Vigilant

He’d told her, while she’d tried to hold down her lunch, that there had been a series of crimes like this, that the police didn’t want to alarm anyone so they’d kept it quiet.

“But these are my clients!” she argued. “How can I protect them if I don’t know how to keep them safe?”

“Because even though there is a pattern, it’s unclear what is really going on here. Young girls. All kidnapped or missing for several days at a time, and then they find them like Maria.”

“Maria is the only girl on my caseload or from our office that has been murdered like this. Who are these girls you’re talking about?”

He leaned his elbows on the table. “Runaways. Young girls—younger than what you usually get assigned. Kids slipping through the cracks because no one is reporting them missing or truant. Every troubled kid in the county doesn’t make her way across your desk.”

“It sure feels like it,” she mumbled. “They all go missing from time to time, but in general, they reappear. Either in lockup or in my office begging for a second chance.”

“Keep an eye out for the ones with strange absences or weird stories.”

It had been impossible not to think of Hope.

Nick’s hands inched up her legs, kneading the tired muscles. She sighed at his touch, willing him to go higher. “Do you think this could be part of a bigger thing?” she asked.

He frowned. “What do you mean, thing?”

“Like, what if Maria’s murder isn’t the first one? Maybe there are other girls.”

“Is there any evidence of that?” Ah, the lawyer. Ari should have expected him to appear.

“No, not that I know of.”

“Then why are you coming up with this reasoning?”

Davis had mentioned kids going missing. “Hope’s story. I wonder if it was connected.”

Nick made a face and removed his hands from her leg. “This again? I thought we decided Hope was making this up? Plus she’s run away again, right? I think this is more about her having an addiction to being on the street than anything else.”

“I’m worried about her. This feels wrong to me. I don’t know why. She’s a mess and a delinquent and she makes horrible choices, but something else is going on. I just don’t understand it.”

Nick scooted over and wrapped his arms around Ari’s shoulders. “I know you’re worried. It’s what makes you so good at your job. I have a feeling that Maria was in the wrong place at the wrong time and someone did a really horrible thing to her.”

Ari felt all the emotions of the day building up and she finally cracked, letting out an ugly sob. “It just sucks for them, you know? Half the time I hate them for doing such stupid things and then I realize they can’t help but do stupid things because no one teaches them any better.”

Nick took her face in his hands. He wiped away her tears with his thumbs and gave her a sweet, soft kiss. “Then teach them. Teach them better.”

An idea flared and Ari nodded, letting it take hold. An idea to help these girls and to protect them from the dangers roaming around Glory City. She tilted her head, seeking affection from Nick and he gave it, pushing her back into the couch cushion and kissing her long and deep.

* * *

Nick left once Oliver got home, giving her the impression that Nick might have been babysitting just a bit. She wanted a boyfriend, not a babysitter which increasingly, he seemed to be. Sure, they made out a little bit, but it never went far enough and Ari felt increasingly frustrated. Her mind wandered constantly to her night with Davis and it was a signal she couldn’t ignore. She and Nick would have to talk soon.

“I’m going to bed,” she said, shortly after Oliver got home.

He was on his third bowl of cereal and held the spoon up in a small wave. “Night.”

After washing her face and brushing her teeth, Ari settled under the covers. Reaching for her book, she stopped in surprise. On her dresser, next to the black lacquered box, sat her keys. She’d lost them during the fight the other night with Jace.

“Oliver,” she said, walking back into the living room. “Did you put these in my room?”

“Nope,” he said through a mouthful of cereal.

“Huh.”

“Where were they?”