I pull the hood of my sweatshirt up and relax back on the park bench, stretching my legs out in front of me. I've caught more than one person's attention, a tiny, slim girl, who looks still a few years shy of adulthood and another girl with a mass of brown curls. From what I can see under the sporadic park lights she has a vine of roses tattooed along her arm. There are less people than I expect to see living in the park, a safe spot designated by the city. Cops can check up on the people but not harass them or tell them to move on. A few flat brown spots in the dry grassy areas between the cement paths, rusty slide and broken swings seem to indicate that some people have recently packed up their tents and moved on. Olson mentioned that Rowan, the guy who seems to be the connective thread in all this, had packed up his tent and left the park the day before Ten disappeared.

The two girls are sitting near a tent watching and obviously talking about me. I roll down the paper bag around the bottle of tequila and make a show of taking a drink.

Olson was about as helpful as a steaming pile of dog shit, so I decided the park was my best shot. I formulated a story, bought a bottle of tequila and headed across town to the park. Tiffany was angry enough not to call me, making my sharp detour that much easier.

I smile half-heartedly at the two girls and lift the brown bag in invitation. That's all it takes. Seconds later, they are sitting next to me on the bench, one on each side.

The petite girl with a wholesome smile reaches for the bottle without asking. She tosses the liquor back like a booze-hardened saloon girl.

"Whoa there, little angel, that stuff will go straight to your head." I take the bottle back from her.

She wipes her mouth with the back of her hand and sighs with satisfaction. "That's good stuff. I'm Yoli by the way." She turns slightly on the bench. "And you're even hotter up close than I expected. Isn't he, Becky?"

I turn to the rose tattoo girl, Becky, apparently, and offer her the tequila.

"He is something. Makes me wonder what he's doing in this place." It seems I've found the cynical, suspicious member of the tent crowd. She takes a long sip and hands it back. "Are you setting up camp?" she asks. "I don't see any gear."

"I'm just moving through. I'm looking for someone actually. Thought I might find her here but I guess not."

Yoli presses her hand against her chest and makes a groaning sound. "Oh, you've only been here five minutes, and you've already broken my heart. It figures you're here for another girl. Maybe if you describe this lucky woman to us, we can let you know if she's been through. We get a lot of one or two day stopovers. A lot of people passing through use fake names, but let's start there."

Yoli seems to be the friendlier, more forthcoming person so I focus back on her. She helps herself to another jolt of tequila and hands it back to me.

"Don't know her name actually." I shrug casually. "We just sort of bunked up together for a couple of days, you know what I mean? She's about your height," I say to Yoli, "and she has brown eyes and red hair."

"What the fuck is it about her?" Becky says sharply. "She not even pretty." She stomps off without a good-bye or nice to meet you.

I turn back to Yoli. "Was it something I said?"

She laughs. "That's just typical Becky. She's jealous cuz there was a girl who passed through here last week who matches that description. Her name is Tawny. Real smart and funny too." Yoli stares off into the park with its mostly dead trees and shabby tents twittering in the night breeze. "She's gone now. I don't expect to see her again." She faces me. "Why are you looking for her?" She knuckles my shoulder with her small fist. "Don't tell me a hunk like you has had his heart broken."

Her comment sits with me for a second, then I smile weakly and hand her the tequila. As guilty as I feel handing liquor to a minor, I need her lips to be just a little looser, otherwise this park visit is a bust. I already knew Ten came through here. What I need to know now is where she went.

"Nah, to tell you the truth, she walked off with my wallet while I was sleeping. Not that I had much inside of it, but I was carrying a picture of my mom." The bullshit keeps flowing. The sympathetic expression I'm hoping for is blinking back at me. "She died when I was ten and that was the only picture I had of her. So I need to get it back. If you can help me find her, I'd owe ya, Yoli."

She pushes her fingers against her lips as if to stifle a sob. "That is so sweet. Hunky and sentimental. Now you really have broken my heart." She grabs the tequila for fortification. "I can't really say where she is. It's sort of a secret." Her words are slowing a bit. The tequila is taking hold. She's had enough to make someone my size good and drunk. She's doing a good job holding her liquor considering she can't weight more than a hundred pounds.

I place the bottle on the opposite side of me, deciding to hide the temptation. I rest my arm back on the bench and give her the smile that used to work real fast in high school. "Anything you can tell me would help. I won't tell anyone. I don't even know anyone on this side of town. I sure hate to lose that picture."

Her eyes round and she sits up, but with a slight sway. "Wait a minute. You don't need to find her. I've got her stuff still sitting in my tent. I invited her to bunk with me until she got her own tent. Turns out she wasn't around long enough to need one. She's probably living like a princess now in the Lace—" Her hand claps over her mouth. "I can't tell you." She jumps up a little too fast from the bench. I grab hold of her hand to keep her from falling over.

She smiles down at my fingers wrapped around her hand. A sly smiles turns up her lips. "You want to come into my tent and look through her stuff for the wallet?"

She's steadier on her feet, so I release my hold. "Why don't you look through it and let me know what you find."

Her smile twists down in disappointment. "Figures. Some girls have all the luck. Guess Tawny really has a lot of it. She even got chosen. No one ever gets chosen." She says as she heads to her tent. She returns with an uneven walk, the kind that would never pass the drunk driving test. She's carrying an old tattered army green backpack that I immediately recognize as one Ten has used on stakeouts. She would fill it with trail mix or potato chips, depending on whether she was in the mood to eat healthy or, as she liked to say, eat whatever the hell she felt like. I hadn't seen it in a long time. The sight of it thumps against my chest. She is fine, I remind myself. If anyone can handle herself in a bad situation, it's Ten. She thinks so fast on her feet, sometimes it's impossible to predict what her next move will be. She's fine. She has to be.

"I feel a little guilty going through her stuff," Yoli says. Her words are as slow and uneven as her footsteps. She pulls out some underwear and laughs. "Guess she doesn't need these where she's at."

The comment makes my muscles go rigid. "No? How's that?" I'm hoping the tequila has loosened her tongue some more.

Yoli pulls her lips in and shakes her head as if telling herself, don't do it, Yoli. Don't tell him. She pulls out a pack of birth control pills. "Oh boy. She's going to regret not taking these with her the night of the party."

"Party? Sounds good. Where's it at?" I say, without pause, hoping she'll keep spilling.

She bites her bottom lip in an attempt to stop herself but it's not enough. She drops the backpack on the bench next to me.

I try and decide if I'm just losing my fucking mind with missing Ten or if I'm actually catching the scent of her shampoo coming off the ratty old backpack. I stop myself from picking the bag up and pressing it to my face.

It seems I have sweet tipsy Yoli ready to tell me everything she knows. She scoots closer and glances around but no one else in the park is interested in our conversation. Even Becky has disappeared inside her own shelter for the night.

"I'm not supposed to say anything." Her thin fingers wrap around my forearm. "Please, you can't tell anyone or I'll never be invited back." She sits back and gets temporarily distracted by the blanket of stars in the hazy night sky above. "And I can't lose that. Sometimes I think it's the only thing that keeps me from sinking into despair. The food." She turns her head, and it seems some of those night stars have landed in her big, innocent eyes. There is no way this girl should be out here alone, but I know for many of the younger ones, the streets are a step above life at home or foster care. It's tragic and makes me want to spit fucking nails, but I learned early on in my time on the force that most things are out of my control.

"They serve good food at this party?" I ask. "Nice. What else? What do you have to do to get on the invite list?"

She laughs. "Well, as pretty as you are, you have to be female. And it's mostly those of us who are under thirty. I'm not sure how the list gets made, but once you're on it, you do everything to stay on it. This week they gave us new soap. It smells like roses." She lifts her pale hand to my nose. "See."

I take a whiff. "Hmm, you do smell as sweet as you look. So, the red-haired girl, Tawny, she got on the list?"

"Right away but I knew she would. She's got that thing, you know?"

It's hard not to smile as Yoli speaks. She seems undaunted by her dire situation. I have friends who have everything, good jobs, nice places to live, money for dining and vacations and they are never as happy as the girl sitting next to me on the graffiti covered park bench.

"I don't know. What do you mean?"

She knuckles my shoulder. "Yes you do know. It's the reason Becky gets so grouchy whenever anyone talks about Tawny. It's the reason you chased her down to this crummy park." She winks. "But the picture story was a nice touch."

It seems Yoli is not nearly as naive as I first thought.

I nod. "You caught me. I was hoping to find her because, well, like you said, because she's got that thing."

"Yep and that's why she got chosen. I should have seen it coming. I wasn't at all surprised when we climbed back into the van and Tawny was gone. Becky was so mad I thought she'd chew all her nails down to stubs. She gnaws on them when she's upset."

"So getting chosen is a good thing?" I ask, more than slightly confused by the whole damn conversation. Yoli likes to talk but she also leaves big gaps between details.

"Of course." She bites her lip again in thought. "At least that's what I've heard. No one really knows for sure because once a girl is chosen, she's never seen or heard from again. It's like everyone saying there's some beautiful place called heaven waiting for you after you die, but no one knows for sure because no one comes back to confirm." Her naturally sunny expression darkens. "Except this one girl . . ." She waves her hand to stop herself. "Shit, I shouldn't have drank that tequila. It's like a truth serum," she giggles. "Anyhow," she sighs and gives me a pretty look of pity. "I'm afraid you're probably wasting your time. I don't think we'll ever see Tawny around here again. She's gone."

She's just a teenage street kid, but her words make my throat tighten into a ball. There's no fucking way Ten is gone for good because I'm going after her. And if something has happened to her, I plan to tear the whole fucking precinct apart with my bare hands, starting with Clark.

Yoli sidles closer to me. "But if you're looking for a new girl—" Her small hand lands on my thigh. I pick it up gently and kiss the back of it. Then I take a twenty out of my pocket and hand it to her. The money seems to instantly erase any of the sting of me turning down her offer.

"Oh wow. I'm going to start planning how to spend this just as soon as the tequila leaves my head." She laughs. "Who am I kidding? It'll be food."

"Hey, so where are these parties?" I ask. "I know I'm not invited. I was just wondering who is putting them on? Is there a fee? Do you have to give something in return?" The last question has been stuck in my craw because I don't really want to hear the answer.

"I wouldn't be able to tell you where it takes place because we go in a van and you can't see out. They just drive us to this big empty warehouse. It seems like we're inside the van for about an hour each way. There's no fee and we don't have to do anything but have a good time. And that we do. Then they pile us back in the windowless van and drop us back on the street corner. Unless you're chosen, like Tawny."

"So you don't know where you're taken once you're chosen?"

She carefully folds the twenty like it's made of fine silk. "No. The only thing I've ever heard is that it's underground. The Lace Underground, that's what some of the girls call it. Sorry I can't tell you how to get there, and I don't think GPS can find underground locations," she says with a laugh.

"True." It seems I've drained her of everything crucial. "Thanks for hanging out with me."

"Aww, are you leaving already?" she asks.

"'Fraid so." I stop and look back at her. She's still smiling at the money. "Hey, Yoli, have you tried to call home? Maybe you can go back some day?"

"Sure," she says confidently. "Just as soon as my creepy stepfather drops dead."

I nod. "Take care, beautiful." I hike back the three blocks to my motorcycle. My head is spinning with information. An icy knot forms in my gut. How the hell am I going to find Ten when she's literally underground?