The doorbell rang at the Bennett house. Grace answered the door.

” Hello, Julian.”

“ Grace.”

Julian walked over to Eve, who hugged him.

” Eve, this is Marshall Lear, Head of Crane Security.”

” Mr. Lear.”

” I’ve told Marshall to use whatever we have to help you.”

” Thank you, Julian.”

” Marshall, there’s Chief Bennett. Check in with him.”

Lear walked away from Julian and Eve.

” How are you doing – really?”, Julian asked.

” Julian, I’m not going to flip out. My baby girl is in serious trouble. I’m strong enough to handle it. In fact, I’m so pissed, nothing would get in my way.”

Julian smiled. “ That’s my Eve.”

” Julian, do you know where Chad is?”

” Isn’t he here?”

” No. I called his cellphone several times and got voicemail.”

Julian dialed his cellphone. “ Judy, it’s me. Find Chad. I don’t care if you wind up driving all around Harmony, just find him and call me back.” He hung up his phone.

” It must be good to be you. To just order someone around like that.”, Eve cracked.

” Well, sometimes it’s useful.”

By this time, Lear had returned to them. “ I have a picture of the missing girl. We have contacts. I’ll fax this to every one of them in the Eastern United States. It will be in every airport from Maine to Florida within 30 minutes, Mr. Crane. I used the Bennett’s fax. And, now I’ll go back to the office to get it to out ‘other’ contacts.”
“ Call me if you find out something.”

Lear left and Eve looked at Julian. “ Other contacts?”

” The Crane network of informants is in high and low places, Eve. Give them an hour. Every bus, and train station will be covered, as well as the airports.”

“ Thank you.”

Sam came over to Eve. “ I think we have an address on this Hakim.”

” I’m going in the car with Sam.”, TC said, as he gave Julian the Evil Eye.

” We’ll follow.”, Julian said, as he and Eve left the Bennett house.

They all arrived at Hakim’s apartment. Sam and a Deputy had their guns drawn and knocked on the door.

” Hakim! Hakim, open up!! It’s the Harmony Police!”

When there was no response, Sam kicked in the door, followed by the deputy, TC, Eve and Julian.

The police searched the rooms, and Sam came out. “ Nobody’s here.”

TC looked around in disgust. “ My baby girl was with a guy who lived here?”

“ This is worse than I imagined.”, Eve said to no one in particular.

“ You lookin’ for Hakim?”, a young man asked as he appeared in the doorway.

” Where is he? You know that punk!?”, TC rushed at the young man and pinned him against the wall.

” Yo Pops, what the fuck are you doin’?”

” Where is my little girl? Where is that animal?”, TC barked.

Sam came over to him. “ TC, let the guy go. Let him go.” TC did as he was told, and the guy tried to run away, but Sam stopped him.

“ Not so fast. I’m Chief Bennett and I want to know where Hakim is.”

” I don’t know. Have no idea.”

” A young woman’s life is at stake. I don’t have time for this garbage. Now, tell me where Hakim is!”, Sam barked.

” Chief Bennett, maybe I can help with the negotiations.” Julian took out his money clip and lifted out the entire wad of cash. He waved it in front of the guy. “ This is all Ben Franklin’s. Tell Chief Bennett what he wants to know.”

” Put the money in my pocket, first.”

Julian did as he asked. The man nodded.

” Hakim is gone. He was getting pressure from another dealer, and thought it was time to split before it jacked up to full-scale war.”

” Where did he go?”, Sam asked.

” I don’t know. But, the young girl I think you want was with him. Brown-skinned girl, slamming body?” Julian shows him a picture of Simone and the guy nodded. “ Yeah, that’s Hakim’s woman.”

Eve shuddered as he said ‘Hakim’s woman’.

“ Do you have any idea where he was going?”, Sam asked.

” He didn’t tell me, but I’m thinking a big city. Easier to get lost that way.”

Sam searched his pockets and found his wallet and tossed it to the deputy.

” Hey!”, the guy protested.

” Just getting your name and address. Just in case we need to talk to you later. Last question: what kind of car did Hakim have?”

Once the deputy had copied the information down, Sam let the guy go and gave him his wallet back. He left.

“ Now that we know Simone is with him, and we know the car, it won’t take long for us to come up with a license plate. Of course..”

” He could have stolen another car by now.”, Eve offered.

” Think positive, Eve. He’s going to want to get to a big town before he does something like that. Easy to blend in.”

” Sam, what can we do?”, TC asked.

” Right now? Nothing, TC. You go back home and make sure someone is always by the phone. My men will be there within the hour to put a tap on the phone. Same for you, Eve. I need for the two of you to write down ANYONE that Simone could call for help, if she needed it.”

” Ok.”, Eve replied.

” TC, I’ll drop you back home.”, Sam said, and they left.

Eve lingered and looked around the apartment.

” Eve?”

Eve turned to Julian with tears in her eyes.

” I spent my entire adult life running away from places like this. Determined to make sure my daughters couldn’t know about it, and my baby girl winds up here. “
Julian pulled Eve into his arms and let her cry.