Allyn and Ransom – 24

 

 

"Good catch, but I'm not sure he believed you," Ransom said, chuckling. When Allyn started to say something, Ransom shook his head. "The case is on hold until we finish eating. This—" he pointed to the appetizer, "—and dinner."

 

Reluctantly, Allyn agreed. When they finished their meals and were drinking coffee, Ransom picked up the discussion where they'd left off, saying, "There is no 'we', Allyn. This is police business."

 

"Well you're not doing so well catching him," Allyn replied irritably.

 

"We have a fair idea what he looks like now. It will help."

 

"Fair idea isn't enough. I made a connection with him, I think. If we play it right, he might come after me."

 

"Not happening. Besides which, where would we set it up to do that?"

 

Allyn was pretty certain he had Ransom hooked when he asked the question. "At the Dragée Ball for the Children's Hospital on Saturday. It's one of the events of the season. Everyone who's anyone will be there."

 

"Meaning the chances of his finding you in the crowd will be next to none," Ransom pointed out. "Not that he'll have the opportunity to, because you won't be there."

 

"Yeah, I will. Miranda and I already have tickets."

 

"Allyn!" Ransom shook his head "What will it take for me to convince you it's not safe? Especially if you really did connect with him on some level when you saw him. If there's even the slightest chance he'll be there… Nope, not happening."

 

"You really can't stop me, you know."

 

"Sure I can. I can arrest your fine ass and toss you in jail."

 

Allyn smirked. "Like that would do any good."

 

"Fuck," Ransom muttered, obviously ceding defeat on that level. "Okay, where is the gala being held?"

 

"At Lakefront Airport, on the main concourse."

 

Ransom tapped a fingernail against his teeth. "At least the venue is controllable, as far as our watching people going to and from the terminal."

 

"Talking about tossing me in jail, there's another plus if he does grab me—or whatever he does. I can just teleport away once I know where his, his base of operations I guess, is."

 

"If he doesn't sedate you."

 

"He can't keep me like that forever."

 

"But he could take you somewhere and kill you."

 

Allyn disagreed. "No. I mean, he could. But if he was just into doing that, you'd be finding the bodies of his victims, because he'd want to show them off. I think there's a lot more to it."

 

"I'm afraid you're probably right."

 

Taking a drink of coffee, Allyn stared out over the edge of the balcony. Then he said, "This was supposed to be a nice evening so you could get away from the stress of your job."

 

"Yeah." Ransom shrugged. "Hasn't quite turned out that way."

 

Impulsively, Allyn said, "Why don't we take a walk? It's a lovely night. The moon is out. We can head to the lake shore, take off our shoes, and go wading."

 

"Relive our childhoods?" Ransom asked, grinning.

 

"Can you think of anything better to do?"

 

"Actually right now? No."