Page 4 of Girl, Sought

‘Seriously, Hawkins. We need to go. We don’t have kids here.’

Luca gestured for her to go first. ‘Alright. Lead the way.’

Ella slipped past the parents coddling their children, out of the gym doors and then nodded at the receptionist in the foyer. She unlocked the exit doors, and Ella made her way outside with Luca in tow.

Another year over. Next December, she'd find some other excuse to check in on Elias. For now, though, there was work to do.

***

The December wind cut through Ella’s coat as she stood at Blue Ridge Valley Elementary's front gate. All of the parents were still indoors.

‘Gate’s locked.’

‘You gotta hit the buzzer,’ Luca said.

Ella did. It rang, but no one answered. 'Come on. It's freezing out here.'

‘What’s the rush, Ell? It’s not like we’ve got anywhere to be.’

It had been three weeks since Ella and Luca had caught the killer the press were now calling the Alchemist. Amelia Blackwood, a student of New York University, who'd tried to invoke some ancient alchemical ritual to heal the scars on her face. Today was the first day since her capture that Ella hadn't seen a story about her in the news, with all the front pages opting for something festive instead. Coca Cola using artificially-generated images in their new commercial, scalpers buying up the hottest toys and selling them on secondary markets. Apparently, even occult serial killers were no match for Christmas hysteria.

‘I’m just cold.’

Luca eyeballed her with suspicion. ‘You’re never cold. You’ve got the warmest blood in the DMV.’

‘It’s my age.’

‘You’re just worried about someone busting you. What’s a childless FBI agent doing in a school?’

‘They’ll ask you the same thing.’

Luca pushed the buzzer again. ‘I just tagged along.’

And since the Alchemist case, Ella and Luca had made a joint decision; to not pursue any more cases together. From now on, they were strictly personal, no business. The decision hadn't been made lightly, given their success rate,but watching Luca nearly burn alive in that barn in Oregon had changed something fundamental in Ella. The image of him stumbling out of those flames, skin blistering and lungs full of smoke, still visited her in nightmares. She couldn't be objective anymore, couldn't separate Agent Dark from the woman who woke up in cold sweats checking if her partner was still breathing beside her.

Not to mention that once you broke down that barrier between personal and professional, it was a one-way ticket to resentment.Every crime scene became a minefield of competing instincts - the need to protect him warring with the need to let him do his job. She'd started second-guessing his decisions, questioning his judgment, treating him more like a liability than a partner.That was when your partner’s quirks became annoying habits, when those cheesy grins tickled your knuckles instead of your heartstrings. Ella couldn’t let it come to that. She loved the guy too much.

Her finger hovered over the intercom again when a voice cut through. ‘Miss Dark?’

She spun and saw Mrs. Dhaliwal, the headteacher, striding in her direction. She moved with the particular grace of someone who'd spent decades herding children without ever letting them see her sweat.

‘Mrs. Dhaliwal, great to see you.’ Ella shook her hand. ‘Thanks for getting me in. Not many headteachers would bend the rules to let a fed on the premises.’

The headteacher waved away the praise. ‘Nonsense. You’re always welcome here. This your partner?’

Not anymore,she thought. ‘Yes indeed. This is Agent Hawkins.’

‘Good to meet you.’ Mrs. Dhaliwal extended a hand. ‘Miss Dark here came in a few years ago and talked to our students. Brought a squad car, too. If you ask some of our children, it was the best day of their lives.’

‘I’ll bet,’ Luca said. ‘I’d have loved that as a kid.’

‘Children and vehicles. It’s a bond we still don’t understand. Miss Dark, I suspect you came for one student in particular?’

At last, the gate clicked open. Ella pulled it ajar. ‘How’s he doing?’

‘Elias? Flourishing. Top marks in reading and science. His speech therapy's complete ahead of schedule.’ Mrs. Dhaliwal's eyes crinkled. ‘You saw him in the play.’

‘He remembered all his lines.’

---