"So... what happened last night after you left?" Red asked as he wiped down the countertop.

Milori had arrived at the coffee shop late that morning. He usually came here when the shop opened so he could at least pretend he had a life outside of work, but today he slept in. All that dancing and serving had tired him out last night.

"Did you... you know-"

"What! No, I'm a gentleman! Besides, what happened to wanting me to do something, not someone?"

"You did do something last night, and doing someone would have been the perk."

"It's a foster home crawling with children. Children I teach! If they saw me I could never look at them again!" Milori sighed and poked at his french toast he had ordered.

"Point made. Speaking of which, did Lacey and Claire really cheat?"

"How do you know about that?"

"Lacey told Snow, who told me."

"Of course, and yes it's true, but I don't understand why!"

"You mean you don't know?"

"What don't I know?" He took a sip of his coffee.

"Claire's parents beat her."

Milori sputtered and began to choke on the hot drink. He grabbed a napkin from the dispenser and covered his mouth. As soon as his coughing fit was over he nearly screamed, "That can't be true!"

"Yes, haven't you noticed that even in the summer she wears long sleeved shirts. She tries to cover them up the best she can."

"Well, someone needs to tell! She's eight years old for crap!"

"But we don't even know where she lives!"

Milori let out a sigh, but then suddenly his face lit, "I know where she lives!"

"What are you a stalker or something?"

"No! I'm a teacher and it's a requirement that I get contact information from the students, and that means I have Claire's parent's number and address."

"You know I'm going to tell you not to get involved, but you're gonna do it anyway, so let's just skip that part. Since you're going to do this, promise me one thing."

"What?"

"Don't get arrested. I don't want to have to bail your stupid butt out of jail."

Milori laughed, "Deal."

000

Milori walked down the hallway to his classroom. He unlocked the door and ran over to his desk. Immediately he opened one of the drawers and grabbed out his notecard holder. His flipped through them until Claire's name popped up. "Perfect!" Milori grabbed the notecard and ran.

Outside he read the notecard, Claire's birthday was written on it. Her address as well, and a surprisingly familiar phonenumber, underneath it. Milori couldn't place why it was so familiar though. Luckily the address was only a few blocks away and it was sunny out so he could easily walk it.

Five minutes later Milori arrived at a series of row houses. They were tightly packed together, but they seemed well kempt and it appeared that the neighborhood wasn't too bad. He counted off the house looked for number seven. Seven was apparently a shabby, rundown one with a foreclosure staked in the ground in the front. Things were not looking good, but Milori still walked up the steps. Taped to the door was a bright pink slip, with the word 'eviction notice' in bold. "Oh no!" he read it over and noticed that it was dated back months ago.

This was exponentially getting worse and worse. Milori knocked on the door a few times and waited. He couldn't hear any sound of movement and knocked again. Still it remained silent. "Well this was a bust, but I'd at least think that Claire would have at least told me that she had moved."

"Excuse me!" someone called out.

Milori looked around, seriously confused, "I'm losing my mind! I'm hearing voices!"

"You're not losing your mind, but you certainly are hearing voices."

"Fantastic," he glanced around once more.

"Over here!"

Milori turned to see a little old woman standing on the front porch of the house next door. "Oh thank god! I'm not losing my mind."

"I told you. Are you looking for someone young man?"

"Yes actually," he walked over so her could talk to her face to face, "Do you know about the family that lived next door."

"No, the only person to live in that house for the past few years was some writer. Didn't sell any books and couldn't pay bills, that's why he was evicted."

"Oh, well does a family by the name of Marinsaw live around here."

"Nope, never heard of them, and I know everyone in this neighborhood."

Milori let out a sigh, "That's what I was worried about. If it's alright, I'll be leaving now."

"Yes, of course. You seem awfully busy and it appears finding that family is urgent so go, do what you need to do."

He smiled at the little old woman and then politely left. When he was almost at the school once more, Milori sighed, "How am I supposed to find Claire in this big city!"

BUZZ! BUZZ! BUZZ!

Milori dug through his laptop bag and grabbed out his phone. He had gotten a text message and of course it was from Red making sure he wasn't left for dead in an alley or something.

To Red: I'm alive, don't worry. Went to the address Claire gave me, but that was a dead end. On my way back to the school now.

A few moments later...

From Red: You did say that students were required to give an address and a phone number. Why don't you try that?

Milori quickly typed back.

To Red: Thanks! That's actually a really good idea! I doubt she faked a phone number.

He then pulled out the notecard with Claire's information. Milori read it quickly and punched in the numbers. The phone then began to ring.

RING! RING! RING!

"Hello?" someone spoke on the other end of the line.

"Ah, yes, Mr. Wintrix calling. I was wondering-"

"Oh, hi, Mr. Wintrix!"

"Sarah?"

She was one of the other children who lived in the foster home with Lacey. What was she doing picking up the phone for the Marinsaws?

"Yep, that's me!"

"What are you doing? Where are Claire's parents?"

"How should I know?"

Milori chuckled, "I suppose you're right. You are eight years old after all."

Sarah was about to reply when suddenly someone in the room with her asked a question that he could just barely hear. "Sarah, who's on the phone?"

"Here." Sarah was obviously handing the phone to the person who had asked the question.

Someone fumbled with the phone a moment before speak, "Uh, hello! Who is this?"

Crap! It's Clarion! He hadn't spoken to her since last night, and he hoped that she wasn't getting the wrong idea about him calling. What was he kidding! Milori was calling to figure out what was really going on with Claire, plain and simple. "Uh-uh-uh, hello. Milori Wintrix, we've met before, when I called about Lacey and when we danced last night."

"I am fully aware of both our meetings."

"Oh, great. Well that's fantastic. I was just calling to check up on Lacey and Claire to see how things were going. I know it's barely been a week, but-"

"It's okay, you don't have to explain yourself. You're a teacher, it's pretty much your job to help students. By the way they are doing quite well. Lacey has been tutoring Claire and I think your next quiz grades might just surprise you."

"Well that's fantastic. I look forward to grading them, but I must be on my way"

"Of course, have a good afternoon."

"And you as well." They both hung up at the same time.

"I'm a freaking idiot! I look forward to grading them? God! What is wrong wit me! Not only that, but I lied to her too! All I had to do was just say that I wanted to help out Claire. That would have been easy enough." Milori groaned as he walked back to his apartment. There was one thing that he needed most in the world right now and that was coffee, and maybe a nap to go along with it.