5.

"Perfect timing. You've got a visitor out front." Jackson said as I walked in Monday morning, dumping my stuff on our adjoining desks. How did he always get here before me? Even when Dorsey dropped Yash off at school, he was here before me. Because he has no life, I tried to tell myself. The truth was I didn't know.

"Who?" I asked, wanting to avoid a meeting with Melts Blue Ice or any of that ilk.

"Apparently one Lily Provis."

I shot him a look, but his face was entirely serious.

"You didn't go talk to her?"

"Apparently, she asked for you."

***

"I wanted to report a missing person?" the girl said, before she'd even sat down at the interview table, looking at each us in turn with wide eyes, as if he could be found somewhere in us, "His name's Alasdair."

"Alasdair…, Soul, male, 18 years." Jackson read off his handheld.

"Yeah, that's him," she looked hopeful, as if we were about to conjure his presence. Jackson and I exchanged a glance.

"Where did you last see him?"

She looked back and forth between us, and the hope began to fade. "Back of Argyle street. In Bethseda. Saturday night."

"You didn't report it to the local Seekers?"

"Aunt said to talk to you."

"You've talked to your Aunt?" I asked.

"I called her from Bethseda. After I couldn't find him."

"Alright," Jackson said, regaining control, "See the thing is, we've had his parents say he was missing since Friday night, your father say you were missing, and your boyfriend say you were kidnapped."

She looked momentarily puzzled. "Diaz?"

"Yep."

She coloured slightly, scooching her sneakers on the floor. "He's not really my boyfriend."

"Do you want to maybe start from the beginning?"

"We just moved here not long ago. My cousin…" she paused.

"Your aunt told us about Charlie," I said softly.

She nodded glumly.

"Anyway. We started school, and most people were pretty weird about us, you know? Soul-free zone as well as human, that's pretty much as bad as it gets bar cold storage."

Like your mum, I thought.

"But we had each other, we'd always stuck together. It didn't matter what the others thought of us. But Alasdair was different. He talked to me, you know? Like a human." She chuckled a short, sad hiccup. "Well, like a Soul I guess."

"You liked him," I said, and Jackson seemed content for me to take over. This was secret women's business territory, and I trumped his human card there.

She nodded, lips held tight. "But… I knew Dad would go nuts. And my brothers…"

"And Diaz?"

She sighed as if the world were too difficult by half.

"Diaz has just always sort of assumed we were together. I guess it's my fault for never really saying anything, just playing along. He's a nice guy, but…"

"He's not Alasdair."

She looked at me, meeting the understanding in my eyes, and nodded. My heart swelled remembering being in love like that, thinking no one could compare.

"I told Alasdair we couldn't see each other, and he just didn't get it. I shouldn't have been so nice to him. I should have stuck to my own. But he was so sweet, he'd never had a girlfriend before…"

She looked into her lap, quietly fighting the tears.

"Tell us about the fight at school."

"Diaz was just fooling around, kissing me and that, and Alasdair just lost it. He knew I wasn't really into it, and he didn't think I should have to put up with it. Diaz didn't understand, of course, and he beat him up. He thought Alasdair had just attacked him out of the blue."

"You didn't tell the Teachers?"

She shook her head, withdrawing into herself.

"It weren't Alasdair's fault. Not really. I shouldn't have let him take all the blame. He got suspended, you know? His parents were horrified. But he told me he'd do it again. Diaz could really hurt him; I couldn't let that happen."

"So…"

"So I convinced him to run away. Start a new life. It's so easy to lie your way to a new life in the Soul system. I took him to Bethseda."

A new life. It should have been the answer to all their problems. But Lily looked anything but content. Distress ran off her in waves.

"What happened there?"

"I don't know," she whispered, "We stayed out the back of my granny's place, just til places opened on Monday. I forgot about how the registration offices close over the weekend. Alasdair got us food, nobody looked twice at us. It was fine. You can hide no problem in the city." It was not my first choice for a hiding place, but I realized she was right. They could hide in plain view. People ignore each other in the cities. Finding them would be difficult. It's not like you can track anyone in the city. The wind is the only one that would know where you are.

"But Sunday morning, I woke up, and he was gone."

"Gone."

"He just wasn't there. I searched everywhere we'd been, but … I can't find him."

***

"You believe her?" Jackson asked, as I watched her through the other side of the two way mirror.

I nodded, sighing, "It could all be a cover for having got rid of him, but… I can't help believing her."

"You're a softie."

"Spose."

"I guess it's over to the local guys to check it out, see if there's any sign of a struggle."

"And in the meantime?"

He shrugged. "Don't have anything to keep her on. She goes home I guess."

Jackson contacted the Bethseda Seekers while I took Lily to forensics to sample her prints, fingernail cuttings, hair, clothes, and blood. She didn't even ask why. Her mind was someplace else. Alasdsair.

"Come on, we'll take you home," I said walking her out of forensics. She stopped in the middle of the hallway.

"I can't go home. The boys'll kill me dead."

I waited for her, but she didn't budge. "They've been very worried about you."

"I guess," she said apprehensively, then shook her head, "I can't go home."

"Do they even know you're back?"

She shook her head again, ashamed. Or was it scared?

"Alright," I sighed, "Give me a minute."

***

"She doesn't want to go home," I hissed at Jackson, who had the far off look of someone who's been on hold for a while. He shifted the phone to the other ear and focused on me, glancing at Lily hovering uncertainly in the corridor behind.

"I don't suppose you're thinking of taking her to the Children's Ward?" he said back, quietly, so she wouldn't hear.

I gave him a look that left him no doubt I wasn't taking her anywhere near it. "She's hardly a child. And there's nothing wrong with her."

"You're not thinking of taking her home are you?"

"No." I needed the head space.

"What about Margie?"

"Margie's is never very… relaxing. Lily needs a break."

"What about that Turner woman? She's a friend of yours isn't she?"

"Kim? Maybe… I mean yes, but…"

"You can only ask?"

I sighed and got out my phone.

"Kim, got a bit of a favour to ask."

"Go on," she said, sounding only vaguely distracted by the small children in the background.

"Promise me you'll say no if it's the slightest bit weird."

"Ok."

"Got a 17 year old runaway girl here, doesn't want to go home. I'm at a bit of a loose end as to where to put her."

"And you're thinking my place?"

"I really don't want to take her to the Children's Ward. And she really doesn't want to go home just yet."

"Well, Sarah's over for the week…"

"They let her out? That's great! Oh. Don't worry about us then, we'll sort something out."

"No, it'll be fine. She'll just have to have the sofa bed, that's all."

"Wait, before you decide, I haven't told you everything yet."

"What, is she a murderer?"

"Uh…"

"Flame?!"

I had her full attention now.

"She's sort of involved in a case of a missing Soul."

"So you're saying she might kill Souls?"

"The problem is, we don't know yet. Maybe." Maybe just kidnap. Or maybe nothing…

"Bring her over," Kim said, "We'll see what she's like."

***

Lily paused when we got out of the car. Margie, Kim, and her four kids were waiting for us, like judges at the Spanish inquisition.

"Flame says we might have a criminal on our hands here. Kidnapping Souls," Margie started.

Lily's smile was nervous but you could see she appreciated the humour.

"Kidnapping hearts more like it," Margie murmured, taking in her shy smile and still hopeful look, "You ran away from home?"

"Yes ma'am," she said, looking a little ashamed. "They, uh, they don't appreciate people running away from things, back home."

"Don't they really," Margie said softly, and I could see her heart melting, "I reckon you'll be ok here. What do you reckon, Kim?"

"What's one more mouth to feed?" Kim said affectionately.

"Sarah?"

"One less washing up for me to do," she shrugged. That was a yes.

"Alright then. You're in kid."

I let out a breath of relief and called Jackson to tell him the good news as I got back in my car.

"Happy campers all round then. Alasdair's parents reckon he'll be home any minute," Jackson said dryly.

"Really," I said, skeptically.

"They reckon he realized what a terrible mistake he was making and dumped her."

I shook my head. He would have called by now if he was coming home. I could understand Alasdair feeling his parents would not approve. The incident with the elder brother showed their colours as far as humans were concerned. So it was understandable that he wouldn't go home. But where then? An why so suddenly, no word to anyone?

It was like he had just disappeared. And I knew the loss of him, the hole he had left behind, would eat into Lily every minute he was gone.