Background
Officer Cole's life spirals out of control while on duty over a divorce. Forced to take a leave, he discovers he has a daughter missing on the streets of Buffalo.
|
Luke drove Niagara River Road into the city of Buffalo. Between buildings he caught glimpses of the raging river from where he was going against the current and into the seedy side of the city. Clean grey, slate buildings of several stories turned into old redbrick buildings, some with for sale signs and some with holes for windows. Then the shady motels popped up between mini-marts and tobacco shops-some with bars on the windows.
As Luke drove his chevy muscle car his arms cramped from strangling the steering wheel. He pulled over to a curb, as the sunset over the river behind the abandoned buildings and alleyways full of trash and broken glass. In the shadows a young girl emerged. At best she was eighteen, but probably younger. She wore one of those checkerboard outfits, like catholic school dress. Her eyes were dark as olives. She strutted over to him. He lowered the passenger window with the doors locked. She leaned inside. She looked oriental, maybe Thai. She stroked Bugsy.
"You look lonely. You and the doggie want some company tonight?"
Luke was at loss for words.
"You a cop? You look like cop-man."
Luke recovered from the shock. He'd slipped into the fat underbelly of the slimy world. She must have thought he was using his dog Bugsy to get her in the car. He pulled out the picture of his daughter, Chrissy, the one Suzie gave him wearing her cheerleading outfit. "I'm looking for her."
The hooker looked back, as if afraid she was being watched. Then she backed away. "You want something? You looking for her? She's too pretty for the streets. Maybe. Try the clubs. I don't kiss and tell for nothing."
Luke didn't want to scare her off. "But do you recognize her? She's my daughter."
"Don't think so. Hard to say. They all look the same. Young and dumb."
Guilt pressed against Luke's chest. He wanted to save her. "If you want, I can take you to a safe house?"
,
The girl leaned back in the window. "You look like you need the safe house, mister. She really your daughter then?"
Luke gave her a card with his cell number. "If you see this girl, please call me."
She hesitated. Started to waltz off. Luke yelled out. "Here's a twenty. Get out while you can."
She reached inside, grabbed the twenty bucks but seemed to have second thoughts. "This world needs more fathers to step it up." She left for the darkness.
Lights flashed in Luke's rearview mirror, then a blast from the siren, both blinding and deafening him in one swoop. Bugsy dove down to the floorboard. Luke's heart sank. He knew it was a sting. Great! He slunk down into his leather seat. He would have preferred water torture.
To his left an officer in plain clothes flashed his badge. Luke squinted and nodded. "I'm officer Pete."
The girl stalked back. She was a good actress as a hooker. And a young cop who looked like she could be a high school student. She interrupted. "He's okay. He's looking for his daughter. That's why he paid me."
Officer Pete smiled. Luke was hoping he wouldn't check his background and find out he was on a Leave of Absence with an assault charge on his neighbor too. "Okay, this sir is no place for you to go cowboy, trying to find your daughter. I handle investigations. Leave it to me, maybe I can help."
The pretend hooker leaned in. "Show him the picture. Give us a chance."
Luke complied. But he worried about giving them too much information. He was able to give the undercover officer his old girlfriends name and address with phone contacts. He added some details. "She's believed to be hung up with a guy named Spike. We think she's working for him."
"I've heard that name, Spike. He's a small-time drug dealer, not a pimp. Low on the radar. If she wants to be with him..."
Luke injected. "No, no. She's sixteen. She needs a way out."
"Relax," said Officer Pete. "We have informants. I can get to the bottom of this."
"What if they feel the heat and take off? Here and now is matters. And you already have a missing person report."
The pair just looked at each other. Then officer Pete tagged him. "Look, I will find out where it stands. Meanwhile stay out of it. As the girl's father, it could muck things up."
Luke just nodded. He didn't want to tell them he knew how to investigate. If they ran a background on him things might go sideways. He nodded his head, but his heart fisted.
Luke pulled away and feigned that he was going back out of town toward Amherst. Then he drove into an alleyway and waited. After several minutes, he revved up the car and took off deeper into the underbelly of the city where he passed a couple night clubs. He turned into a motor inn where the neon vacancy sign was on. As he pulled up to the office, he could see a thin man in a dirty t-shirt reading comics behind his desk.
The look on officer Pete's face only fueled Luke's desire to find his daughter. Stepping out from his car, the smell of smokestacks and spent rubber stung his nose. He plunged forward toward the office.
The door was locked shut to the office. With a cigarette dangling from his mouth, the young man pointed to the plexiglass with an intercom and a bucket below where you sign a card and drop your money for the key and a room.
He'd found the underbelly of Buffalo. Next stop Hell...
