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Chapter 11
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The list of shops was divided between Artie and the team of Pete and Myka. They split up soon after in the hopes of covering their respective areas as expeditiously as possible before night set in.
Pete and Myka's first contacts went smoothly. The shop owners reacted more or less as Artie had expected. The badge did the talking for them but they also encouraged the owners to educate them in the art. The artists displayed their equipment, the inks, and tattoo machines, other medical supplies, their books and displays of designs, going so far as to give them a quick lesson. Myka listened patiently even though she'd already had one such experience which left her bearing the infinity symbol on her ankle ever since.
After turning into the proverbial bull in a china shop, Pete finally hung back in the open spaces, careful to touch nothing, while Myka conducted the basics of the investigation.
The third and fourth shops were open in their dealing with both the agents and, apparently, with the public as well. The last on their list was run by several women and tended to cater to a predominantly female clientele. The owners were personable, friendly, and as with the other three places, didn't do a blessed thing to trigger one of Pete's classic vibes.
Lattimer glanced down at his watch. "Dark in an hour," he informed her, giving the rose and gold sky a quick glance. "Time to give Artie a call, find out how things went, grab something to eat before the fun starts again."
The Farnsworth was open several seconds later. Myka depressed the red button and waited for the face of their superior to appear in the small round viewscreen.
"Try it again," Pete suggested when nothing happened in a reasonable length of time.
Giving him a perplexed frown which caused her nostrils to flare slightly, she did as suggested. "Nothing," she finally said even though it didn't need saying. He could see it for himself.
"Maybe he's in some busy place and can't hear it."
"Are you kidding, when it buzzes everyone can hear it even if they aren't sure of what they are listening to. It's not exactly a discreet sound."
Pete closed his eyes, trying to sense something, anything that would imply he needed to worry but proximity to peril or to the person in danger was two of the common triggers for his vibes and Artie was probably clear across town by that point.
"Let's not get worried over this," he stated, reaching for his cell phone. "We both know he'll ignore the Farnsworth if he's in a public place." He hit the address book and punched in the contact number, which conveniently was sitting in the number one spot alphabetically. He listened, and listened some more. "No answer," he finally informed her. "Okay, officially time to worry."
She race walked back to their vehicle and pulled out the list of tattoo parlors and closely studied the ones Artie was supposed to visit.
"We'll start with these places for now. Go from place to place until we catch up with him."
Pete craned his neck to see the list. The remaining tattoo parlors were spread out and far from their current location. "You know, I was just thinking—"
Myka gave him a cynical look which said, 'that's dangerous' but she didn't verbalize it.
Ignoring her unspoken insult, he went on, "It's also possible he got sidetracked and didn't visit them all yet, or he did get through every one and went on his own way afterward. This is a big honkin' city and there's a lot of ground to cover if he didn't stick to the plan. I'd rather not wander deaf, dumb, and blind. The motel is close. Let's check there first, see if he's back already, then we can try his list."
Frowning, Myka thought about this plan a few seconds. Finally, she nodded. Going to the motel wouldn't hurt in the grand scheme of things. Pete was right. It wasn't far and gave them a starting point. If Artie wasn't there, and something deep inside doubted he would be, they could get going and do what she'd suggested in the first place.
Pete and Artie's room was dark and silent. Nielsen's belongings were more or less where he'd left it and appeared undisturbed or unmoved since they'd vacated the premises in the morning. Outside, the sun had all but vanished, leaving an eye-straining dusk where everything appeared in shades of gray. Soon even the grays had faded to black or turned to orange as the street lights turned on.
"Still no answer," Myka said from where she sat on the corner of Pete's bed. She held both the Farnsworth and the cell phone in hands that were beginning to shake from clenching them so tightly. "I'm not going to sit around here and wait. Leave him a note, tell him we are heading out to look for him, and ask him to save us all a lot of trouble by phoning first!"
Pete stared at her a second, surprised by the abundant tones of concern and frustrating commingling in her voice, and then he reached for a pen and sheet of paper.