It took all the self-restraint I had not to go tearing about the suite.
After reading the letter, Ms. Thermopolis burst into tears. "Three days!" She cried. "My baby's going to die in three days!"
"She's not going to die, Helen," Philippe shot irritably. "We'll find her."
We stared in silence for a little while until Laurel spoke up. "'It's not poison, but it is to her'? What kind of clue is that?"
Maloney looked at Philippe and Helen. "Is she deathly allergic to anything? Something that might be fatal?"
They both shook their heads. "No. She's healthy as a horse." Philippe said.
"Yeah, except for the fact that she's poisoned," Ms. Thermopolis shot.
"Helen, if you're not going to be rational about this, I must ask that you leave."
She shut her mouth after that.
"The context of the clue suggests that it might possibly be something that she just really dislikes," Laurel murmured as she broke the temporary silence.
"Yeah…but what would it be?" Maloney asked as he stroked his beard thoughtfully.
Suddenly, it clicked in my head. "She's a vegetarian!" I cried.
"Meat," Maloney murmured as he nodded his head in approval. "Good job, kid. 'Largest institution of its kind'…"
"A really big deli?" Laurel suggested.
"Hob's Delicatessen," Helen and Maloney said at the same time.
Everyone in the room gave a smile, each varying in size, at the same time.
"Good work folks. Let's go resuce us a princess."
"Wait," I said. "You don't actually think she'll be there, do you?"
"Why not?" Helen asked frantically.
"Well first off, the letter says 'first clue'. That implies that there are more clues later on. Besides, do you think that this guy is really gonna make it this easy for us?"
"You're right," Maloney said. "Michael, go over to Hob's Deli and see if you can find anything, then report back to us ASAP. I'll give the driver coordinates."
"Got it."
Hans and I grabbed a coat and ran out the door.
During the limo ride, my mind kept drifting. Pictures of the bloody and battered Mia floated in front of my inner eye often. I couldn't help it, it was a haunting sight.
I stared out the window absent-mindedly. Mia…was she alright? Was she being fed? Was the poison working quickly? What if we didn't make it in time? What if she died and I never got the chance to tell her that I liked her?
To many what ifs were plaguing my mind. I needed to stop thinking about what might happen and focus on what I wanted to get done and why.
It wasn't fair to her. She didn't get to live her life. She was only fourteen! And she wasn't even paying for sins that she herself had committed; she was paying for being born. The injustice of the whole situation made my blood boil. She was a sweet girl; she deserved better than this.
As the limo pulled into the deli, I ran inside with one hand hovering over the gun at my side.
Everyone stared at me like I had just busted the loony bin. After a few minutes, they went back about their business, and I discreetly walked to the attendant behind the counter.
He was shaking nervously as he whispered, "Are you the guy he said they would send?"
"Who would send?"
"Prince Philippe."
"Yeah."
He pulled an envelope from the register and handed it to me. "He told me to give this to you."
"Wait, who told you?"
"I'm not supposed to tell."
"Can you tell me what he looked like?"
He shook his head slowly.
I didn't push it. By the look on his face, he wasn't going to tell, he was way too scared.
I eyed him carefully as I pocketed the envelope. "What's you're name?"
"Christopher James Hob."
"Who else works here?"
"My sister, Rachel Angela Hob."
I nodded as I turned around to leave. "Thank you."
"You're not going to kill me, are you?" He asked loudly. Fortunately, this was New York and no one found this strange.
I turned back around and raised my eyebrows. "Why would I?"
"That guy said you would."
"Not likely."
When I got back to the Plaza, I gave the two names to Laurel. "Could you do a background search on them?"
She nodded.
I gave the envelope to Maloney and we crowded around him.
Next clue: dogs are man's best friends.
I stared at that clue for several moments, completely lost.
Maloney turned to Helen and asked, "What the hell's this supposed to mean?"
She stared intently at the slip of paper. "Mia and I are both feminists…"
We disregarded this. Just a worried mother's old blather.
"'Dogs are man's best friends'…" Philippe repeated.
We all sat there silently for at least a half hour while Maloney barked at Laurel to search every conceivable internet search engine for anything that might help. Then suddenly, Ms. Thermopolis cried out, "Fat Louie! He must be referring to Fat Louie!"
Philippe raised his eyebrows. "How do you figure that?"
"Opposite of man is woman, right? Opposite of dog is cat. Fat Louie used to be Mia's best friend."
We all nodded in sudden realization. But then Maloney paused. "What's he gonna do with the cat, then?"
"Only one way to find out," I said as I called Hans and grabbed my coat.
"Wait!" Helen called out as she grabbed her own coat. "I'm coming with you! I know the loft better than you do anyway."
I nodded. "Let's go."
The first part of the limo ride was silent. Then I spoke up. "Ms. Thermopolis, I just wanna say, that I'm really, really sorry about losing your daughter like that. My eyes should have been on her the whole time, I should have been watching her, I should have—"
"Michael," She cut me off. "It's okay. I forgive you." She sighed as she rubbed her tired eyes in an attempt to soothe her headache away. "I know that I was snappish at you in the beginning, but you have to understand, Mia's my baby girl. I love her more than anything in the world, and if anything happened to her…" She trailed off as huge sobs began to rack her body. "I'm sorry, it's just…"
I wasn't really any good at comforting worried mothers, so I gently put my arm around her shoulders and rubbed her back. "It's okay," I said softly. "I promise, I'll get her back."
And I will get her back.
When we arrived at the loft, we found Fat Louie behind the toilet. When he spotted us, he walked to his litter box and next to it was a note.
"It's as if he knew that we were supposed to get this," Helen muttered as she quietly brought him in her arms and pet him.
I opened the letter and eagerly read the words inside.
Next clue: walter went to see the Show.
What the hell?
A/N- I feel really bad about how long it took me to update this. I was helping a friend with her stuff and not to mention I've been slightly sleep deprived...so yeah. I feel even worse because this weekend Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince is coming out this Saturday and I'm gonna be reading that and I'm going on vacation next week. So I wanted to at least have a chapter of this and Most Eligible Bachelorette before all that. Count on an update for that story on Thrusday.
The clues took a while. It was hard trying to come up with them. Tell me what yout think that last one is. You might be right.
Reviews are my best friend.