That her father knew about.
“I tried going up the chain of command here at the Met, but no one’s taking it seriously,” he continued. “So I came to see Thomas.”
And most cops probably wouldn’t take it seriously unless her body turned up. I knew that at least a couple dozen teenagers were reported missing every day. More than a few of them had probably crossed the Rift and would never be seen again.
The Whittaker Family was also one of the Hundred, and the two men were about the same age. It didn’t take a genius or a detective to figure out how I ended up with the case.
“You’ll authorize my overtime?”
My boss nodded.
“Okay, I’ll look into it. But Mr. Benning, if I don’t come up with anything by the end of the month, I’m not going to beat my head against the wall. There is a chance that she doesn’t want to be found or that she can’t be found.”
I waited while that sank in. He stared straight ahead for two or three minutes, then turned his head and studied my face.
“Mr. Benning, if she’s crossed the Rift, whether of her own volition or not, we’ll never see her again. It happens. If she’s been eaten by something, the police will never find a body. If the car was abandoned, its parts are probably in Detroit or Dallas by now. But if she’s alive and in this reality, then there will be a trail. And I’m very good at following a trail.”
Officially, no human had ever crossed the Rift and come back. Neither had anyone ever crossed the Rift and communicated back across it to those on Earth.
“Sergeant James is very persistent,” Whittaker said. “But if she comes back and tells me she can’t find any leads, I’ll have no choice but to pull her off this.”
“James. Magitek?”
I let a bit of a smile play around my lips. “Hunter James was my grandfather.” I had never tried to deny my heritage. My grandfather was responsible for breaking the world, and it made me a pariah in some circles, but it tended to make people leery of screwing with me. Sometimes, in weak moments, I wished that I could move someplace where no one knew me and change my name.
“I’m prepared to pay a very handsome reward,” Benning said, then he handed me a data chip and a printed picture. His daughter was a stunner. “Everything I could think of about Sarah is on that chip,” he said. “Pictures, school record, list of her friends. I’ve tried tracking her down, but no one seems to know anything.”
“Or they aren’t willing to talk to her father,” I said.
“Probably. I’m not so old that I can’t remember my own attitude toward adults when I was that age.” That made him a welcome rarity in my experience. We talked for another fifteen minutes, then I got up to leave.
“I may have questions after I go through this. I assume there’s contact information for you and your wife?” He nodded. “I’ll update Deputy Commissioner Whittaker, and he’ll let you know if I find anything.”
“You’re home late. Rough day? Did you eat?”
I smiled at my roommate. Kirsten was a hearth witch who owned an apothecary shop and worked a normal nine to five Tuesday through Saturday. We had been best friends since high school.
“Busy day, and I grabbed something at Jenny’s. Whittaker slipped me a special, with guaranteed overtime.”
I sat down at my computer and plugged in Benning’s chip. Kirsten came and peered over my shoulder.
“What’s the case?”
“Missing high school girl. Family is one of the Hundred.”
“At least it’s not tracking down a demon.”
“Unless a demon kidnapped her. You never know. The girl could be so beautiful that she charmed the savage beast.”
Kirsten laughed. “Want a beer?”
“Yeah, thanks.”
She went off to the kitchen while the data on Sarah Benning loaded. Kirsten came back with two beers and handed me one as I pulled up Sarah’s picture.
“Wow,” Kirsten said.
“Looks like one of your abandoned love children.”
She punched me in the shoulder. “Stop.”
Wavy long blonde hair, clear blue eyes, high cheekbones, a cupid’s bow mouth and a complexion that probably never saw a pimple. Sarah looked like the all-American girl as exemplified by half the stars in Hollywood. She may not have had a boyfriend, but if she didn’t have dozens of boys sniffing around, I would turn in my badge and join a convent. Women who looked like that didn’t lack for company unless it was their choice. Although, when it wasn’t their choice, people like me tended to get involved.
One of the benefits of hanging around with Kirsten was that there were lots of cast-offs and rejects for me to comfort, if I was so inclined, and Sarah promised to be every bit as beautiful as Kirsten when she matured.
Next, I opened the file labeled ‘personal characteristics.’ As her father told me, she was seventeen, just starting her senior year in high school. She had the family gift of electrokinesis, though it seemed she was also strong in empathic projection, which was not a normal Benning talent. But as mages bred with mages, each generation seemed to get stronger, and the magiocracy became more entrenched.
I switched screens and checked out a public database on Diana Benning. Sarah’s mom wasn’t from the Hundred, but considering her looks, there wasn’t any question why Benning married her. What stood out was her strong rating as an empathic projector.
That talent also told me that if Sarah didn’t have a boyfriend, it was because she didn’t want one. Or maybe she had a dozen. That might be a motive.
“Femme fatale,” was Kirsten’s verdict. “Makes you wonder if she did run off with someone. You’d think she could fend off anyone who tried to kidnap her.”
“Maybe. She’s young, and not all kidnappings are accomplished by force.”
The more I read, the more complicated the girl’s profile became. Athlete, musician,
