Chapter 31

"Duo…are you ready to go?"

Duo looked up from the bags he was packing. "Depends. How long d'you think we'll be stuck at the Pink Palace?"

Heero shrugged. "Bring enough for a week. We'll have access to laundry facilities."

Duo wanted to groan but kept it to himself. He didn't want to spend that long at Relena's. Just because he was willing to get along with her didn't mean he wanted to live with her longer than absolutely necessary. Besides, being at Relena's meant that there would be no chance for alone time with his boyfriend.

"It won't be that bad. As soon as we can we'll pass this off to other agents on the pretense of working on the other case. Besides, if they do match up as Une suspects, we'll have more work to do on this end anyway."

"Yeah…okay. I'll keep that in mind. It might keep me from going crazy."

Heero frowned. "I thought you and Relena were getting along okay."

"Well…yeah. But since she doesn't know about us it means we'll have to be extra careful since we'll be around her so much."

"Oh." Now Heero understood. Duo was what some people would describe as 'needy' but Heero knew he just craved touch. He'd been alone for so long in his life that being physically touched reminded him that he wasn't alone anymore. "Well if it makes you feel better, I'll request we share a room."

Duo snorted. "Yeah, like the Princess won't insist that she has enough room for us to have our own."

"I'll tell her that we only require one room as we will need to have a private space for exchanging information."

"If you can't convince her to let us share a room, at least make sure they're close. Or even better, make sure they're connected so we can share a room without her finding out."

Heero nodded. "I will. But I'm pretty sure I can convince her to let us share to begin with."

"Yeah…okay. Hey 'Ro? I've been thinking. If there weren't any prints on the paper, why was there one on the car? I mean…it really doesn't make any sense. For all we know, some kid wandered past and touched it."

"True. But it's also just as likely that the perpetrator was wearing gloves with a hole in one of the fingers."

Heero's voice was just a little too smug for Duo not to notice. "So what'd ya find?"

"That partial print matched up with the prints we took from the bills Mr. Whitaker paid you with."

"Shut the hell up! They wouldn't be that careless, would they?"

"Everyone makes mistakes, right?" Heero asked with a smirk.

"So was there a match in the database?"

Heero nodded. "Joshua Carpenter. Here's where it gets sticky. He went missing when he was eight."

Duo let out a low whistle. "So they've got more kids working for them?"

Heero shook his head. "He disappeared 19 years ago. My guess is that he's probably a groom."

"Groom? Like he takes care of horses?"

"No. A groom in this sense is a predator that gains the trust of a child and then sexually assaults and exploits the child. If he was groomed, he would be well trained to groom others. I suspect the girl we found was supposed to be trained as a groom, but either she was too stubborn or they were trying something new that didn't work. Regardless, he's probably someone that wouldn't draw any undue attention."

"You know, the guy that handed me the money was pretty predatory. I'd bet money it was him. Only…Whitaker called him Jason."

"Yes, but since Whitaker is using an alias it makes sense that those in his employ would have them as well."

Duo grunted. "Was there video surveillance on the car and the house that we can look at? If it was that Jason guy, I can ID him."

"I was thinking the same thing."

Duo zipped up the duffel bag in front of him. "Let's get goin' then. The sooner we check out the vid feeds, the sooner we can come home."

Cathy drove to the mall in silence. She turned on the radio because she didn't want the silence to be uncomfortable. She glanced over at the girl from time to time. Every time, Cathy was reminded of the girl's hard life. The bruises seemed to be particularly visible today. Cathy wasn't sure if that was because the sun was shining so brightly or if it was because they were changing colors as they healed. Either way, the girl was going to get a lot of looks.

The girl looked out the window for much of the trip but after a bit, she looked down with a frown. Cathy wondered if she'd made the girl feel as if she had to go shopping today. Maybe she was afraid to tell Cathy no. Cathy didn't want that. She wanted the girl to feel safe telling her what she wanted. The closer they got to the mall, the more agitated the girl seemed to become. Cathy felt bad. Maybe they should have just raided the costume box. Surely there was an extra pair of shoes in there that would have fit the girl.

Once she parked the car, Cathy looked over at the girl. Her eyes said she was scared.

"You sure you want to do this today?" Cathy asked gently. She hoped the girl understood that she really did have the choice to go back if that was what she really wanted to do.

The girl flipped down the sun shade and looked in the mirror for a few minutes. She took a deep breath before looking at Cathy and nodding. Cathy smiled at her as she unbuckled her seat belt and climbed out of the car.

As they walked towards the building, Cathy put her arm around the girl's shoulder and gave it a small squeeze. She was proud that the girl wasn't going to let her past keep her a prisoner in the present.

It wasn't the best mall in the world, but it had several shoe stores, which is what they wanted. Cathy led the girl to the mall directory and pointed out the shoe stores. Seeing a couple of other stores listed that she'd like to go to, Cathy asked if there was anywhere in particular the girl wanted to go while they were there. She was hoping the girl would point to some stores but instead, she just shrugged.

Instead of making a big deal out of it, Cathy just said, "Well, let's get your shoes and we can go from there."

As they walked to the first shoe store, Cathy stayed close to the girl. She tried to shield the girl from the other people in the mall because she didn't want her to be self-conscious. More than one mother gave the girl a shocked look and then scolded their children for staring. Cathy hated that they were staring, but what could she do about it? It wasn't like it was unnatural for children to stare.

Cathy glanced at the girl to see how she was handling the attention and caught her looking at a black hoodie.

"You don't have a jacket, either, do you?"

The girl shook her head.

Cathy smiled and pulled the girl into the store. "Well come on. You need one so it might as well be one you like."

Cathy grabbed a hoodie at random and gave it to the girl to try on. She supposed she could have paid attention to the size, but since she didn't know what size the girl needed anyway, it wasn't like it would have made much difference. Cathy frowned and checked the size. 4XL? No wonder the sleeves went down to her knees.

"Hmm….maybe that's a little too big. Try this one." She handed the girl a medium. It was closer to what Cathy thought would work. After all, her other clothes were a little big. Trowa had said that Sally measured the girl to get her sizes, so if they were big it meant that she must be expecting the girl to put on a bit of weight.

The girl started to take the hoodie off and hang it back up.

"What are you doing?" Cathy asked. "You like that one, don't you?"

The girl hesitated before nodding.

"So get it."

The girl pointed at the price tag and shook her head.

"Don't worry about that. The Preventers can afford it," Cathy told her as she took the hoodie and started walking through the rest of the store. If the girl liked the hoodie it was entirely possible that they would find other clothes for her here. The girl trailed behind, looking uncomfortable. Cathy watched out of the corner of her eye. She wanted to see what else the girl really wanted but was too afraid to ask for. The girl stopped in front of a shelf with long-sleeved t-shirts. Cathy wandered back slowly enough that the girl wouldn't suspect that Cathy had been watching her closely.

"Did you find something else you liked?"

The girl gave a half shrug, but was biting her lip. Cathy grinned to put her at ease.

"You can tell me, you know. It's okay to like things."

The girl lifted a green long-sleeved shirt.

"Oh, that's lovely. Almost the color of Trowa's eyes. Why don't you pick out a couple so you have more of a selection?"

The girl stared at the shirts for a moment before picking out two more.

Cathy smiled as she took the shirts from the girl. "You know, if you want to, I bet the clerk would let you change into one of these before we leave the store. You don't have to," Cathy added quickly. "I just thought that it might make you more comfortable. But it's entirely up to you."

The girl thought for a second before nodding.

"You want to change shirts if you can?" Cathy guessed.

The girl nodded again. They finished going through the store and the girl didn't show interest in anything else.

As they paid for the items Cathy asked, "Is it okay if she uses the changing room? She'd like to wear one of these home."

The cashier looked like she was going to refuse, until she looked a little closer at the girl. "Yeah, sure. But only take in the shirt you're going to wear, okay?"

The girl nodded and picked up the green shirt.

As the girl disappeared into the dressing room, the cashier said, "Please tell me her boyfriend's in jail or dead in a ditch somewhere."

Cathy was surprised. She hadn't expected the comment. "Oh…no, it wasn't anything like that. You see she…" Cathy scrambled for a plausible story. "She was in a car accident. They had to use the Jaws of Life to get her out. The crash killed both her parents, which is why she isn't talking. She's barely coping, the poor thing. It's been a struggle to get her to eat anything, too, because she's been so depressed. But she's doing much better now."

Cathy almost jumped in surprise when the girl slipped up next to her and put her other shirt in the shopping bag. She wondered how much the girl had heard.

The cashier smiled brightly at the girl and said cheerily, "Feel better soon!"

The girl walked out and Cathy followed quickly, carrying the shopping bag. Once they got out of sight of the clerk the girl turned and glared at Cathy.

"What?"

The girl rolled her eyes.

Oh. She'd heard what Cathy told the cashier. "Did you want me to let her think your boyfriend beat you?"

The girl sighed and shook her head.

"There's a shoe store. Let's see what they have."

Trowa stopped for lunch at a random diner. He ordered something to eat and pulled out the report Heero had given him. He thought he'd gotten to the point where he could handle the facts without getting sick. He scanned the report briefly, just to get an idea of what he was in for. He wasn't disappointed. It was pretty gruesome. The forensics team had managed to piece together most of the girls. Some were still missing pieces, though. Trowa wondered how Chase could do such a thing and still sleep at night. He didn't want to think about what could have happened to the missing pieces. According to the report, the girls that weren't too decayed showed signs of sexual and physical assault, but it was unlikely the other girls were spared the same treatment. According to the DNA scans, most of the girls were unidentified. There were only a small handful that matched missing persons reports.

What made him sick was that one of the three-year-old victims was suspected to be the child of one of the other girls, who was thought to be only 17 at the time of her death.

Trowa sighed and put the report away. He supposed he shouldn't have let his curiosity get the better of him. He didn't feel much like eating anymore, but he forced himself to eat anyway. He didn't know what Heero and the others had found while he was gone and he didn't know when he would have the chance to eat next.

He paid his bill and left the diner with renewed resolve to get this case solved as quickly as possible not only to give the girl some closure, but to prevent this from happening to anyone else.

Quatre frowned as he checked the reports again. He'd asked a favor of a business colleague in order to get photographs and names of every student enrolled at a number of law schools for the last twenty years. He couldn't find a match to Donovan Chase on any of them. He had been carefully comparing the current photo of Chase to each picture and hadn't come up with anyone that looked similar. Perhaps Chase hadn't gone to law school. Maybe he'd gotten his degree online.

Quatre set down the reports with a sigh as his vid-phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Hello, Mr. Winner. I'm so glad I was able to catch you." Quatre was surprised to see Sebastian Richmond, the lawyer handling the legal details of Iria's upcoming union with James. "I know we were supposed to meet tomorrow, but I'm afraid I've had something come up and I won't be able to make it."

Secretly, Quatre was glad. He'd completely forgotten that Iria had asked him to be at that meeting tomorrow. "It's quite alright, Mr. Richmond. When would be a good time to reschedule?"

"Will next week be doable for you?"

"It should be. I'll transfer you to my scheduling secretary and she'll get it on my calendar for me."

While he was 'hiding out' with the Preventers, there were some situations that required Quatre to at least make it look like he was still running the Winner Corporation. He had an office set up in his apartment that looked similar to his office on L4 for just such occasions. Those calling via vid-phone would never know the difference.

"Thank you for understanding, Mr. Winner."

Quatre was about to transfer the call when a thought struck him. "Mr. Richmond? While I have you on the line I was wondering if I could ask a small favor of you."

"Of course, Mr. Winner. What can I do for you?"

"Well…" Quatre wasn't sure how to ask his favor. "You see, I have some friends that work with the Preventers. They've run into a case concerning a man who claims to be a lawyer. The trouble is, they can't get a past on him and they asked me if I might have seen him before. They sent me a photo, but I'm afraid I've not run into him anywhere. This case is very important to them and I just thought that perhaps you might have run into him."

"Well…I can't guarantee anything. Can I see the photograph?"

Quatre held up the picture of Chase so the man could look at it.

Richmond frowned. "He almost looks like…"

Quatre wanted to scream when he didn't finish his thought but kept himself in check. "I'm sorry. I didn't catch the last of that."

"Oh, sorry. I…well it's just that he looks a lot like Wayne Harris. But that's impossible."

Quatre's interest was definitely piqued. "Why would that be impossible?"

"Well, because Wayne Harris committed suicide about twenty-five years ago. It was a huge scandal at Stanford."

"What happened?" Quatre pressed. He didn't put anything past Chase, even faking his own death.

"As I recall, Harris had been sleeping with the Dean's wife and daughter. He got cocky and bragged about it and the Dean expelled him, among other things. One rumor I heard said that the Dean had offered not to expel him if he got to watch. But I think that's all garbage. The Dean was an honorable man and wouldn't have stood for such behavior."

"So he committed suicide because he was being expelled?"

Richmond nodded. "His girlfriend found out and broke up with him, too."

"Do you happen to remember the names of the girlfriend or the Dean? It might be of interest to the Preventers, if only to mark it off as a dead lead."

Richmond rubbed his chin for a moment while he thought. "Let's see…the Dean was Harold Braun. No. Not Braun. Branagh. He used to bring up an ancestor of his that was famous for Shakespearian acting. And the girlfriend…hm. I don't know if I ever heard her name. That part might have just been part of the rumor mill."

"Thank you very much, Mr. Richmond. I'm sure my friends will appreciate the information. Just let Victoria know that I approve whatever time you're available to meet next week." He was certain there was nothing important going on and the sooner they got the legal details worked out, the sooner Iria would be able to worry over some other wedding detail.

"Thank you, sir."

Quatre transferred the call to Victoria and hung up. He quickly wrote down the details that Richmond had given him so he wouldn't forget them and buzzed his secretary.

"Alicia, please cancel my appointments for today. Something important has come up."

"Um…even the video conference with your sisters?"

"Which sisters?"

"Denise and Talia."

Quatre kept his groan to himself. "Please cancel it. They'll be upset but they only wish to discuss who I ought to bring as my plus one to Iria's wedding. I can speak to them about that at any time and I'm afraid what I have to do this afternoon will not wait." He didn't add that he was hoping to find someone to bring before then so he could politely reject all of their suggestions.

"Very good, sir. By the way, Iria called to let you know that tomorrow's meeting has been cancelled."

"Thank you, Alicia. Were there any other messages?"

There weren't any so Quatre politely dismissed his secretary and hung up. He pulled out his cell phone and called Heero.