HDA - Living in Darkness Trilogy - Pt 2 - The Search

"Oh shit." Michael frowned, realizing that Quinn and Alethea must have gone their separate ways once leaving the hotel. "She left here upset. I just assumed--"

Quinn groaned. "Damn it, Michael.."

"She said she'd been here before," said Cristina.

Alethea arched a slim eyebrow. "Now that's interesting."

Thane looked up from the computer they'd hooked up. "Michael said the trouble was in Paris."

"Doesn't mean he couldn't have trailed us here." Quinn heaved a sigh.

"I'm sure she's all right." Sheldon Reeves stepped forward and introduced himself, then the rest of the group Quinn might not know.

Quinn shook the man's hand. "Nick Quinn. And this is Alethea Hadley."

"We're not far from the pyramids," said Michael. "Maybe she went to look at them."

"The tourist thing out at the Great Pyramid won't start for another two hours. They don't allow inside after four pm."

Michael narrowed his eyes. "She's been inside the king's chamber."

"How do you figure that?" asked Quinn. "With so many documentary films giving every viewer a personal tour of the Great Pyramid?"

"He's got a point," said Thane, absently, typing on the keyboard. "Look at that one that explored all the shafts with that little electric gizmo."

Sheldon cocked his head to one side. "I do recall an incident seven years ago. Four teenagers snuck into the Great Pyramid. If I'm not mistaken one of them was Leslie and the other was Melia." Sheldon smiled. "It was such a surprise that Melia would do such a thing. She's so prim and proper."

"Who are they?" asked Quinn.

"Leslie is Kendall Laughlin's daughter."

"Of Laughlin Enterprises?" guessd Quinn, surprised. "That's right. He did move here about ten years ago, didn't he."

"And Melia is Melia Curtis, the author."

Michael nodded. "She writes a series of books set a century or two ago." He gestured to everyone gathered in the room. "We're all going to Kendall's later this evening."

Alethea looked him up and down. "Tell me you're not wearing that."

Michael looked down at his faded jeans and old T-shirt. "What's wrong with this?"

Alethea rolled her eyes. "God help us. And he lives in Paris of all places."

Quinn was tempted to ask Sheldon if Melia tended to collect notebooks and pens the way other people collected books or stray cats. He glanced absently at Alethea. "Settle down or they'll kick you out."

Alethea gestured to Michael. "He should be kicked out of Egypt--out of Paris, too. Paris is the fashion capitol of the world and look at him--"

"Al, quiet." Quinn shook his head. "Let's go look for Ariel."

"It's hot out there. I'll turn into a shriveled old prune."

Michael sneered. "You already--"

"Shut up, Radcliffe," warned Alethea. "You don't even want to go there."

Thane swiveled on his stool and watched her and Quinn leave, then looked at Michael. "You just make friends everywhere, don't you."

"Shut up, Sarver."

***

21 May 2003

Cairo, Egypt

5:20 pm

"What's bothering you?"

"That girl, Ariel Hathaway. I've seen her somewhere before."

Calandra rested her hand son her husband's shoulders. "Yes, she does look familiar. Have you got in touch with Les?"

"Got the answering machine again." Kendall tilted his head back to look up at his wife. "Busy girl, our Leslie."

Calandra kissed his forehead, then patted his shoulders. "Finish up. Our guests will be here soon."

Kendall nodded, saved the program he was in and got up just as the telephone rang. "I'll get that." He picked up the receiver. "Hello?....Leslie, it's about time."

Calandra's eyes lit up. "Tell her hello for me."

Kendall grinned. "Your mother says hello. So where have you been?.....Marrekech? And you didn't stop in for a visit?....Oh, come on, Les, North Africa's not that big....Yep, afraid so...Oh come on now, surely you want a baby brother...But of course....I don't know. You think that's a possibility?" Kendall placed a hand over the mouthpiece. "Les wants to know if twins run in your family."

Calandra laughed. "No."

"Your mother says no....Yeah, it is a bummer....I agree totally."

"Kendall--" Calandra glanced over her shoulder as the doorbell rang. "Behave. Our guests are here."

Kendall watched his wife answer the front door, then walked to the kitchen and lowered his voice. "Leslie, do you know a girl named Ariel Hathaway?...Long auburn hair, petite, brown eyes...How old? I guess your age...Probably. What is it?...Well, yeah, we'd love to see you...Les--" Kendall frowned. "Okay. See you then. Goodbye."

Kendall switched the cordless phone off and stared at it for a long minute. Slowly, he walked back to the study and put it on it's base,puzzled. Leslie's suddenly deciding to come bothered him. Especially since she had just said she couldn't make it before August. What was going on?

***

21 May 2003

Paris, France

6:11 pm

The sunset was spectacular as it dipped behind the cathedral. Joe didn't know why he'd come back here. He'd never been that religious but for some odd reason his wandering had brought him back here. After he'd left Liam's office, he hadn't known where to go. His money and his round-trip ticket were at the hotel, so he would have had to go back there to get them and he seriously doubted he'd be able to get a flight so quickly for Egypt. Not to mention Ethan had still had the car keys when he'd bolted out of Liam's office.

Joe sat down on the steps of the cathedral and sighed. Casi was alive. He knew it deep in his soul. God couldn't be that cruel, could He? Joe swallowed hard. He loved Cassandra. He'd die for her....'That's a cop-out. I want you to live for me'...That argument in his seedy hotel room in Marrekech came back vividly. "God, Casi, where are you?"

He raised his eyes to the sky. The pinkish-orange hue was fading rapidly, darkening to bluish-purple. The background noise that every city endured seemed to fade away. Joe spotted a twinkling star. For this moment, he felt alone and so empty. "I couldn't handle losing Casi," he said hoarsly. "You have to know that." Joe swallowed hard again. "Just....just let her be safe."

And then what, asked his conscience. You'll walk away again? Joe lowered his head into his hands. It was the safest way, he thought. Was it? She got herself into this on her own,said that little inner voice. Joe was beginning to hate his conscience. And what about Bulgaria, continued that snide little voice. Jack's had that in the works for months. You'd really throw it all away?

Joe groaned. "Ethan's bad enough. I don't need him in my head."

"Bad enough for what?"

Joe jumped to his feet. "Ethan?"

"Who else can sneak up on you?"

"How'd you find me?"

Ethan's silhouette half-turned away. "I got to thinking if were Cathy and I'd run into nothing but shit and dead ends..." He shrugged. "I'd come here."

Joe gestured to the row of arched doors. "Want to go in?"

"I'm not Catholic."

Joe shrugged. "Neither am I."

Ethan still hesitated. Just then the floodlights switched on, making the huge cathedral look all that much bigger. Ethan tilted his head back and swallowed hard. "Cathy is though." He shook himself. "Come on."

They walked up the rest of the time-worn steps and into the quiet cathedral. Candles flickered everywhere, set in rows of tiers all over the sanctuary, shining through the small red cups, tinting eveyrthing in a warm tint. The soaring ceiling was in darkness above them and all around it felt as if they'd stepped into the past. Joe slipped into a pew and looked around. "It's beautiful," he said softly.

Ethan tilted his head back and looked up into the darkness where the ceiling was. "Do you ever wonder?" His own voice was barely above a whisper. Above them the beautiful stained glass windows were black, the images barely visible by the lead tracing.

"Wonder what?"

"If it's true. With all the controversy about everything now, sometimes I don't know what to believe."

Joe shrugged. "To be perfectly honest, I don't think about it much."

Ethan closed his eyes, rested his head against the pew back. "When I was a kid, we went to the First Presbyterian in Baltimore. Big huge sanctuary, stained glass windows, so quiet you could hear a pin drop. I used to hate to go because I'd have to keep still for a whole hour. Didn't help that my sisters would pass notes about the cutest guys and Erick would always jab his elbow in my ribs to see if I'd tell Mom. And then the preacher could put me to sleep faster than knockout drops."

Joe nodded. "Jonny boy and Jody weren't too fun to sit with either. Jody would take notes on the sermon while Jonny boy would always bring something to fiddle with. Or even those tiny earphones that sit in your ears, so no one would know any better. But there was no way you could sleep at my church. He was a hellfire-and-damnation preacher. I did fall asleep once and he woke me up quick."

Ethan sighed. "Once I got wheels I didn't go at all. Mom and Dad pestered and threatened but hey, they had dragged me to church every freaking Sunday for sixteen years."

"Me too." Joe remembered once before he had his own vehicle when he thought he'd figured it all out. "One Sunday morning I pretended to be sick as a dog, doing the dry heaves thing. I'd used my mom's hair dryer to make me look all hot and feverish, so I got to stay home. The minute they left I hooked up with Adam and some friends and took off to the beach. The only thing was I'd have to be home before they were but since the preacher always preached long, I figure I had it made."

"What happened?"

"It worked like a charm. I knew I couldn't be sick every Sunday, so I'd let a few Sundays go before something was wrong again. Worked out for awhile until the summer season came to Provincetown. I'd forgotten during the summer, Dad wouldn't go to church, he'd work because of the need for added security. He caught me and Adam on the beach."

Ethan grunted. "Busted, eh?"

Joe nodded. He stared down at his hands. "You know, I haven't been inside a church since Bryce's funeral."

Ethan opened his eyes and angled a look at Joe. "Is that why you walked out on Casi? Because of Bryce?"

"Yeah." Joe took a deep breath. "Everytime I remember that night, I see Casi's face now instead of Bryce's."

Ethan sat straighter in the pew. "Joe, Bryce didn't know the risks. She thought you worked for some corporation or some such. Casi knows what you do. She knows the risks. And in this line of work, knowing keeps you alive."

"I couldn't bear it if I lost her."

"But you already have lost her. You walked away. Joe, if you wanted to push her into Whitfield's open arms, you did a fine piece of work."

Joe sighed. "I know. Maybe it's for the best."

"I don't think so. Whitfield doesn't know Casi the way you do. He doesn't know she has this tendency to rush in where angels fear to tread."

Joe raised his head to look at his partner. "So you're saying I just made the biggest mistake of my life."

"Biggest...worst...dumbest." Ethan shrugged. "Take your pick."

"You are such a comfort."

Ethan grunted "Hey, I live to please."

Joe shook his head. "I wonder what they meant about me and Casi being connected?"

"You're soul mates."

Joe looked over at Ethan. "Get serious."

"I am. You two are two peas in a pod. I guess that's why the sparks fly so much when you're together. You love each other, isn't that enough?"

"Is it? Sometimes I wonder. Sometimes it feels as if the entire universe is keeping us apart."

"Uh-oh. That's the first sign of a persecution complex," said Ethan, sounding worried. Then he grinned. "But really, I'm beginning to believe in destiny."

"You?"

Ethan looked away, suddenly serious. "Because of Cathy. Remember what I told you?"

Joe frowned for a moment, then nodded. "Yeah."

"I still see the scar every time I..." Ethan's voice broke off and he closed his eyes again. "And here you are, throwing it all away."

Joe shook his head. "I don't want Casi hurt."

"Well, that didn't work, did it. You walk out, she comes here and ends up getting kidnapped." Ethan's eyes snapped open and he glared at his partner.

"Don't remind me," snapped Joe.

Ethan clenched one hand into a fist and tapped Joe's forehead. "Just how thick is your skull anyway? Casi has always found more than enough trouble on her own. Just ask Cathy sometime."

Joe turned to look at him. "What?"

"Casi had a friend who did amateur theatre. Someone started sabotaging rehearsals, even injured an actor. And guess what Casi did."

Joe narrowed his eyes, remembering now. He'd had to drag the story out of Casi last year. That was how she knew Danvers. "Get involved."

"You bet." Ethan barely noticed it hadn't been a question. "Went undercover even. Know how old she was?" Ethan didn't give Joe a chance to answer. "Thirteen. And it didn't stop. A friend of Cathy's was getting weird Valentines, written in sick rhymes, so Casi and Cathy--"

"Da--darn, that's what Liam meant."

"What?"

"When he said that he'd been influenced by having an amateur investigator in his home."

Ethan grunted. "Anyway--"

"I get the point, Ethan, shut up."

Ethan grunted again, then looked around. "You know, it's funny how every church I've ever been in...it's always so peaceful."

"Especially the old ones. They're like safe havens."

"In olden times, they were indeed sanctuaries, hence the name for all church auditoriums."

Joe and Ethan turned to see the priest they'd met earlier. Father Alasdair smiled. "Forgive my intrusion but I wished to invite you to evening mass."

"We're not Catholic," said Ethan.

"Denominations were created by man, not God. Come, you are most welcome."

Joe smiled. "Thank you."

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The Hardy Boys belong to Simon and Schuster and the Stratemeyer Foundation. The authors have just borrowed them for an adventure or two. The authors promise to put the boys back when they are done with them. The authors do claim copyright to the original characters in this story. Please do not borrow original characters without express permission of the authors.