day he had to deal with two bedraggled women in evening gowns. Isabel stared him out.
"Names?" he asked abruptly.
"Tess Ocean," Tess began and Isabel shushed her.
"Daniel Ocean and Robert Ryan" she supplied, eyes clear and hard and not about to take any nonsense.
Tyler scanned his paperwork and then looked up with a regretful expression.
"Sorry, ladies, neither of those gentlemen have been booked in here tonight."
"Oh, please!" Tess leaned over the desk and touched his arm. "Please look again!"
Tyler patted her hand kindly. "How are you spelling their names?"
Silence was not unusual. Silence was comfortable. Silence said as much as words.
The silence between them in the car was hateful.
Danny was staring stonily at Bawtry through the grille and not looking at Rusty at all. Rusty studied the back of Clyde's head as he drove and tried to think of another way to apologise.
He'd tried I'm sorry. He'd tried Danny. Danny wasn't talking. Danny wasn't sharing. Danny was angry. With Terry, obviously, with circumstances, naturally, but most of all, Danny was angry with him.
He had to look at him at some point. Surely. Certainly given what had happened, Rusty could understand the anger. If Danny had known, he would never have let Terry get close to Tess. To be caught unprepared and to have Tess insulted and to wind up with both of them arrested… Yeah. He could understand the rage.
Sighing, Rusty glanced out of the car window. He squinted. Then, he suddenly sat up straighter and pressed his shoulder against Danny's. Danny turned his head towards him.
Danny-
I'm not talking to you, remember.
Danny-
Save it, Rus.
Danny!
What?
Where are we?
Danny's eyes were scouring the surroundings they were travelling through. It was very obvious that they were no longer in the city.
"Actually…" Danny looked at the flat and empty landscape. "Actually, I think we might be in Kansas." He looked at Rusty and asked in a low voice. "Did you get a proper look at the badge?"
Rusty's face tightened. "No. You?"
"Too busy watching Terry gloat."
Damn.
You said it.
"OK, what we got?"
"Something helpful but it's in my inside left pocket. You?"
"Same but inside right," Rusty said. "You sure you haven't got something up your sleeve? I mean that's just usually you."
"Guess that makes this unusual."
Bawtry swung round in his seat and interrupted the conversation. "Nearly there, gentlemen."
"Nearly where?" Rusty asked.
"Cells are all full at the station," Bawtry said easily. "Taking you under my jurisdiction to an alternative place of detention."
As if on cue, the car turned off the main road and headed up an unlit farm track.
"You gentlemen don't have to worry about a thing," Bawtry continued as the car bounced along the uneven ground. "We got food and water here for you just as fine as they have down at the station. We'll look after you mighty nicely."
"Where are we going?" Danny demanded.
The car slammed to a halt with such force that Rusty skidded off the seat and landed on his back in the footwell with an exclamation as the wind was knocked out of him.
"Well, we do appear to have arrived," Bawtry grinned.
Clyde got out of the car and opened the back door Rusty's side.
"Shoes and socks, Clyde," Bawtry instructed and Clyde caught hold easily of Rusty's feet and stripped them bare, despite the struggles and kicks offered. Then he reached in and hauled Rusty out of the vehicle.
Bawtry climbed out and opened the other door. He smiled in at Danny.
"If you please, Mr Ocean."
Danny shot a look over at Rusty, standing in front of Clyde with Clyde's hand firmly gripping Rusty's shoulder and then turned back to Bawtry. With a sigh, he swung his legs out and allowed Bawtry to pull his shoes and socks off too.
"I'm sorry, Mrs Ocean." Tyler was ignoring Isabel: his sympathy was all for Tess. "There's no record of either of those gentlemen being taken into custody. Are you quite sure-"
"Am I quite sure that my husband was arrested?" Tess snapped. "Funnily enough, the clue was seeing him marched away in handcuffs and sitting in the back of a police car. Have you listened to a single word we've said?"
Tyler frosted over immediately. "I'm sorry, ma'am. I can't help you."
"But there's something wrong here!" Tess insisted. "Something's very wrong!"
"Come on, Tess." Isabel's hand was on her elbow.
"No! Isabel, where are they? What aren't they telling us?"
"Come on, Tess." And Isabel's tone was firm and her hand even more so.
Tess stared at her long and hard and then gave an exasperated little noise and allowed herself to be led away. Only when they were outside and walking down the steps did she shake off Isabel's hand.
"They're the police, Isabel," Tess pointed out angrily. "They're supposed to be able to help us."
Isabel nodded. "They're supposed to. Doesn't mean they will."
And before Tess could respond, she added, "I need a drink. Let's find somewhere."
The waitress brought their drinks over and Isabel saw her eyes glance over the long frocks and raise an eyebrow. Obviously, not the norm. But nothing was the norm, tonight.
"Thank you, Sebastian." Isabel clicked her phone shut on the conversation and let out a sigh. "Well, I'm not official anymore but I still have contacts. They've not been booked in to any police station in this city."
She sat deep in thought, rolling her own glass of bourbon between her hands. This wasn't her city and that bit. If it had been Rome or Amsterdam, even Los Angeles where she had started making connections, she'd have known exactly which informant to go to, exactly which official to lean on. It was all about feeling comfortable and secure and it was precisely for moments like this when the shit hit the fan.
"Rusty said to call Saul," Tess volunteered, breaking into her thoughts and hesitated before adding, "and to keep away from Terry."
Isabel frowned. "What is it with you and Terry?"
Tess looked down at the glass in her hand. "When Danny was inside, I…I hooked up with Terry. For a while. A little while," she added hastily. "Danny and I were separated and everything was such a mess in New York and Terry was... He was so different to Danny."
"Rebound guys often are," Isabel suggested, sipping the bourbon. "After Robert left me in Rome, I dated a personal trainer. Believe me, I never want to open up the refrigerator and find rows of probiotic yoghurt again."
Somehow with Robert she didn't think that would be a problem.
Robert.
Where was he?
She pushed the anxiety down and looked over at Tess, still staring at her drink. Dating Terry Benedict. And now Tess was back with Danny. From what she knew about Terry, Isabel could see how that was not good.
"So this evening, Terry-" she began.
"He was obscene." Tess's voice was shaking, the distaste rippling through it. "He suggested I could…that I was just a…that he-he…" She broke off and took a long, long drink while Isabel filled in the blanks.
"Well, that makes more sense. I mean as to why Robert punched him." She saw Tess's surprise. "He was protecting Danny, wasn't he?"
The surprise remained. "You can see that?"
"Can't you?" It was Isabel's turn to be surprised.
"Yes, obviously, yes. It's just…I mean…" Tess sighed. "I don't know what I mean."
She looked at Isabel and all the worry that Isabel was doing her best to manage was right there on Tess's face.
"Where have they gone?" Tess said miserably. "I mean it's like they've vanished."
"Which means this is something out of the ordinary." Isabel took a deep breath and broke the news. "Something out of the legal, too, Tess."
"The police-"
"We can report them missing. Police won't start looking immediately and when they do, it won't be with anything like the urgency that we would."
Tess digested the information then licked her lips. "What do we have to do to get them back?"
Isabel drained the whisky. "Whatever's necessary."
"But if we can't go to the police," Tess persisted, "then what do we do?"
"That's easy," Isabel smiled. "I guess we start by calling Saul."